McClay welcomes new WTO IT Agreement

  • Todd McClay
Trade

Trade Minister Todd McClay has welcomed the successful conclusion of negotiations on the expansion of the World Trade Organisation Information Technology Agreement (ITA) in Nairobi, Kenya.

“This agreement will remove tariffs from 201 products, including new-generation semi-conductors, GPS navigation systems, MRI machines, telecommunications satellites and touch screens.  

“These are 21st century products that New Zealanders use in different ways every day.   This announcement is excellent news for the WTO, for the IT industry, and for New Zealand consumers,” says Mr McClay, who is at the WTO’s 10th Ministerial Conference in Nairobi.

“This is a real milestone, and I am proud that New Zealand has played its part in getting these difficult negotiations across the line.  The WTO estimates that the value of global trade covered in the expanded ITA is NZD 1.9 trillion annually.    

“The value of New Zealand’s exports of the products covered is some NZ$1 billion annually.   These products account for approximately 10 per cent of global trade.  Phasing out tariffs on these IT products will be a real boost to the global economy.

“It is also an important outcome for the WTO.  It’s the first major tariff-elimination deal at the WTO in the past 19 years.   This announcement shows that the WTO can deliver relevant, real, and commercially meaningful results,” says Mr McClay.

Background

  • The expanded ITA will eliminate tariffs on 201 information and communication technology products.
  • The participants will eliminate all tariffs on these products imported from all WTO members within a maximum of seven years, with most tariffs eliminated with the next three years. 
  • Tariff reductions under the expanded ITA will commence from 1 July 2016, after each participant has completed its domestic implementation procedures.
  • The original ITA dates back to 1996, and has been expanded to account for the rapidly evolving technologies in the ICT sector