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ARTICLE · 28 JULY 2015

Eliminating Tariffs On Information Technology (IT) Products: Expanded WTO List On The Horizon

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On July 24, 2015 the World Trade Organization (WTO) announced that negotiators had agreed on a list of products and draft declaration to expand the product scope of the 1996 Information Technology Agreement (ITA).

CanadaInternational Law
Sabrina Bandali
Sabrina Bandali
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On July 24, 2015 the World Trade Organization (WTO) announced that negotiators had agreed on a list of products and draft declaration to expand the product scope of the 1996 Information Technology Agreement (ITA). The proposed "ITA 2" would eliminate tariffs on 20 additional products, including new generation semi-conductors, GPS navigation equipment, video game consoles, software media (e.g., solid state drives) and medical equipment, such as magnetic residence imaging (MRI) machines and Computed Tomography (CT) scanners. According to the WTO, these additional products account for approximately US$1.3 trillion in annual trade.1 ITA 2 eliminates tariffs on information technology products in 54 countries although the benefits will be extended to all 161 WTO members, as discussed below.

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