G/L/1156  
G/STR/15  
 
10 November  2016 
(16-6167) Page: 1/2 
    
 
 REPORT (201 6) OF THE WORKING PAR TY ON  
STATE TRADING ENTERP RISES  
1  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 the 
Interpretation of Article  XVII of the General Agre ement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (hereinafter "the 
Understanding"). Membership of the Working Party is open to all Members indicating their wish to 
serve on it. Observer governments in the General Council of the WTO have observ er status in the 
Working Party.  
2. The mandate of the Working Party is set out in paragraph  5 of the Understanding. The 
Working Party completed its mandate to develop an illustrative list of state trading relationships 
and activities with the adoption of the Illustrative List by the Council for  Trade in Goods on 
15 October  1999 (G/STR/4). Having also completed the mandated revision of the questionnaire on 
state trading, the Working Party now reviews notifications , in light of the revised questionnaire 
adopted on 14  November  2003 (G/STR/3/Rev.1) , as well as counter -notifications.  
3. This Report is submitted under paragraph  5 of the Understanding , which provides that the 
Working Group shall report annually to the Council for Trade in Goods . It sets out the activities of 
the Working Party during the re view period, which runs from 13 October 2015 through 
25 October  2016. During th is period , the Working Party held two formal meeti ngs under the 
Chairmanship of Ms  Yeili Rangel Peñaranda (Colombia), on 9 June and 21 October 2016. The 
minutes of th e former ha ve been circulated as document G/STR/M/2 9, while minutes of the latter 
will be circulated as G/STR/M/30 .  
2  NOTIFICATION AND REV IEW OF MEMBERS' STAT E TRADING ACTIVITIES  
4. Article  XVII:4 of GATT  1994 and paragraph  1 of the Understanding require Members to 
notify their state trading enterprises to the Council for Trade in Goods. New and full notifications 
were first required in 1995 and, subsequently, every third year thereafter, w ith updating 
notifications to be made in the intervening years. Beginning in 2003, updating notifications were 
eliminated and the frequency of new and full notifications was increased to once every two years. 
This new approach was initially implemented on a trial basis.  On 8 June 2012, the Working Party 
adopted the recommendation contain ed in document G/STR/8 to extend the current frequency of 
notification on an indefinite basis.  
5. During the period under review, the Working Party reviewed new and full notifications from 
the following Members: Afghanistan; Argentina; Australia; Barbados;  Brazil; Canada; China; 
Costa  Rica; Egypt; El Salvador; European Union; Hong Kong, China; Jamaica, Japan; Kazakhstan; 
Korea; Liechtenstein; Macao, China; Mauritius; Morocco; Montenegro; New Zealand; Norway; 
Seychelles; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; South Africa;  Switzerland; Tunisia; Ukraine; United States; 
and Viet Nam. It also returned to the previously reviewed notifications of Canada; China; India; 
Indonesia; Malaysia; New Zealand; and Viet Nam.  
6. During one or both of the Working Party's meetings during the pe riod under review, the 
Working Party also took up the following agenda items: (i) agricultural exporting state trading 
enterprises (item requested by Canada); (ii) STE notification obligations of the Russian Federation 
(item requested by the European Union  and the United States); (iii) Russian Federation – Russian 
United Grain Company (item requested by the European Union and the United States); G/L/1156 • G/STR/15  
 
- 2 - 
 
  (iv) European Union – Alko Inc. (Finland) (item requested by t he Russian Federation); 
(v) non-notification and ov erdue notifications (item requested by Australia, the European Union 
and the United States; (vi) non -notification of state trading  enterprises by the 
United  Arab Emirates (item requested by the United States); and (v ii) transparency in the 
Working  Party (i tem requested by the United States).  
7. Finally, the Working Party adopted its Annual Report to the Council for Trade in Goods for 
the year  2016.  
3  COMPLIANCE WITH THE NOTIFICATION OBLIGAT ION  
8. As of the end of the review period, 33  new and full notifications ha ve been received for the 
2016 notification period (G/STR/N/16).  
9. The following Members have not submitted any notification  for 2016: Albania, Angola; 
Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; Armenia; Bahrain,  the Kingdom of; Bangladesh; Barbados; 
Belize; Benin;  Bolivia, the Plurinational State of ; Botswana; Brunei Darussalam; Burkina Faso; 
Burundi; Cabo Verde; Cambodia; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; China; Colombia; 
Congo; Côte d'Ivoire; Cuba; Democratic Repub lic of the Congo; Djibouti; Dominica; 
Domin ican Republic; Ecuador; Fiji; Gabon; The Gambia; Georgia; Ghana; Grenada; Guatemala; 
Guinea; Guinea -Bissau; Guyana; Haiti; Honduras; Iceland; India; Israel; Jordan; Kenya; Kuwait, 
the State of; Kyrgyz Republic; Lao Peoples' Democratic Republic; Lesotho; Madag ascar; Malawi; 
Maldives; Mali; Mauritania; Mexico; Moldova, Republic of; Mongolia; Mozambique; Myanmar; 
Namibia; Nepal; Nicaragua; Niger; Nigeria; Oman; Pakistan; Panama; Papua New Guinea; 
Paraguay; Peru; Philippines; Qatar; Russian Federation; Rwanda; Saint Kitts and Nevis; 
Saint Lucia;  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Samoa; Saudi  Arabia, the Kingdom of; Senegal; 
Sierra  Leone; Solomon Islands; Sri Lanka; Suriname; Swaziland; Tajikistan; Tanzania; Thailand; 
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; Togo;  Tonga; Trinidad and Tobago; Uganda; 
United  Arab Emirates; Uruguay; Vanuatu;  Venezuela,  the Bolivarian Republic of ; Yemen;  Zambia 
and Zimbabwe.  
10. Information on the status of state trading notifications since 1995 is set out in document 
G/STR/ 14. 
 
__________