A significant share of all industrial subsidies tends to be intermediated by or provided through SEs that act as suppliers of energy, financing, or provide parts and components to producers downstream. This implies that companies in which governments are significant shareholders, such as state banks or state power companies, can play a dual role as both recipients and providers of industrial subsidies. 

The WTO has to date played a limited role in disciplining the support provided to and by SEs, prompting some governments to incorporate specific disciplines on SEs in their preferential trade agreements. To support the emergence of a consensus at the multilateral level, empirical evidence must be shared more widely, as should the knowledge and experience acquired at the bilateral and plurilateral levels. OECD instruments such as the OECD Guidelines of Corporate Governance on State-Owned Enterprises have a useful role to play in this regard.