G/C/W/786/Corr.1  
G/STR/Q1/VNM/8/Corr.1  
27 November  2020 
(20-8610) Page: 1/2 
Council for Trade in Goods  
Working Party on State Trading Enterprises   
 
  
STATE TRADING  
NOTIFICATION OF VIET NAM IN RESPONSE TO THE UNITED STATES' COUNTER -NOTIFICATION  
OF VIET NAM'S STATE TRADING ENTERPRISES PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH 4 OF THE  
UNDERSTANDING ON THE INTERPRETATION OF ARTICLE XVII1 
UNITED STATES  FOLLOW -UP QUESTIONS TO VIET NAM 'S REPLIES2 TO FURTHER QUESTIONS 
FROM THE UNITED STATES REGARDING VIET NAM 'S STATE TRADING ENTERPRISES  
Corrigendum  
Please note that under " Follow -up Question 4 " on page 2 of  the document 
G/C/W/786 - G/STR/Q1/VNM/ 8, the underl ining for emphasis was missing . It should read as follows : 
Follow -up Question 4  
In its reply to US Question 4 regarding Viet Nam National Coal – Mineral Industries Holding 
Corporation Limited, Viet Nam did not reply to one of our questions.  Therefore, we will state our 
question again:  
• Office of the Government Announcement 346/TB -VPCP clearly states that two 
companies, inclu ding Vinacomin or TKV, are designated by the state as coal 
intermediaries:  
[MOIT] shall direct Electricity Vietnam, PetroVietnam, and other enterprises with 
a need for imported coal to sign contracts with the TKV and Dong Bac General 
Corporations (the two enterprises designated as coal import intermediaries ) to 
supply coal in accordance with the law and international customs ; contracts 
should include a guarantee that contracts will be executed, to create conditions 
for these intermediaries to find a stable source of supply with appropriate quality 
and price.3 (emphasis added)  
Viet Nam asserts that this measure is "not a legal normative document to grant exclusive or special 
privileges to TKV to importing or exporting coal ." Again, is Viet Nam representing that directives 
from the Deputy Prime Minister do not carry legal authority?  
 
1 See G/STR/N/15/VNM and G/STR/N/16/VNM (original notifications of Viet Nam) (dated 15 April 2016); 
G/STR/Q1/VNM/4 - G/C/W/750 ( United States' counter -notification) (dated 9 January 2018); 
G/C/W/755 - G/STR/Q1/VNM/5 (Viet Nam's notification in response to Un ited States' counter -notification) 
(dated 27 August 2018); G/C/W/755/Corr.1 - G/STR/Q1/VNM/5/Corr.1 (corrigendum) (dated 
25 September  2018); G/C/W/760 – G/STR/Q1/VNM/6  (further questions posed by the United States in 
response to Viet Nam's response to the counter -notification from the United States)  (dated 9  October  2018) ; 
and G/C/W/776  - G/STR/Q1/VNM/7 (Viet Nam's responses to further questions posed by the United States in 
response to Viet Nam's response to the counter -notification from the United States (dated 5 March 2020).  
2 G/C/W/776 – G/STR/Q1/VNM/7 (dated 5  March  2020).  
3 Paragraph 3, Section 1, Office of the Government Announcement 346/TB -VPCP on the conclusions of 
Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai at the meeting on the coal import situation, d ated 26  August  2014.  G/C/W/786/Corr.1 • G/STR/Q1/VNM/8/Corr.1  
- 2 - 
  Furthermore, please note that under " Follow-up Question 6 " on page 3, reference made to 
Question 4 should have been Question 6, as follows : 
Follow -up Question 6  
In its reply to US Question 6, Viet Nam did not reply to one of our questions.  Therefore, we will state 
our question again:  
• Please clarify the statement that a Prime Ministerial Decision is not a "legal normative 
document ". Is Viet Nam asserting that decisions by the Prime Minister do n ot have legal 
authority?  
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