WTO Tariff reduction on Information Technology products set for July 2016

The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) has expanded its details on the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) which is set to begin July 1, 2016. The tariff elimination will be in a phased out in stages starting July 2016 through to July 1, 2019. Tariff elimination varies by each country tariff schedules.

In June 2012, 33 WTO members launched negotiations for the expansion of the product coverage of the ITA to include a number of products which, in light of new technological developments, should be added to the list. Participation in the ITA product expansion negotiations quickly increased to 54 WTO members. After 17 rounds of negotiations, at a meeting on 24 July 2015, nearly all the participants agreed to expand the products covered by the Agreement and eliminate tariffs on an additional list of 201 products. Annual trade in these 201 products is valued at over $1.3 trillion per year, which accounts for approximately 7% of total global trade today.

The draft Information Technology Agreement (ITA) expansion of each country schedules is available here.

The expanded ITA agreement covers information and communications technology products including next-generation multi-component integrated circuits, medical equipment, GPS devices, tools for manufacturing printed circuits, video game consoles, portable interactive electronic education devices, printer ink cartridges, static converters and inductors, loudspeakers, computer software, video cameras, testing instruments and touch screens, which are currently subject to tariffs of up to 35 percent in certain countries.

View the Information Technology Agreement by the WTO member countries here.