. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/STR/Q1/AUS/6 
21 December 2006 
 (06-6117) 
Working Party on  
State Trading Enterprises Original:   English 
 
 
STATE TRADING  
 
Replies to Questions posed by the EUROPEAN COMMUNITY1 concerning  
the New and Full Article XVII Notification of AUSTRALIA2 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 19 December 2006, is being circulated at the request of 
the Delegation of Australia.  
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1. ABB Grain Export Limited 
 
• Question:
  Why does ABB Grain Export Limited only have statutory acquisition powers 
over barley produced in South Australia and no t in other States?  This also seems to be 
the case for the Grain Pool Pty Ltd. 
 
Response :  ABB Ltd’s statutory acquisition powers fo r barley grown in South Australia are 
conferred by South Australian state government legislation (i.e. not Commonwealth), and as 
such only apply within the jurisdiction of Sout h Australia.  Similar legislative arrangements 
are in place for Grain Pool Pty Ltd in the State of Western Australia. 
 
• Question :  Why has export marketing been d eregulated in some States and not in 
others? 
 
Response :  As statutory acquisition powers are conferred separately by Australian State 
Governments it is a matter for each State to decide on these marketing arrangements.  
 
• Question :  In the notification it is stated that ABB Grain Export Limited and the AWB 
are not used  to fulfil contractual obligations ent ered into by the government.  Does the 
possibility exist for ABB Grain Export Limite d and the AWB to enter into contractual 
obligations on behalf of the government? 
 
Response :  Neither AWBI nor ABB Grain Export Limited are required to enter into 
commercial contractual obligations on behalf of the Australian Government.  The Australian 
Government does not have any programme in place where it needs to purchase grain, other 
than for international food aid.   Australia’s food aid programme is managed by the Australian 
Agency for International Development (AusAID) .  AusAID is not required to buy food for 
food aid from local suppliers.  It is free to purchase food st uffs from any source, including 
from foreign suppliers, to be used for Australia ’s food aid deliveries provided it is the most 
cost effective supplier(s) available. 
                                                      
1 G/STR/Q1/AUS/5. 
2 G/STR/N/11/AUS. G/STR/Q1/AUS/6 
Page 2  
 
  2. AWB International Limited 
 
• Question
:  In its notification of AWB, it is mentioned that AWB has a veto right over 
bulk export requests from third parties to the Wheat Export Authority (WEA).  Could 
Australia provide information as to the tonn age requested by applicants to export and 
the tonnage actually approved in the last three years? 
 
Response:   The Wheat Export Authority website provides this data:  
http://www.wea.gov.au/statistics/statsover.html  
 
• Question :  Could Australia clarify on what gro unds AWB veto requests for exports from 
third parties to the WEA? 
 
Response :  AWBI released an Information Memo randum in relation to approvals for bulk 
wheat export consent applications, wh ich is available on AWB’s website:  
http://www.awb.com.au/growers/nationalpool/p oliciesandprocedures/bulkwheatexportconsent
application/AWBIBulkWheatExportConsentApplication.htm . 
 
On 7 December 2006, the Australian Parliament passed the Wheat Marketing Amendment 
Bill 2006 , which transfers the power to veto applications for bulk wheat exports from AWBI 
to the Minister for Agriculture until 30 June 2007.  The Australian Government is consulting 
with industry on the future of wheat export marketing in Australia.   
 
• Question :  Which of the recommendations of the review panel from October 2004 have 
been implemented?  Did any of these recommendations suggest removing AWB's right to veto bulk export? 
 
Response:
  The public report of the 2004 Wheat Marketing Review is available from the 
independent panel’s website:  http:// www.2004wheatreview.gov.au/documents.html . 
 
The independent panel made a number of recommendations for improving AWBI’s 
management and governance;  WEA’s operati ons; and the administration of the export 
consent system.  The Government agreed in-principle with all the 2004 Review’s 
recommendations, but implementation is the r esponsibly of AWBI and the WEA, both of 
which are governed by Boards independent of Government.  The independent panel 
recommended that AWBI retain its powers of veto over bulk export applications.   
 
Queensland Sugar Limited  
 
• Question :  As from January 2006 Australia has noti fied that all other Australian entities 
(private or government owned) can export raw sugar.  Does this concern all sugar 
products, such as refined sugar or ethanol produced from sugar?  Are there any 
exemptions?  Are there any exemptions fo r foreign companies to export raw sugar? 
 
Response :  The Queensland State Government has repealed the statutory arrangements under 
which ownership of Queensland sugar was vested  in QSL.  With these changes, other entities 
(including foreign owned) are now able to e xport raw sugar from Queensland.  Refined sugar 
and ethanol were never produc ts covered under the now repealed Queensland legislation 
which previously vested all the raw s ugar produced in Queensland in QSL.   
 
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