16/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - Russia becomes 78th member of WTO agreement on information technology. On Friday 13 September, the competent committee of the WTO confirmed Russia's participation in the information technology agreement (ITA). Russia became a member of the WTO in August 2012. The plurilateral ITA has been in force since 1996 and provides for participating countries to eliminate duties completely on IT products covered by the ITA. The benefits of the ITA are extended to all WTO members. As part of Russia's WTO accession commitments, it committed to reducing its duties on IT products from 5.4% to zero. Its imports and exports of IT products were US$20.21 billion and US$0.99 billion respectively in 2012. (EH/transl.fl)