WTO Panel reports issued on ITA dispute

According to various news papers on Aug 17, 2010, WTO issued the reports of the panel that had examined complaints by the United States, Japan and Chinese Taipei against “European Communities and its Member States — Tariff Treatment of Certain Information Technology Products”.

The report presents a decision that fully approves Japan’s claim that the EU’s customs duties in question are inconsistent with Article II (tariff concessions) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

I reported this issue in my blog on June 4, 2008, please see the details and the background below.
http://japantradecompliance.blogspot.com/2008/06/eu-ita-duty-classification-issue-bring.html

The EU may file an appeal against this report with the WTO Appellate Body within 60 days.
If no such appeal is filed, the panel report will be adopted by the WTO as its final decision.


(WTO announcement: http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news10_e/375_376_377r_e.htm )
(METI announcement: http://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/data/20100816_01.html )