ITA Products and Harmonized System

1
ITA Products and Harmonized System

• Jürgen RichteringChief, Integrated Data Base
  SectionEconomic Research and Statistics Division
• WTO Secretariat

WTO Information Technology Symposium, 29 March
2007
2
Scope of Presentation

• ITA product coverage
• Harmonized System Amendments
• Transposing ITA products
• Product lists
• WTO Schedules

3
Product Coverage of ITA

• Attachment A, Section 1Major IT products (112
  items related to 110 HS6d including 24 ex)
• Attachment A, Section 2 Semiconductor
  manufacturing and testing equipment and parts
  (78 items related to 45 HS6d including 71 ex,
  incl. Att. B items)
• Attachment B List of specific ITA products (13
  items without codes, most of them are already
  covered by Attachment A)

4
ITA Products in WTO Schedules

• ITA Annex Paragraph 1
• Each participant shall incorporate the measures
  described in paragraph 2 of the Declaration into
  its schedule to the General Agreement on Tariffs
  and Trade 1994,
• ITA commitments became legal bindings reflected
  in participants WTO Schedules

5
ITA Products in WTO Schedules

• Most participants have made ratifications to
  their Schedule by including ITA commitments at
  national tariff line level (more detailed than
  HS)
• Following the ITA product lists but with
  divergences for Attachment B products
• Included in the WTO Consolidated Tariff Schedule
  (CTS) database with ITA flag

6
Harmonized System Amendments
A nomenclature used by most countries since 1988.
Maintained by the World Customs Organization
(WCO), revised every four or five years

• 1992 Amendment (5018 HS codes)
• Mainly editorial
• 1996 Amendment (5113 HS codes)
• 393 amendments
• 2002 Amendment (5224 HS codes)
• 374 amendments
• 2007 Amendment (5052 HS codes)
• 354 amendments
• 2012 Amendment already started

7
Coverage of HS Amendments
Percentage HS subheadings involved in each HS
amendment
8
Implementation of HS Amendments for ITA
When HS amended, HS structure and codes for ITA
products need to be updated in

• WTO Schedules (Bound duties)
• Done by WTO Members / Secretariat
• ITA product lists Attachment A and B to ITA
• Done by ITA participants / ITA Committee /
  Secretariat
• Schedules of applied tariff (Applied duties)
• Done by WTO Members themselves

9
Relationship between the three transpositions
bound, applied and ITA list

• Could be done independently
• Applied should conform to bound
• Applied/bound should conform to ITA product lists
• But
• Divergences between ITA list and bound/applied
  already exist because of Attachment B products
• Change of the product list may result in
  amendment of bound or applied coverage

10
Roadmap

• WTO Schedules
• Will be transposed with existing CMA procedures
• May be reviewed by ITA Committee
• ITA lists will be transposed by ITA Committee
• Ratification of bound Schedules may be needed
  when the new ITA lists are agreed

11
ITA Products and HS 2002

• 8 subheadings have been affected by HS2002
  (8542.12 to 8542.50 and 9009.90)
• Transposition of WTO Schedules have been done for
  most Participants
• Following procedure and methods specified in
  WT/L/605
• Document G/IT/W/22 describes these changes in
  detail

12
ITA Products and HS 2007

• Major changes on ITA products
• Changes on printing machinery (84.43), ADP
  machines (84.71), semiconductor manufacture
  equipment (84.86), telecommunication products
  (85.17), media for recorded data (85.23),
  monitors (85.28)
• 158 of 241 subheadings have been affected
• 54 of 111 in Attachment A-1, 53 of 58 in A-2, and
  51 of 71 in B
• Non-consensus correlations for printers (84.43),
  semiconductor equipments(84.86)

13
HS 2007 Transposition of Schedules

• Under CMA framework
• Same methodologies as HS 2002 for Schedule
• Starting Second half of this year
• Methodology documents WT/L/673

14
HS 2007 Transposition of ITA Lists

• Technical transposition by following WCO standard
  correlation table
• Potentially increase ex items
• Classification divergence of Attachment B
  products more complicated
• Redefine ITA product coverage in HS2007
  nomenclature
• May reduce ex items, cleaner list
• May make it easier for discussions on Attachment
  B items (e.g. agree full heading 84.86 as ITA)
• Needs to be negotiated

15
Example of 84.43 Printers Schedule
Correlation Table
ITA Attachment A Section 1
Note No concensus for these correlations
Member As Schedule in HS 2002
Member As Schedule in HS 2007
16
Example of 84.43 Printers ITA List
ITA Attachment A Section 1
Correlation Table
Note No concensus for these correlations

ITA Product List in HS 2002
ITA Product List in HS 2007
17
Conclusion

• HS amendments have great impact to ITA products
• Both WTO Schedules and ITA lists need to be
  updated
• Transposition is complicated process

18

• Thank You!

WTO Information Technology Symposium, 29 March
2007