wto: Japan asks India to rescind plan to appeal ICT ruling at WTO

Japan has asked India to rescind its decision to appeal a ruling by the dispute settlement body (DSB) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that had disapproved New Delhi’s imposition of tariffs on mobile phones and electronic components, among other information and communication technology (ICT) goods.

In a meeting of the DSB on Tuesday, the US came in Japan’s support and said that India’s tariffs impose an unfair financial burden on foreign firms and limit access for Indian consumers and firms to important high-tech products.

While China welcomed the panel report, Canada and the EU asked India to resolve the dispute through Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA), which is an alternative system to resolve WTO disputes, which New Delhi has opposed as such an arrangement undermines the multilateral trading system.

A WTO panel in April said that India’s tariffs had violated global trading rules under the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) and ruled in favour of the EU, Japan and Taiwan.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the DSB agreed to additional time till September 19 to consider adoption of the panel ruling in Taiwan’s case. India and Taiwan have said the additional time would facilitate resolution of the dispute.

“Japan said that it was disappointed with India’s decision to appeal the panel ruling and send the case into the void,” said a Geneva-based official.There is no Appellate Body Division available at present to deal with the appeals due to the ongoing lack of agreement among WTO members on the filling up of vacancies in the body. Hence, all appeals are considered an ‘appeal into the void’.