A statutory corporation is a corporation created by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction thus they might be ordinary companies/corporations owned by a government with or without other shareholders, or they might be a body without shareholders which is controlled by national or sub-national government to the (in some cases minimal) extent provided for in the creating legislation.
Bodies described in the English language as "statutory corporations" exist in the following countries in accordance with the associated descriptions (where provided).
In Australia, statutory corporations are created by Acts of state or federal parliaments. Current statutory corporations include Australia Post, Airservices Australia, the Australian Rail Track Corporation and the Australian Egg Corporation. The purpose of their separation from normal government operations is to ensure profitability, and in theory, independence of decision making from the state or national government (to ensure that decisions are made on a commercial basis with less or no political interference.)
As statutory corporations, their regulatory and business conditions may be significantly different from private-sector companies. An example of this in Australia is the regulatory conditions placed on the national communications company Telstra.
A significant number of the statutory corporations are private commercial operations, a number of which have been privatised, in part or in whole, since the 1980s: these have included the national airline Qantas, Telstra (also previously known as Telecom Australia), and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
The Körperschaft des öffentlichen Rechts (KdöR) is a statutory corporation of Germany. An example of a statutory corporation is a "", a body involved in the provision of out-patient medical services in a German state. The established Christian churches, the Jewish communities and the public broadcasters in Germany are other prominent examples.