EU loses in world trade row
A World Trade Organisation (WTO) panel has ruled that the EU was wrong to impose duties on three types of electronics products from the US and other countries, trade sources said yesterday. The WTO panel backed the US as well as Japan and Taiwan in their complaint that EU duties on flat-panel displays, multifunction printers and television set-top boxes violated the WTO’s Information Technology Agreement (ITA). That 1996 agreement eliminated duties among a group of 72 participating countries on goods like computer screens and printers to promote trade in high-tech products. But the EU argued that added functionality meant some of these products were now also consumer goods not covered by the agreement rather than information technology products and therefore should not benefit from the lower duties.