PRESS/90
16February 1998
MORE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS
PROPOSED FOR TARIFF ELIMINATION
TheCommittee ofParticipants ontheExpansion ofTrade inInformation Technology Products,
on12February, began considering proposals forexpanding theproduct coverage oftheWTO agreement
oneliminating tariffs oninformation technology products (Information Technology Agreement orITA).
Fourteen participants--Australia; Canada; theEuropean Communities; Hong Kong, China;
Israel; Japan; Malaysia; Norway; thePhilippines; Singapore; Switzerland; Chinese Taipei; Turkey;
andtheUnited States--have submitted "wish lists" forhundreds ofITproduct categories tobecovered
byITAII.Theseincludeprintedcircuitboardmanufacturingequipment;flatpaneldisplaymanufacturing
equipment; capacitor manufacturing equipment; audio, radio, television andvideo apparatus;
telecommunications products; electrical/electronic machines; instruments; andpartsandinputs forIT
products.
Several participants, including Canada, theEuropean Communities, Malaysia, thePhilippines
andtheUnited States, reported totheCommittee thattheywould soonstartdomestic consultations
ontheproposed products. TheITACommittee hasuntil30June1998todecide onwhatnewproducts
aretobeannexed totheagreement.
Attheclose ofthemeeting, theCommittee elected Mr.Martin Harvey, Deputy Permanent
Representative ofNewZealand, asitsChairperson. Theparticipants thanked Mr.Anwarul Hoda, WTO
Deputy Director-General, forhaving chaired thegroup since theSingapore Ministerial.
Note toEditors:
TheWTO Ministerial Declaration onTrade inInformation Technology Products (ITA) was
agreed attheclose ofthefirstWTO Ministerial Conference on13December 1996inSingapore. The
ITAprovides forparticipants toeliminate customs duties andother duties andcharges oninformation
technology products (contained intheannexes) bytheyear2000, onanm.f.n. basis (applied toall
WTO members). TheDeclaration, however, provides thatimplementation iscontingent onexpanding
ITAparticipation tocover approximately 90percentofworld trade inITproducts by1April 1997.
TheITAparticipants on26March 1997agreed thatthiscriterion hadbeenmet.They alsoestablished
aCommittee ontheExpansion ofTrade inInformation Technology Products, which willmonitor the
implementation oftheITA,discuss andapprove expansion ofproduct coverage andapprove requests
from other countries toparticipate.
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Thecurrent 43participants totheITAaccount for93percentofworld trade inITproducts.
They are:Australia; Canada; Costa Rica; theCzech Republic; EC15;ElSalvador; Estonia; Hong
Kong, China; Iceland; India; Israel; India; Iceland; Indonesia; Japan; Korea; Liechtenstein; Macau;
Malaysia; NewZealand; Norway; thePhilippines; Poland; Romania; Singapore; theSlovak Republic;
Switzerland; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; Turkey; andtheUnited States. Estonia andChinese Taipei
areintheprocess ofacceding totheWTO.
TheITAprovides forthe"staging" oftariffcutsinfourequal ratereductions (25% eachtime):
1st-1July1997; 2nd-1January 1998; 3rd-1January 1999; and4th-complete elimination ofduties
nolaterthan1January 2000. Inaddition toregular customs duties, theITADeclaration alsoprovides
fortheelimination ofother duties andcharges (ODCs) by1July1997 (except ifotherwise specified
inaparticipants schedule).
World trade inoffice machines andtelecom equipment issignificant --$626 billion in1996,
orabout 12.2percentofworld merchandise trade. TheITAcovers sixmain categories: computers,
telecom equipment, semiconductors, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, software andscientific
instruments. TheITAdoesnotcurrently cover consumer electronic goods.
END