EU Duty Elimination on Flat Panels to Help Fuel U.S. Exports, Says USTR
The European Union (EU) decision to eliminate duties on cable, satellite, and other set-top boxes, flat panel computer monitors and certain computer printers puts the body into compliance with its World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA) commitments, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said on Oct. 25. The EU adopted the resolution to eliminate duties during a council meeting from Sept. 27-28 (here).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
“Eliminating duties on these and other high-tech products was a key achievement of the WTO’s Information Technology Agreement, and a commitment we are determined to see enforced,” said USTR Michael Froman, according to a release (here). “The high-tech sector is a vital part of our economy and has played a leading role in many states’ economic growth.” The EU resolution said flat panel displays which are able to display signals from automatic data-processing machines with an acceptable level of functionality would receive duty-free status.
The U.S. requested consultation at the WTO with the EU over the dispute in 2008 (see 08092320) ). Japan and Chinese Taipei joined the U.S. in pressing for establishment of a dispute settlement panel. The duties illegally cost Japanese industry $17 million annually, said the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (here). “Japanese industry had been subject to considerable excess duties by the EU,” said the statement. “The market for high-tech IT products has been growing, and we expect the significant growth of exports in the future.”