WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/L/335
21 October 1999
(99-4564)
REPORT (1999) OF THE WORKING PARTY ON
STATE TRADING ENTERPRISES1
I. ORGANIZATION OF THE WORK OF THE WORKING PARTY
1. The Working Party on State Trading Enterprises was established by the Council for Trade in
Goods at its meeting of 20 February 1995, pursuant to paragraph 5 of the Understanding on theInterpretation of Article XVII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (hereinafter "the
Understanding").  Membership of the Working Part y is open to all Members indicating their wish to
serve on it.  Observer governments in the General Council of the WTO have observer status in the
Working Party.  During the period under review (25 November 1998-20 October 1999),
Mr. Jacques Teyssier d'Orfeuil (France), then Mr. Bernard Kuiten (Netherlands) and, finally,Mr. Breffini Carpenter (Ireland) served as Chairman of the Working Party.
2. The mandate of the Working Party, as set out in paragraph 5 of the Understanding, is:  (1) to
review notifications and counter-notifications on stat e trading;  (2) to review, in the light of the
notifications received, the adequacy of the questionnaire on state trading (BISD 9S/184) and the
coverage of state trading enterprises notified under paragraph 1 of the Understanding;  and (3) todevelop an illustrative list showing the kinds of  relationships between governments and enterprises,
and the kinds of activities engaged in by these enterprises, which may be relevant for the purposes of
Article XVII of GATT 1994.
3. This Report is submitted under paragraph 5 of the Understanding.   It sets out the activities of
the Working Party during the period under review.
4. Participants in the Working Party's meetings to date are:  Argentina; Australia; Bangladesh;
Brazil; Brunei Darussalam; Burundi; Canada; Chile; Colombia; Costa Rica; Cuba; Cyprus;Czech Republic; Egypt; El Salvador; European Communities; Guatemala; Hong Kong, China;
Honduras; Hungary; Iceland; India; Indonesia; Israel; Japan; Korea; Latvia; Malaysia; Malta;
Mauritius; Mexico; Morocco; New Zealand; Norway; Pakistan; Paraguay; Peru; Philippines; Poland;
Romania; Singapore; Slovak Republic; South Africa; Switzerland; Thailand; Trinidad & Tobago;
Turkey; United States; Uruguay; Venezuela; and Zambia.  China,  P.R.; Chinese Taipei; Ethiopia;Jordan; Russian Federation; Saudi Arabia; Sudan; and Vietnam participated as observers.
5. The Working Party held five formal meetings during the period under review:  on
18 December 1998, on 22 February 1999, on 26 May 1999, on 27 July 1999 and on 20 October 1999.
The Minutes of these meetings are contained in documents G/STR/M/12-16.  In addition, one
informal meeting was convened with the objective of advancing work on the text of the draftillustrative list.
                                                     
1 Please note that, as agreed by the Council for Trade in Goods at its meeting of 15 October 1999, this
report is being directly forwarded to the General Council following adoption by the Working Party on StateTrading Enterprises at its meeting of 20 October 1999.G/L/335
Page 2
II. NOTIFICATION AND REVIEW OF MEMBERS' STATE TRADING ACTIVITIES
6. Under Article XVII of GATT 1994 and paragraph 1 of the Understanding, all Members of the
WTO are required to submit annual notifications of their state trading activities.  New and full
notifications were first required in 1995 and, subsequently, every third year thereafter, while updating
notifications are to be made in the intervening years, indicating any changes since the new and fullnotification.  At three of the five formal meetings held during the period under review, the Chairman
made a statement concerning the need for timely compliance with notification requirements.
7. New and full notifications for 1995 have been received from 58 Members.  Updating
notifications for 1996 have been received from 30 Members, and for 1997 from 31 Members.  New
and full notifications for 1998 have been received from 26 Members.  Updating notifications for 1999
have been received from 15 Members.  (See Annex to this Report.)
 2
8. At its meeting of 22 February 1999, the Working Party reviewed 18 notifications: 1996/1997
updating notifications of Costa Rica; Mexico; Romania; Slovenia; and Venezuela; and 1998 new and
full notifications of Colombia; Egypt; Hong Kong, China; Hungary; Iceland; Indonesia; Korea; Malta;
Mexico; Norway; Paraguay; Trinidad and Tobago; and Turkey.
9. At its meeting of 26 May 1999, the Working Party reviewed 8 notifications:  1998 new and
full notifications of Costa Rica; European Comm unities; Fiji; Japan; New Zealand; and Venezuela;
and 1999 updating notifications of Hong Kong, China; and Malta.
10. At its meeting of 20 October 1999, the Working Party reviewed 12 notifications: 1996
updating notification of Macau; and 1998/1999 notifications of Bolivia; Iceland; Latvia; Macau;
Namibia; New Zealand;  Norway; Qatar; Slovak Republic; Slovenia; and Zambia.  At that meeting, the
Working Party also adopted its Annual Report to the Council for Trade in Goods for the year 1999.
III. DEVELOPMENT OF ILLUSTRATIVE LIST OF STATE TRADING
RELATIONSHIPS AND ACTIVITIES
11. Regarding the third of the Working Party's specific mandates, the draft Illustrative List of
State Trading Relationships and Activities was considered at the Working Party's meetings of
December 1998 and February and May 1999 and was approved at the Working Party's meeting ofJuly 1999.  The Illustrative List (G/STR/4) was a dopted by the Council for Trade in Goods at its
meeting of 15 October 1999.
                                                     
2 The European Communities and its Member States are counted as one Member.G/L/335
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ANNEX
NOTIFICATIONS SUBMITTED BY WTO MEMBERS UNDER
ARTICLE XVII:4(A) OF GATT 1994 AND PARAGRAPH 1 OF THE
UNDERSTANDING ON THE INTERPRETATION OF ARTICLE XVII
Status as of 20 October 19993
Member New and Full
Notification
(1995)Updating
Notification
(1996)Updating
Notification
(1997)New and Full
Notification
(1998)Updating
Notification
(1999)
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina X X
A u s t r a l i a XXX
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados X
Belize
Benin
Bolivia X
Botswana X
Brazil X X
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria X
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
Canada X X X
Central African
Republic
Chad
C h i l e XXX X X
Colombia X X X
Congo
Costa Rica X X X X
Côte d'Ivoire X
Cuba
Cyprus X
Czech Republic X
Democratic Republic of
                                                     
3An "x" indicates that a notification has been made.G/L/335
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Member New and Full
Notification
(1995)Updating
Notification
(1996)Updating
Notification
(1997)New and Full
Notification
(1998)Updating
Notification
(1999)
the Congo
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt X
El Salvador X
European Communities X X X
Fiji X
Gabon
Gambia X
Ghana
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea Bissau
Guinea, Rep. of X
Guyana
H a i t i XXX
Honduras X
Hong Kong, China X X X X X
Hungary X X X X X
Iceland X X X
India X
Indonesia X X X
Israel X
Jamaica X X
J a p a n XXX X
Kenya
Korea, Rep. of X X X
Kuwait
Kyrgyz Republic
Latvia XX
Lesotho
Liechtenstein X X X
M a c a u XXX X X
Madagascar
MalawiG/L/335
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Member New and Full
Notification
(1995)Updating
Notification
(1996)Updating
Notification
(1997)New and Full
Notification
(1998)Updating
Notification
(1999)
Malaysia X
Maldives
Mali
Malta X X X
Mauritania
Mauritius X X X
M e x i c o XXX
Mongolia X
Morocco X
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia X X X
New Zealand X X X X X
Nicaragua
Niger
N i g e r i a XXX
N o r w a y XXX X X
Pakistan X X
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay X
P e r u XXX
Philippines X X
Poland X
Qatar X X
R o m a n i a XXX
Rwanda
Saint Kitts & Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent &
Grenadines
Senegal
Sierra Leone
S i n g a p o r e XXX
Slovak Republic X X X X X
S l o v e n i a XXX X X
Solomon Islands
S o u t h  A f r i c a XXXG/L/335
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Member New and Full
Notification
(1995)Updating
Notification
(1996)Updating
Notification
(1997)New and Full
Notification
(1998)Updating
Notification
(1999)
Sri Lanka
Suriname
Swaziland
Switzerland X X X
Tanzania
T h a i l a n d XXX
Togo
Trinidad & Tobago X
Tunisia X
Turkey X X X
Uganda
United Arab Emirates X
U n i t e d  S t a t e s XXX
Uruguay X X
Venezuela X X X X
Zambia X X X
Zimbabwe
Total*58/119 30/119 31/119 26/119 15/119
* The denominator used here (119) reflects the fact that, for each notification obligation, the European Communities submits a
single notification that covers all 15 Member States.  The total membership of the WTO (134) includes the European Communities plus the
15 individual Member States.
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