RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/STR/Q1/ROM/2
2April 1998
ORGANIZATION(98-1326)
Original: English Working Party on
State Trading Enterprises
STATE TRADING
Replies toQuestion Posed bytheUNITED STATES1
Concerning theArticle XVII Notification ofROMANIA2
Thefollowing communication, dated 31March 1998, hasbeenreceived fromthePermanent
Mission ofRomania
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Question
Indocument G/STR/N/2/ROM, Romania notified that"there have been nochanges in
statetradingactivitiesinRomania".Initsinitialnotification,G/STR/N/1/ROM,Romaniaindicated
thatithadnoSTE'sasdefined under Article XVII.
Weunderstand thattheNational Agency forAgricultural Products (ANPA) continues
toberesponsible forfunctions suchaspurchasing, storage andmanagement ofgrain reserves.
Wealsounderstand thatmany ofthecorporations spun offfrom theformer ROMCEREAL (a
monopoly importer) remain majority state-owned. These firms engage ininternational commerce.
PleaseclarifytheroleofANPAandwhethertheotherfirmsthatwerespunofffromROMCEREAL
have anyspecial rights orprivileges.
Answer
Through theGovernment Decision No.1054 of1994, theformer "regie autonome"
"ROMCEREAL" (which wasnotamonopolist importer) wasrestructured andreorganized intothe
National Agency forAgricultural Products (ANPA), asaregieautonome ofnational importance, and
42commercial companies withmajority stateowned capital.
According totheabove-mentioned Government Decision, ANPA which tookover from
ROMCEREAL astorage capacity of3.5million tons, hadthefollowing tasks (functions): tobuy,
tostore, tocondition, toconserve andtosellcereals, grains ofleguminous vegetables andoilseeds;
toconstitute thenational reserves ofagricultural products, toprovide services, fortheagricultural
1G/STR/Q1/ROM/1
2G/STR/N/2/ROM
./.G/STR/Q1/ROM/2
Page2
producers andforother agricultural products owners; toimport andtoexport thegoods under its
object ofactivity.
Thecommercial companies derived from"ROMCEREAL", called "COMCEREAL" tookover
astorage capacity of6.8million tons.
They arecarrying out,among others, thefollowing activities: import andexport ofcereals,
grains ofleguminous vegetables andoilseeds, aswellasimport ofchemical fertilizers, seeds and
pesticides.
Subsequently,throughtheGovernmentDecisionNo.184/1997anumberofother29commercial
companies having state-owned capital (called CEREALCOM) withanoverall storage capacity of
3.5million tonshavebeendetached from ANPA.
These commercial companies havethesame kindofactivities asCOMCEREAL, including
importation andexportation.
Atpresent, ANPA disposes ofasmall number ofemployees, hasnostorage capacity andis
carrying outonlyactivities consisting ofbuying andselling wheat fortheNational Administration of
Material Reserve.
TheANPA andthecommercial companies spunofffromtheformer ROMCEREAL andfrom
ANPA havenoexclusive rights orprivileges allowing them toinfluence thelevelortheorientation
ofimports orexports.
These entities fullyobserve theprinciple ofnon-discrimination, theirimport orexport activities
being carried outoncommercial grounds onlyandinafreecompetition environment. They donot
enjoy anyexclusivity related totrade ondomestic market oroninternational market.
Thecompetition between theabove-mentioned entities andthose fromtheprivate sector does
exist.
Itisenvisaged thatthecommercial companies having state-owned capital willbeprivatized
inthenearfuture.
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