Europe wants IT trade pact back on table

Europe want IT trade pact back on table
Original text by Alan Beattie in London
September 15th 2008

After breaking the agreement the European Union is proposing a new deal. In Brussels the deal covering all global trade in information technology goods was broken and now the U.S, Taiwan and Japan started litigation against Brussels, the country responsible.
The information technology agreement (ITA) has over 43 signatories, and EU trade commissioner said it had been a mile-stone duty-free agreement for the past 12 years. Still he believes there is a risk that the agreement will be left behind due to all the technological advancement.
The U.S, Taiwan and Japan blamed the European Union of imposing import tariffs on products like LCD's, which goes against the ITA. The E.U felt innocent because the items such as LCD's, due to the technological progress, are not covered by the present agreement. After failing to come to a new agreement the U.S, Taiwan and Japan decided to go before a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel which would decide the consequences. The U.S claimed that updating the current agreement was not an excuse for breaking it. US trade representative Gretchen Hamel agreed to resolve the WTO dispute, but didn’t see why the EU had different regulations for different IT products.
Although the new pact caused unrest with countries in the ITA, it is seen as a role-model for future sector- by-sector trade agreements.

By Bastien Vogt