G/L/1456  
G/STR/32  
 
28 November 2022  
(22-8867) Page: 1/6 
Council for Trade in Goods  
Working Party on State Trading Enterprises    
 
  
CURRENT FUNCTIONING OF THE  
WORKING PARTY ON STATE TRADING ENTERPRISES  
REPORT TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS  
BY THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE WORKING PARTY ON STATE TRADING ENTERPRISES  
The following report has been prepared under the responsibility of Mr Agustín NAVARRO DE 
VICENTE -GELLA as Chairperson of the Working Party on State Trading Enterprises at the request of 
the Chairperson of the Council for Trade in Goods1, and was prepared with the assistance of the 
Secretariat.  
 
1  PAST EFF ORTS TO IMPROVE THE WORK OF THE WORKING PARTY  
The past efforts to improve the work of the Working Party are referred to in detail under part 2 
below. However, the following are the highlights of these past efforts which resulted in the current 
status of th e Working Party's practices : 
 
• Annotated draft agendas are circulated approximately three weeks before  the meetings.  
 
• Since 2020, the Working Party appoints a Vice -Chairperson.  
 
• Chairpersons systematically remind and encourage Members to provide missing 
notifications.  
 
• A "status of notifications" is issued once a year in connection with the Working Party's 
autumn meeting, listing, for each Member, the STE notifications the Member has provided, 
and those it has not provided, since the inception of the WTO.  
 
• Courtesy copies of room documents issued prior to the meetings and placed online are also 
sent to an updated contact list of delegates that follow the Working Party.  
 
• Members decided in 2003 to change the frequency of notifications to every two years  to 
better fit Members' needs. After a trial period, Members extended the new frequency 
indefinitely in 2012.  
 
• Pursuant to a mandate specified in the Marrakesh Agreement, Members agreed in 1998 on 
a revised questionnaire for notifications.  
 
2  CURRENT STATUS OF WORKING PARTY PRACTICES  
2.1  Assistance to delegates  
- The Working Party on State Trading Enterprises does not regularly organize training activities for 
Geneva -based delegates on the practical aspects of its functioning. The Secretariat systematically 
respo nds to requests for assistance from delegations in connection with the activities of the 
Working  Party.  
 
 
1 See document JOB/CTG/18.  G/L/1456 • G/STR/32  
 
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  - The Working Party has not undertaken specific initiatives to increase the participation of 
capital -based officials. Nonetheless, the practice of hold ing the Working Party's meetings on dates 
either immediately before or immediately after the spring and autumn meetings of the Committees 
on Anti -Dumping Practices, Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and Safeguards ("Rules Week"), 
has been intended to f acilitate participation by delegates covering both bodies and in particular 
capital -based officials.  
2.2  Organization of the work of the Working Party  
2.2.1   Digital tools used for the work of the Working Party  
- The Working Party has not digitized the notification p rocess.  
 
2.2.2   Planning and organization of meetings  
- The Working Party usually holds two formal meetings each year. The practice of the Working Party 
is to meet, to the extent possible, either on the Friday that precedes Rules Week or on the Monday 
that follow s it, both in the spring and in autumn. This allows for advance planning and predictability 
and facilitates attendance by delegations coming from outside Geneva.  
 
- The Working Party does not have its own rules of procedure. The rules of procedure of the C ouncil 
for Trade in Goods therefore apply mutatis mutandis  (i.e. with the necessary adaptations) to 
meetings of the Working Party.  
 
- During the July 2019 meeting of the Working Party, an interest was expressed in having a 
vice-chairperson for the Working Party, so as to avoid having to cancel meetings in the absence of 
the chairperson. Due to the particular status of the Working Party, which is not a full Committee, 
this required consultation with the Council for Trade in Goods. After discussion within the  
Working  Party and consultation with the Council for Trade in Goods through the conduit of the 
Chairperson of that body, it was agreed in February 2020 that the Working Party would henceforth 
appoint a vice -chairperson.2 
 
2.2.3   Regular meetings  
Table 1: Number of regular and informal meetings  
Year Regular meetings  
(number and duration)  Informal meetings  
(number and duration)  Other (e.g. workshops, 
symposia, etc.)  
2019  
 16 July ( half day )3 
1 November ( half day ) None None 
2020  2 November ( half day ) None None 
2021  3 May ( half day ) 
5 October ( half day ) None None 
2022  13 May ( half day ) 
21 October ( half day ) None None 
 
2.2.4   Annotated draft agendas and airgrams  
- The Working Party issues annotated draft agendas 10 calendar days (or the latest working day 
preceding the 10th calendar day, if the latter falls on a WTO non -working day) before the day on 
which the airgram is circulated. The deadline for placing items on the annotated draft agenda is the 
working day preceding its issuance. The annotated draft ag enda lists all notifications and written 
questions or written answers received since the closing of the airgram for the previous meeting, any 
 
2 See G/STR/24.  
3 The meeting originally scheduled for 26 April 2019 was cancelled on 23 April 2019.  G/L/1456 • G/STR/32  
 
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  standing agenda items (e.g. consideration of the annual report during the autumn meeting), and 
any other items who se inclusion in the annotated draft agenda has been requested by Members until 
the day that precedes issuance of the annotated draft agenda. For items such as questions and 
answers and longstanding agenda items, the annotated draft agenda briefly recalls t he relevant 
procedural history of the item in the Working Party. The annotated draft agenda also informs 
Members of the date by which they can make any proposals for items to be added to the final 
agenda, prior to the issuance of the formal airgram conveni ng the meeting.  
 
- The formal airgram is issued 10 calendar days before the meeting (or the last working day 
preceding the 10th calendar day, if the latter falls on a WTO non -working day). The airgram contains 
the proposed agenda which was circulated in de tailed form in the annotated draft agenda document 
along with any additional items requested to be placed on the agenda by the set deadline by any 
Member. The order of the agenda is fixed. First, if a new chairperson has been elected by the 
Council  for Tra de in Goods and the Working Party has not since already elected a new 
vice-chairperson, the Working Party decides on the election of a vice -chairperson. Second (or first, 
if the vice -chairperson has already been elected), the Working Party reviews new noti fications. Third, 
the Working Party reviews notifications previously considered but on which written questions, written 
answers, or a counter -notification have been submitted since the previous meeting of the 
Working  Party, or which a Member has otherwise requested to place on the agenda. The 
Working  Party then considers any other items requested to be placed on the agenda by any Member 
or group of Members. Next, the Working Party considers any item raised under "other business", the 
date of the next meetin g, and last, at the autumn meeting, the Working Party's Annual Report to 
the Council for Trade in Goods.  
Table 2: Preparation of annotated draft agendas and airgrams  
Year Date of 
Regular 
meeting  Date of 
circulation of 
annotated draft 
agenda  No. of days 
before the 
meeting  Date of circulation 
of airgrams  No. of days 
before the 
meeting  
2019  16 July  
1 November  25 June  
11 October  21 
21 5 July  
22 October  11 
10 
2020  2 November  13 October  20 23 October  
Corr. 26  October  10 
2021  3 May  
5 October  13 April  
15 September  20 
20 23 April  
24 September  10 
11 
2022  13 May 
(postponed from 
2 May because 
of Eid Al -Fitr) 
21 October  12 April  
 
 
 
30 September  31 
 
 
 
21 29 April (Add.1)  
(22 April original)  
 
 
11 October  14 
 
 
 
10 
 
2.2.5   Other documents circulated before and after the meetings  
- Some days before the issuance of the annotated draft agenda, the Secretariat sends an email to 
all Members who have registered an interest in the work of the Working Party to remind them of the 
upcoming issuance of the annotated draft agenda, as well as of the deadline for placing items 
thereon.  
 
- A list of contact details for the Working Party is issued as a room document before each meeting 
and updated regularly. Documents such as annotated draft agendas, airgrams, and draft annual 
reports are also sent by email to this contact list, in addition to being available on the WTO website.  
 
- Before the autumn meeting each year, the Secretariat circulates as a room document the draft 
annual report for Members' review and written comments. The final report is issued following that 
meeting.  G/L/1456 • G/STR/32  
 
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  - The Working Party also issues a "status of notifications" in connection with the autumn meeting. 
The recent practice has been to issue this status of notifications in draft form as a room docum ent 
in advance of the meeting, and then to circulate the final document after discussion at the meeting.  
 
- Members make notifications and counter -notifications of state trading enterprises, which are 
circulated and placed on the agenda of the first availa ble meeting for which the agenda has not yet 
closed, as described above.  
 
- Members also pose questions in writing and answer questions in writing. These documents are 
circulated, and the notification to which the written questions or answers pertain, as w ell as the 
questions and answers, are placed on the agenda of the first available meeting for which the agenda 
has not yet closed.  
 
2.2.6   Preparation of the minutes  
- Minutes are produced for each meeting of the Working Group.  
 
- The Secretariat drafts the minut es. The draft minutes are then sent to Members that took the floor 
at the meeting to comment on the summaries of their interventions. All delegates in the contact list 
of the Working Party are also copied. Members who took the floor at the meeting are give n 
approximately 10 calendar days to comment on their own interventions. The minutes are then 
immediately circulated once any necessary changes have been introduced.  
Table 3: Preparation of the minutes/summary reports  
Year Last date of the 
regular meeting  Date of circulation 
of the minutes  No. of pages  No. of days 
following the 
meeting  
2019  16 July  
1 November  1 October  
10 December  8 
7 77 
39 
2020  2 November  17 December  8 45 
2021  3 May  
5 October  17 June  
5 November  6 
5 45 
31 
2022  13 May  
21 October  14 September  
- 7 
- 124 
- 
 
2.2.7   Informal meetings  
- The Working Party has not held informal meetings during the period 2019 -2022.  
Table 4: Convening of informal meetings  
Year Date of informal meeting  Date of communication 
convening the informal 
meeting  No. of days  
2019   
 
NONE  2020  
2021  
2022  
 G/L/1456 • G/STR/32  
 
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  2.3  Substantive work  
- The mandate of the Working Party is to review Members' notifications and counter -notifications of 
state trading enterprises to the Council for Trade in Goods. All notifications on the agenda and any 
related concerns of Members are typically discussed during a half -day meeting, held twice a year.  
 
2.3.1   Thematic sessions  
- None 
 
2.3.2   Notifications  
- Notifications must be made in accordance with the questionnaire on state trading in document 
G/STR/3/Rev.1.  This questionnaire sets out a template for notifications, detailing their required 
content, and also contains "Guidelines for completing the questionnaire". This questionnaire was 
agreed upon in 1998 pursuant to a mandate contained in the Marrakesh Agreem ent, and replaced 
the previous questionnaire adopted in 1960. The guidelines for completing the questionnaire were 
further modified in 2003 to reflect the new frequency of notifications, explained below.  
 
- Members that do not maintain state trading enter prises are also required to make a notification, 
stating that this is the case.  
 
- Until the reporting period 2004 -2005, there was a distinction between "new and full" notifications, 
which were due every three years, and "updating" notifications, which we re due in the intervening 
two years. In 2003, Members decided that starting with the reporting period 2004 -2005, new and 
full notifications would be due every two years, and that there would be no more updating 
notifications.  
 
- Members may also make count er-notifications, that is, a Member that has reason to believe that 
another Member has not adequately met its notification obligations may make a counter -notification, 
if the matter is not satisfactorily resolved by raising it with the Member concerned.  
 
- The Working Party's "status of notifications" lists, for each Member, the STE notifications the 
Member has provided, and those it has not provided. In addition, Members not having made a 
notification for the current notification period are listed in the W orking Party's annual report.  
 
- At the meetings of the Working Party, the Chair systematically urges Members to fulfil their 
notification obligations, recommending that Members seek the Secretariat's assistance in case of 
difficulties or questions.  
 
2.3.3   Reports prepared by the Secretariat  
- Once a year, before the autumn meeting of the Working Party, the Secretariat prepares and issues 
as a room document the "status of notifications". As indicated above, this document shows, for each 
Member, w hich notifications have been provided and which are missing. The document is circulated 
as a Working Party document after the autumn meeting.  
 
- Before the autumn meeting each year, the Secretariat also issues a draft annual report to Members 
for comments.  The report is adopted by the Working Party after consideration at the end of the 
autumn meeting, with any changes agreed upon by the Working Party.  
 
2.3.4   Participation by external stakeholders  
- International organizations may request observer status in the Working Party, but none has 
done so. 
 
2.3.5   Work with other Committees or WTO bodies  
- The Secretariat of the Working Party coordinates meeting dates with the three Rules Committees , 
as in the case of certain delegations the meetings are attended by the same cap ital-based officials.  G/L/1456 • G/STR/32  
 
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  - Following statements in the Working Party on the desirability of synergies with the Committee on 
Agriculture, there have been contacts between the Secretariat staff servicing the two bodies to 
explore possible additional synergies.  
 
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