The Philippines has joined other developed economies in pursuing a case versus the European Union (EU) before the World Trade Organzation (WTO) for violating their tariff commitments for information technology products under the IT Agreement.

Philippine Ambassador to Geneva/WTO Ambassador Manuel AJ Teehankee told reporters that a decision on the case (ITA DS377) is due in the beginning of next year.

“We have systemic interest in this case because 50 to 60 percent of our exports are IT parts and components and we provide parts and components for flat panel displays and other multi-functional machines,” Teehankee said.

Teehankee said that it is utilizing the dispute settlement process to further the interest of the country’s exporters.

According to Teehankee, the case stemmed from a decision of the EU to raise its bound tariff rates for specific technology parts and components.

The WTO litigation came about after consultations with the EU failed to resolve differences forcing the affected countries Taiwan, US and Japan to ask WTO to establish a dispute settlement panel to review and rule whether the EU has failed to accord duty-free treatment to certain products covered by the ITA.

Based on the US complaints, the EU has adopted a series of measures that resulted in a new duty on imports of specific high-tech products' cable boxes that can access the Internet, flat-panel computer monitors and certain computer printers that can also scan, fax and copy.

The high-profile trade dispute, a precedent-setting case for the implementation of the ITA, is of special significance to major high-tech goods exporters in Taiwan because of the trade interests involved.

As a signatory to the ITA, a sectoral WTO agreement forged among 71 member countries more than 10 years ago, the EU was obliged to impose zero-duty treatment on specific high technology products which duties before ran as high as 14 percent.