Strong Support Emerges in WTO for Negotiations to Eliminate Tariffs on More Tech Gear

GENEVA -- The idea of new negotiations on expanding the WTO Information Technology Agreement (ITA) to eliminate tariffs on new products won strong support during a two-day seminar and a meeting of the committee that deals with the agreement, officials said. Work on setting up a framework to best reach agreement on ITA expansion focuses in part on ironing out differences over, if and how the negotiations should address non-tariff measures (NTMs), participants said.

The EU, in the committee meeting late Tuesday, backed a concept paper on ITA expansion floated by the U.S., Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, a trade official said. The EU told the committee more precision was needed on NTMs, he said. Symposium speakers differed over whether or how NTMs should be addressed in talks. The concept paper calls for concrete steps to advance ongoing work on NTMs to spur international trade in technology.

The EU wants negotiations to move forward as quickly as possible, the trade official said. ITA participants should begin negotiations promptly with a view to rapid conclusion and implementation, the concept paper said. Quickly expanding ITA product coverage would give a much-needed boost to the global economy, it said. National consultations should accelerate, it said. Malaysia and Costa Rica added their names to the list of co-sponsors of the concept paper, the trade official said.

Australia, Israel, Peru, Costa Rica and New Zealand supported the concept paper during the committee meeting, the trade official said. El Salvador, also on behalf of Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic, said they were open to talks but stressed the need for certain flexibilities for developing countries, he said. India and Egypt also backed the idea of providing flexibility for developing countries, he said. India said non-tariff barriers must be dealt with because they're the real barriers to trade in information technology products, he said.

Key categories of products that could be covered by the ITA include products capable of processing digital signals, products that can send or receive digital signals with or without lines, technology manufacturing gear, related components, attachments, and parts, the concept paper said. Speakers at the symposium said products are often described as generally as possible following past practice and to provide a basis for broad interpretation in the future.

The committee’s chairman, Zahari Md Ali of Malaysia, said the two-day symposium showed that the ITA is a success story that needs updating, and that it has helped developing countries boost productivity, a trade official said. The chairman also said there were many calls for expanding ITA product coverage and national participation, as well as in dealing with non-tariff barriers, he said.

Thailand said the ITA must be expanded to improve livelihoods, the trade official said. Costa Rica said it saw the ITA as a win-win experience with its share in exports rising from 5 percent to one-third today of its total, he said. Participants from Japan, Colombia, Canada, the EU, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippines, Israel, Singapore, Peru and Hong Kong supported ITA expansion, he said.

Russia said it intended to fully join the ITA when it accedes to the WTO, the trade official said. Russia and the WTO secretariat are working on a draft ITA schedule detailing how ITA goods will be handled on import into Russia, he said. The U.S. and Taiwan are eager to see Russia’s schedule, he said. The U.S. said it would help to ensure Russia’s participation in the ITA, he said. Montenegro will likely be the 75th ITA participant when it joins the WTO on May 30, he said. The committee elected Aaron Fowler, a Canadian trade official, chairman for this year, the trade official said.