CEA, ESA, NAM, Other Industry Groups Urge ITA Duty Eliminations

Negotiators from countries party to the Information Technology Agreement will convene in Geneva Monday to Oct. 2 to discuss duty reductions for the pact’s expansion rollout, dozens of industry associa­tions said in a recent statement. The World Trade Organization says the duty reductions will begin in 2016 (see 1507280062), and the industry associations urged a speedy elimination schedule. “While the standard phase-out (or staging) period for tariff elimination under ITA expansion is three years, we urge the negotia­tors to show as much ambition as possible,” said the statement, which was endorsed by CEA, the Chamber of Commerce, DigitalEurope, the Entertainment Software Association, the National Association of Manu­facturers, as well as a range of software and semiconductor groups. “We urge all negotiating parties to show restraint in seeking staging periods longer than three years, given the short innovation cycles for high-tech­nology products.” Each country must finalize its schedule by the December WTO ministerial in Nairobi, the statement said. In late July, the WTO said only 49 countries out of 81 total ITA parties had signed off on expansion, which was brokered in the days before.