Issues covered by the WTO’s committees and agreements

State trading enterprises

State trading enterprises are defined as governmental and non-governmental enterprises, including marketing boards, which deal with goods for export and/or import. Article XVII of the GATT 1994 is the principal provision dealing with state trading enterprises and their operations.

Work on this subject in the WTO is undertaken mainly by the Working Party on State Trading Enterprises.

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Introduction

Introduction to state trading enterprises in the WTO
  

Technical information on state trading enterprises

 

The mandate

Browse or download the text of the “Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XVII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994” from the legal texts gateway

Find decisions of WTO bodies concerning the Article XVII of the GATT 1994 in the Analytical Index — Guide to WTO Law and Practice

  

 

Work on state trading enterprises in the WTO, and official documents

The Working Party on state trading enterprises is the focus of work on STEs in the WTO. The current chair is .

Search Documents Online
 General documents STEs have the code G/STR/* (where * takes additional values)
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  • Annual reports of the Working Party on State Trading Enterprises to the General Council (Document code varies)   > search
  • Minutes of the Working Party on State Trading Enterprises search   > search

  • Working documents of the Working Party on State Trading Enterprises (Document code: G/STR/W/*)   > search

  • Notifications to the WTO by members on State Trading Enterprises (Document code: G/STR/N/*)
       > search
  • Questions by members and replies by WTO on notifications submitted (Document code: G/STR/Q*) 
       > search

You can perform more sophisticated searches from the Documents Online search facility (opens in new window) by defining multiple search criteria such as document code, full text search or document date.

Obligation for members to notify the WTO on state trading enterprises

WORKING PARTY
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