Govt to Appeal WTO Arbitration Panel Ruling in Mobile Duty Case

The government is set to appeal against a ruling by the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement panel, rejecting suggestions of using the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement to resolve the case with the European Union, Japan and Taiwan over import duty of 7.5% to 20% on a host of information & communication technology (ICT) products, including mobile phones.

The government's decision will mean that the local industry will not face any adverse impact as the appellate body is non-functional due to the US blocking fresh appointments for years, starting with the Obama administration - a stand that has continued during the Trump and Biden regimes.

On Monday, the dispute panel had ruled that the government's decision to impose levies on mobile phones and components, base stations, integrated circuits and optical instruments violated the international trading norms and asked India to bring the rules in conformity with the provisions.

Although the action was targeted against Chinese made products, European, Japanese and Taiwanese companies were hit by the import duty, which was challenged by the EU in 2019, with others joining in. The amount of EU exports of such technology affected by India's violations is up to 600 million euros annually.

The levies kicked in, starting 2014, as the government sought to create a base for domestic manufacturing. The suggestion to use the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement is learnt to have come from the EU but is not acceptable to the government.