WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/IT/W/33 
18 May 2011 
 (11-2524) 
Committee of Participants on the Expansion of Trade in 
Information Technology Products  
 
 
 
CLASSIFICATION DIVERGENCES:   
TRANSPOSITION OF ITEMS IN LIST I (A) INTO HS2002 AND HS2007 
 
Note by the Secretariat1 
 
 1. At the informal meeting of 8 April 2011, Pa rticipants to the Information Technology 
Agreement (ITA) requested the Secretariat to prepar e a background document explaining the origin of 
the HS96 codes contained in List I (A), as well as the transposition of such codes into HS2002 and 
HS2007. 
A. B
ACKGROUND  
2. The product coverage of the ITA is contained in  two attachments to its Annex: Attachment A 
lists the HS96 headings or parts thereof to be c overed, while Attachment B lists specific products to 
be covered by the ITA wherever they are classified in the HS.  In addition, Section 2 of Attachment A 
(Semiconductor manufacturing and testing equipmen t and parts thereof) identifies a number of 
products which are "For Attachment B".  There ar e a total of 55 "Attachment B" products:  13 which 
appear "in" Attachment B itself and 42 which are listed as "for attachment B" in section 2 of Attachment A. 
3. Paragraph 5 of the Annex to the ITA provides inter alia  that Participants shall "meet as often 
as necessary and no later than 30 September 1997 to consider any divergence among them in classifying 
information technology products, be ginning with the products specified in Attachment B".  This 
mandate is also reflected in paragraph 8 of th e document on the Implementation of the Ministerial 
Declaration (G/L/160).   
4. Participants began discussing these "divergences in classification" in 1997 based on a note by 
the Secretariat (G/IT/2).  A group of customs experts from ITA Participants met informally between 1999 and 2000 to discuss them and was able to na rrow-down divergences and, in some cases, support 
one or more possible classifications in the Harmonized System (HS).
2  The Secretariat was requested at 
the beginning of 2001 to prepare four lists of products based on the outcome of the report from customs experts, which was circulated in document G/IT/W/6.  At formal meeting of 27 April 2001 the Chairman of the ITA Committee noted that "List I seemed to be generally agreeable to most delegations, although some required more time to examine it, and it was suggested that delegations could be invited to 
align their practice with the classifications set forth here and the items that were agreeable by consensus 
could be set aside for future rectifications."
3  By December 2004, the document evolved into five lists 
of products (G/IT/W/6/Rev.3), including List I-A  (items where divergences were narrowed to one 
                                                      
1 This document has been prepared under the Secret ariat's own responsibility and without prejudice to 
the positions of Members and to their rights and obligations under the WTO. 
2 See G/IT/14 and Rev.1. 
3 See G/IT/M/26, para. 3.1. G/IT/W/33 
Page 2  
 
  classification option) and I-B (items where dive rgences were narrowed to two or more possible 
classifications, and agreement was reached with respect to these classifications). 
5. The Committee, at its meetings in 2004, endorsed List I – A and List I – B on an ad 
referendum  basis.
4  At its meeting of 30 October 2008, it was agreed that the Chairman would put out an 
options paper and get confirmation fro m the new participants on List I-A.5  In March 2009, the 
Secretariat circulated document G/IT/W/30, which re produced the 18 items in List I (A) as contained in 
document G/IT/W/6/Rev.3 of 20 December 2004.   
B. METHODOLOGY  
6. The annex to this document lists the 18 IT A items contained in document G/IT/W/30, 
including an identification of the ITA Attachment in which they appear (column 3) and HS96 codes 
associated with them, if any (column 5).  Column  6 lists the HS96 code that was agreed by the 
informal group of customs experts and that has been put forward for approval by the Participants.  In 
this regard, it should be noted that 10 out of the 18 items reaffirm the HS96 code that was already 
listed in the ITA, 2 clarify the relevant HS96 code  (i.e. none was listed in the ITA), and 6 propose a 
change with respect to the one listed in the ITA (see column 9).   
7. All HS96 codes comprised in List I-A (column 6) were then transposed into HS2002 
(column 7) and HS2007 (column 8) based on the work previously done by the Secretariat in document 
JOB(07)/96.  HS codes affected appear in bold .  While only two of the relevant HS96 codes where 
affected by the introduction of HS2002, the large majo rity of them were affected with the introduction 
of HS2007.  This being said, and bearing in mind that some correlations between HS2002 and 
HS2007 were not agreed at the WCO, it is worth no ting that 15 of the items seem to be classified 
under HS2007 heading 84.86 ("Machines and apparatus of a kind used solely or principally for the 
manufacture of semiconductor boules or wafers, semic onductor devices, electronic integrated circuits 
or flat panel displays; machines and apparatus speci fied in Note 9 (C) to this Chapter; parts and 
accessories.") 
 
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4 See G/IT/M/40, para. 1.6; and G/IT/M/41, para. 4.13. 
5 See G/IT/M/50, para. 5.20.  
   G/IT/W/33
 Page 3ANNEX 
List I-A No. ITA 
Item 
No. ITA 
Attach. Description Tariff code 
in the ITA 
(HS96) Proposal1 
(HS96) HS2002 HS2007 Secretariat's 
comment 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 
1. 113 Att. A, 
Sect. 2 Quartz reactor tubes and holders designed for 
insertion into diffusion and oxidation furnaces for production of  semiconductor wafers ex7017.10 ex7020.00 ex7020.00 ex7020.00 Change in HS96 code 
proposed. 
2. 114 Att. A, 
Sect. 2 Chemical vapour deposition apparatus for 
semiconductor production ex8419.89 ex8419.89 ex8419.89(*) ex8486.20(*) HS96 code in the ITA 
is confirmed 
3. 115 Att. A, 
Sect. 2 Parts of chemical vapour deposition apparatus for 
semiconductor production ex8419.90 ex8419.90 ex8419.90(*) ex8486.90(**)  HS96 code in the ITA 
is confirmed 
4. 125 Att. A, 
Sect. 2 Lasercutters for cutting contacting tracks in 
semiconductor production by laser beam ex8456.99 ex8456.10 ex8456.10 ex8486.20(**) Change in HS96 code 
proposed. 
5. 126 Att. A, 
Sect. 2 Machines for sawing monocrystal semiconductor 
boules into slices, or wafers into chips ex8464.10 ex8464.10 ex8464.10 ex8486.10(**)  HS96 code in the ITA 
is confirmed 
6. 141 Att. A, 
Sect. 2 Apparatus for physical deposition by sputtering 
on semiconductor wafers ex8479.89 ex8543.89 ex8543.89 ex8486.20(**) Change in HS96 code 
proposed. 
7. 147 Att. A, 
Sect. 2 Physical deposition apparatus for semiconductor 
production2 ex8479.89 ex8543.89 ex8543.89 ex8486.20(**)  Change in HS96 code 
proposed. 
8. 148 Att. A, 
Sect. 2 Spinners for coating photographic emulsions on 
semiconductor wafers ex8479.89 ex8479.89 ex8479.89 ex8486.20(**)  HS96 code in the ITA 
is confirmed 
9. 149 Att. A, 
Sect. 2 Part of apparatus for physical deposition by 
sputtering on semiconductor wafers ex8479.90 ex8543.90 ex8543.90 ex8486.90(**)  Change in HS96 code 
proposed. 
10. 151 Att. A, 
Sect. 2 Parts for spinners for coating photographic 
emulsions on semiconductor wafers ex8479.90 ex8479.90 ex8479.90 ex8486.90(**)  HS96 code in the ITA 
is confirmed 
11. 158 Att. A, 
Sect. 2 Parts of physical deposition apparatus for 
semiconductor production3 ex8479.90 ex8543.90 ex8543.90 ex8486.90(**)  Change in HS96 code 
proposed. 
12. 162 Att. A, 
Sect. 2 Apparatus for rapid heating of semiconductor 
wafers ex8514.30 ex8514.30 ex8514.30 ex8486.20(**)  HS96 code in the ITA 
is confirmed  
13. 164 Att. A, 
Sect. 2 Parts of apparatus for rapid heating of wafers ex8514.90 ex8514.90 ex8514.90 ex8486.90(**)  HS96 code in the ITA 
is confirmed 
                                                      
1 List I (A). Divergences were narrowed to  one classification option, as contained in  document G/IT/W/6/Rev.3 of 20 December 200 4.  
2 Original text in the ITA contains a typo ("for for", English version only). 
3 Original text in the ITA contains a typo ("for for", English version only).  
  G/IT/W/33 
Page 4 
List I-A No. ITA 
Item 
No. ITA 
Attach. Description Tariff code 
in the ITA 
(HS96) Proposal1 
(HS96) HS2002 HS2007 Secretariat's 
comment 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 
14. 181 Att. A, 
Sect. 2 Pattern generating apparatus of a kind used for 
producing masks or reticles from photoresist 
coated substrates ex9017.20 ex9017.20 ex9017.20 ex8486.40(**)  HS96 code in the ITA 
is confirmed 
15. 182 Att. A, 
Sect. 2 Parts and accessories for pattern generating 
apparatus of a kind used for producing masks or 
reticles from photoresist coated substrates ex9017.90 ex 9017.90 ex 9017.90 ex8486.90(**)  HS96 code in the ITA 
is confirmed 
16. 183 Att. A, 
Sect. 2 Parts of such pattern generating apparatus ex9017.90 ex 9017.90 ex 9017.90 ex8486.90(**)  HS96 code in the ITA 
is confirmed 
17. 195 Att. B Monitors: display units of automatic data 
processing machines with a cathode ray tube 
with a dot screen pitch smaller than 0,4 mm not capable of receiving and processing television 
signals or other analogue or digitally processed 
audio or video signals without assistance of a central processing unit of a computer as defined 
in this agreement. The agreement does not, 
therefore, cover televisions, including high definition televisions.
 None ex8471.60 ex8471.60 8528.41(*) HS96 classification is 
clarified. 
18. 196 Att. B Optical disc storage units, for automatic data 
processing machines (including CD drives and 
DVD-drives),  whether or not having the capability of writing/recording as well as 
reading, whether or not in their own housings. None ex8471.70 ex8471.70 ex8471.70 HS96 classification is 
clarified. 
 
(*)   Affected by the relevant HS  amendment. 
(**) Affected by the relevant HS amendment.  The WCO does not  have consensus on the correlations for this subheading.  Certain correlations were not taken into 
account.  See Table 8 of JOB(07)/96. 
 
 
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