The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it would work with other WTO members involved in the expanded tariff-elimination program of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) to persuade China to shorten its tariff-removal period.

“Each member is to decide how long it will take to eliminate duties on 201 technology products, and we hope some countries could shorten the tariff-elimination period,” Minister of Economic Affairs John Deng (鄧振中) told a media briefing.

Deng is to join the WTO ministerial meeting on Sunday in Nairobi, Kenya, where they are scheduled to discuss each member’s proposed tariff-elimination timetable.

In July, most of the 25 WTO members involved in the ITA, including the EU, agreed to remove duties on 201 technology products, including video game consoles, printer cartridges and GPS devices.

Members of the expanded ITA program agreed to remove duties on most of the products within three years after the agreement takes effect. For certain products, members could propose eliminating duties in five or seven years, the ministry’s Bureau of Foreign Trade said.

The bureau said the agreement is expected to be completed in the upcoming ministerial meeting and to take effect on July 1 next year at the earliest.

Citing the ministry’s estimates, the bureau said the net benefits for Taiwan is expected to reach US$820 million per year after the agreement takes effect.

However, a source in the ministry said China had opposed including flat-panel products in the expanded program as it is developing its own panel industry, which is the main reason Taiwan failed to include panels in the expanded tariff scheme.

The source, who declined to be named because she was not allowed to make media statements, said China is seeking to subject a wide range of its products to the longest phase-out periods, with 19 products slated for tariff removal in seven years, 62 products in five years and 71 items in three years.

Soure: TaipeiTimes.com