Taiwan drags India to WTO on trade tariffs on electronic items

In a press release the WTO said: “Chinese Taipei has requested dispute consultations with India regarding duties imposed by India on imports of certain information and communications technology (ICT) goods. The request was circulated to WTO members on 9 September.”

As per the complaint, India's duties on ICT products are not consistent with IT agreement of the WTO, which mandates duty free imports. But India maintains that the list of items in the IT agreement of WTO that it signed in 1996 is not the same as the items on which it has imposed duties.

In May this year, Japan was the first country to raise red flags on Indian tariffs on ICT products. Subsequently Chinese Taipei, the United States, European Union, China, Canada, Thailand and Singapore sought permission from the Geneva based global trade body to associate with the Japanese complaint against Indian tariffs. It now seems that Chinese Taipei decided to file its own independent complaint at the WTO.

Meanwhile, countries like the US have strongly taken up the issue of tariff hikes made by India on ICT products in bilateral trade talks.

Seeking consultations is the first step in initiating a dispute. Once consultations are sought, both parties engage in parleys for a period of 60 days. In the absence of an amicable resolution, the complainant country can seek adjudication of the issue through a dispute settlement panel of the WTO. Rulings of the WTO dispute settlement panel are binding on member countries.