Brussels, 29/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - A WTO arbitration group has “decided in favour of the US, Japan and Taiwan” in a trade dispute between these countries and the European Union on customs duties imposed on certain technological products, indicated a source close to the dossier to the AFP news agency.
These three countries lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organisation in 2008. They accused the EU of imposing taxes on certain products such as internet cable boxes, flat computer screens and certain printers, which can also be used to scan, fax and/or copy, explained AFP.
The arbitration group's report is expected to be published at the end of August or the beginning of September. The EU will then have two months in which it can appeal against the decision of the WTO arbitration group. An agreement was signed in 1996 banning customs duties on certain hi-tech products (this list is discussed on a regular basis). The EU informed the WTO that although the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) demanded that customs duties were removed on flat screens for computers, this did not apply to television screens. The EU puts computer screens in the same category as video screens, a category of goods not covered by the ITA.
The US is accusing the EU of “taxing innovation” and therefore increasing prices for millions of businesses and consumers. The US trade representative (USTR) states that the European Union is claiming that it can impose customs duties on these products simply because they contain technologies or functions that did not exist at the time the agreement was signed. The US believes that this complaint involves $70 billion in global exports for these three hi-tech products (in 2007). (L.C./transl.fl)