Transparency focus of exchanges at Working Party on State Trading Enterprises

The Working Party reviewed 32 new notifications on state trading enterprises from 26 WTO members (Argentina; Kingdom of Bahrain; Brazil; Canada; China; Costa Rica; Eswatini; European Union; Georgia; Haiti; Honduras; Hong Kong, China; Israel; Japan; Kazakhstan; Republic of Korea; Lesotho; Liechtenstein; Montenegro; New Zealand; Singapore; Switzerland; Thailand; Ukraine; United Kingdom; and United States). Members also exchanged views regarding notifications previous submitted by three members (India, the Philippines and South Africa).

Reiterating the need for greater compliance with transparency obligations under WTO rules, 11 delegations called on all members to submit notifications on their state trading enterprises within the deadlines, and to respond to other members' questions in a substantive and timely manner.

In line with Article XVII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 and the Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XVII of the GATT 1994, all members must submit a notification of state trading enterprises every two years.

Ukraine and seven other members expressed their strong opposition to the actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine and referred to their earlier statements on the Russian Federation's non-compliance with notification obligations. The Russian Federation responded that the Working Party was not the appropriate venue for political statements.

Background

Under the WTO agreements on trade in goods, members are required to notify relevant information on their state trading enterprises and not to use state trading enterprises to circumvent other WTO obligations.

More information on state trading enterprises is available here.

Next meeting

The next Working Party meeting is scheduled for 5 May 2025.

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