Agreement on the expansion of trade in information technology products (ITA)

PURPOSE: to conclude, on behalf of the European Union, an agreement in the form of a Declaration on the expansion of Trade in Information Technology Products (ITA).

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Council Decision (EU) 2016/971 on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of an agreement in the form of the Declaration on the Expansion of Trade in Information Technology Products (ITA).

CONTENT: the Council adopted a decision approving, on behalf of the European Union, the Declaration on the expansion of the ITA and the schedules submitted in accordance with paragraph 5 thereof.

The ITA requires that each participant eliminates and binds customs duties at zero on a Most Favoured Nation basis for all information technology (IT) products covered.

To recall, the Ministerial Declaration on Trade in Information Technology Products, commonly referred to as the Information Technology Agreement (‘ITA’), was adopted in Singapore on 13 December 1996.

The ITA states that participants are to meet periodically under the auspices of the Council on Trade in Goods of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to review the product coverage with a view to agreeing, by consensus, whether it is appropriate to modify the Attachments to that Annex to incorporate additional products in the light of technological developments, experience in applying the tariff concessions or changes to the Harmonised System nomenclature.

The agreement in the form of a Declaration on the Expansion of the ITA (and the schedules containing the staging commitments of the participants) was adopted by the Ministers of the participant countries on 16 December 2015 during the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 17.6.2016.