G/L/1370  
G/STR/26  
 
9 November 2020  
(20-7973) Page: 1/2 
   
 
REPORT (20 20) OF THE WORKING PARTY ON  
STATE TRADING ENTERPRISES  
ADOPTED 2 NOVEMBER 2020  
1  ORGANIZATION OF THE WORK OF THE WORKING PARTY  
1.  The Working Party on State Trading Enterprises (the Working Party) 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 Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 
1994 (the Understanding). Membership of the Working Party is open to all Members indicating their 
wish to serve on it. Observer governments in the Gen eral Council of the WTO have observer 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 review period, which runs from 2 November 2019 through 
2 November  2020. During this period, the Working Party held one formal meeting under the 
Chairmanship of M s Johana Méndez  (Panama ), on 2 November 2020 . The minutes of the meeting 
will be circulated as G/STR/M/3 7. The meeting originally scheduled for 24 April 2020 could not be 
held because of the COVID -19 pandemic.1 
4.  During the first part of the review period, Mr Kristian Henk (Austria)  was Chair of the 
Working  Party, and in April 2020 the Working Party elected Mr Tayutic Mena Retana (Costa Rica) as 
Vice-Chair. In July 2020 the Council for Trade in Goods elected Ms Johana Méndez (Panama) as 
Chair of the Working Party and in November 2020  the Working Party elected Ms Laura Gauer 
(Switzerland) as Vice -Chair of the Working Party.  
2  NOTIFICATION AND REVIEW OF MEMBERS' STATE TRADING ACTIVITIES  
5.  Article  XVII:4 of the GATT  1994 and paragraph  1 of the Understanding require Members to notify 
their st ate trading enterprises to the Council for Trade in Goods. New and full notifications were first 
required in 1995 and, subsequently, every third year thereafter, with updating notifications to be 
made in the intervening years. Beginning in 2003, updating n otifications 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 
 
1 On 24 April 2020, the Chair of the Working Party, Mr Kristian Henk, proposed to Members to reassess 
the situation by 30 June 2020, the deadline for new and full notifications for the most recent notification period 
(G/STR/N/18). On 29 June 2020, the Chair  noted the limited number of notifications received, urged Members 
to submit their notifications, and proposed to hold the following meeting of the Working Party on 
2 November  2020, the date already scheduled for the autumn meeting of the Working Party, wh ich would 
follow the regular meetings of the Committees on Anti -Dumping Practices, Safeguards, and Subsidies and 
Countervailing Measures. This proposal was met with no objections.  G/L/1370 • G/STR/26  
 
- 2 - 
 
  recommendation contained in docu ment G/STR/8 to extend the current frequency of notification s on 
an indefinite basis.  
6.  During the period under review, the Working Party reviewed new and full notifications from : 
Albania; Argentina; Cambodia; Canada; European Union; Georgia; Honduras; Hong Kong, China; 
Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Kyrgyz Republic; Macao, China; Mauritius; Republic  of 
Moldova; Montenegro; New Zealand; North Macedonia; Panama; Kingdom of Saudi  Arabia; 
Seychelles; Singapore; Switzerland; Chinese Taipei; T hailand; Tonga; Ukraine; 
United  Arab Emirates; United States; Uruguay; and Vanuatu .2 It also returned to the previously 
reviewed notifications of India and Viet Nam.  
7.  The Working Party also took up the following agenda items: (i) continued non-notification of state 
trading enterprises  by Brazil (item requested by the United States); and (ii) continued non -
notification of state trading enterprises  by the Russian Federatio n (item requested by the 
United  States) . 
3  COMPLIANCE WITH THE NOTIFICATION OBLIGATION  
8.  As of 2 November 2020 , 30 new and full notifications have been received for the 2018 -2019 
notification period.  Between 2 November 2019 and 2  November  2020, the Working Par ty has also 
received 30 new and full notifications for earlier notification periods .3 
9.  The following Members have not submitted any notification for th e 2018 -2019 notification  period: 
Afghanistan ; Angola ; Antigua and Barbuda ; Armenia ; Australia ; Kingdom of B ahrain ; Bangladesh ; 
Barbados ; Belize ; Benin ; Plurinational State of Bolivia; Botswana; Brunei Darussalam ; Burkina  Faso; 
Burundi ; Cabo Verde ; Cameroon ; Central African Republic ; Chad; Chile; China ; Colombia ; Congo ; 
Costa Rica ; Côte d'Ivoire ; Cuba; Democratic Republic of the Congo ; Djibouti ; Dominica ; 
Dominican  Republic ; Ecuador; Egypt; El Salvador; Eswatini; Fiji; Gabon ; The Gambia ; Ghana ; 
Grenada ; Guatemala ; Guinea ; Guinea -Bissau ; Guyana ; Haiti; Iceland ; India; Israel ; Jamaica ; Jordan ; 
Kazakhstan ; Kenya ; the State of Kuwait; Lao People's Democratic Republic ; Lesotho ; Liberia ; 
Liechtenstein ; Madagascar ; Malawi ; Malaysia ; Maldives ; Mali; Mauritania ; Mexico ; Mongolia ; Morocco ; 
Mozambique ; Myanmar ; Namibia ; Nepal ; Nicaragua ; Niger; Nigeria ; Norway ; Oman ; Pakistan ; 
Papua New Guinea ; Paraguay ; Peru; Philippines ; Qatar ; Russian Federation ; Rwanda ; Saint Kitts 
and Nevis ; Saint Lucia ; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ; Samoa ; Senegal ; Sierra Leone ; Solomon 
Islands ; South  Africa ; Sri Lanka ; Suriname ; Tajikistan ; Tanzania ; Thailand; Togo; Trinidad and 
Tobago ; Tunisia ; Turkey ; Uganda ; Vanuatu ; Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela; Viet Nam ; Yemen ; 
Zambia ; and Zimbabwe . 
10.  Document G/STR/ 25/Rev.1 sets  out the status of state trading notifications since  1995.  
4  VICE -CHAIRPERSON FOR THE WORKING PARTY  
11.  Following discussions of the matter of a vice -chairperson in the Working Party, the Council for 
Trade in Goods agreed that the Working Party could  elect a vice-chairperson, as do other subsidiary 
bodies  of the Council for Trade in Goods.4 
5  ADOPTION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT  
12.  The Working Party adopted its Annual Report to the Council for Trade in Goods for the 
year 2020. 
 
__________  
 
2 The notification of Brazil, submitted on 30 October 2020, will be reviewed at the next meeting of the 
Working Party. Document G/STR/N/18/BRA.  
3 Document G/STR/ 25/Rev.1.  
4 See documents G/STR/24 and G/STR/23, paras. 10 -12.