WTO says expanded ITA is now mostly implemented

The World Trade Organization on Tuesday said most of the participating countries in the newly expanded Information Technology Agreement have implemented their tariff commitments under the deal.    The World Trade Organization (WTO) on Tuesday said the majority of the participating countries in the newly expanded Information Technology Agreement (ITA) have implemented their tariff commitments under the deal.
   According to the WTO’s ITA Committee, 18 of the 24 participants in the expanded ITA have now submitted their modified tariff schedules to the trade body and that others were on track to do so soon.
   The WTO said the ITA received a “major boost” when China submitted its ITA expansion commitments on Oct. 26. China’s Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress approved the expanded ITA on Sept. 3, and the country began implementing its first tariff cuts on covered goods on Sept. 15.
   The expanded ITA was concluded at the WTO Nairobi Ministerial Conference in December 2015 and eliminates tariffs on products valued at more than $1.3 trillion in annual trade. The initial ITA was approved in December 1996 and covered an estimated $1.6 trillion in global trade in 2013, the WTO noted.
   The new ITA eliminates import tariffs and other duties on another 201 new-generation information and communication technology products either immediately or over the next three years. By 2019, it’s expected that 95.4 percent of participants’ import duties on these products will be fully eliminated, with tariffs remaining on a small range of products to be removed completely by 2021 or 2023, the global trade body said.
   “The expanded ITA was concluded by 24 participants representing 53 WTO members, but the benefits are being extended to all 164 WTO members, meaning they will all enjoy duty-free access to the markets of the members eliminating tariffs on these products,” the WTO added.