Plurilateral IT Talks May Conclude by Dec Bali Ministerial

Discussions aimed at expanding another WTO plurilateral deal - the Information Technology Agreement, which deals with trade in information and communication technology (ICT) products - continue apace, with the Bali ministerial similarly being seen as a possible end-date for the process.

The ITA provides for participants to completely eliminate duties on IT products covered by the Agreement. The process to update the deal - which first entered into force in 1997 - kicked off last May, when Canada, Japan, Korea, the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, Singapore, and the US presented a concept paper calling for the launch of negotiations to expand the ITA’s product coverage and membership.

Such an expansion is essential, they said in the paper, in order to reflect the evolution of the ICT sector since negotiations for the original ITA were concluded in December 1996 at the Singapore ministerial conference.

The number of countries currently involved in the ITA expansion talks has since increased from this original six in May 2012 to nearly 20. However, the discussions still do not encompass the whole ITA membership of 47 signatories - covering 74 members and states or separate customs territories in the process of joining the WTO - leaving unclear the question of how the pact’s expansion, once completed, will be extended to the rest of the group.

Since the start of the new year, the countries involved in the ITA expansion talks have been meeting monthly to discuss two separate tracks, sources familiar with the discussions told Bridges, with the latest meeting being held just last week. These two tracks specifically deal with tariffs and non-tariff issues, respectively.

With regards to tariffs, “list countries” - in other words, countries that have presented or commented on a list of products for liberalisation, and who late last year came together on a possible list of over 350 product lines - are now working on trying to eliminate some products from this set in order to make it more focused. This process, one source familiar with the talks explained, will help “for others later on to find this list useful to subscribe to.”

The process on developing the non-tariff side has been more difficult, sources say, particularly regarding countries’ diverging views on how exactly to deal with non-tariff barriers (NTBs). In the current ITA, there are no binding commitments on NTBs, an area that the EU has traditionally pushed to change.

While members are tentatively hoping to see the ITA expansion completed in time for Bali, sources stressed that this is not formally part of the “package” being prepared for the December ministerial. The “package” referred to is the set of Doha Round deliverables - such as a trade facilitation deal, agricultural components, and select issues of interest to developing and least developed countries - which the full WTO membership is in the process of negotiating.