A day after getting an adverse WTO ruling, India blamed an inadvertent error in classification of goods for higher tariffs being charged on certain goods and is taking steps to make amends.

The Trade Policy division of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said that India had inadvertently certified several ICT (Information and Communications Technology) products under the WTO's Scope of Concessions despite not being obliged to do so as a signatory to ITA-1 (Information Technology Agreement).

It was due to this error that India got an adverse WTO ruling in a dispute raised by Taiwan in 2020. The dispute panel of the world trading asked India to bring its import duties on certain ICT products in line with WTO rules and panel recommendations as these were found to be in excess of duty-free rates that India was obliged to provide under WTO rules.

Also read: Bournvita controversy: Yet to receive any complaint against Cadbury drink, says India’s standards regulatory body

India has invoked the 1980’s procedure for modification and rectification of the Schedule of concessions to rectify the inadvertent move.

The Ministry explained that each member updates/transposes all the tariff codes and descriptions under its Schedule of Concessions that change due to the introduction of new HS nomenclatures, including those relating to tariff quotas and export subsidies, adding that the HS nomenclatures are updated every 5 to 6 years by the World Customs Organization (WCO).

The Ministry stated that India is taking necessary steps as per available Dispute Settlement procedures and is exploring options available in light of its WTO rights and obligations, expecting that the panel’s report won't have any immediate impact on India’s ICT products.

The Ministry pointed out that India has already brought its duty rates to 0 percent with respect to two of the contested products, namely Headphones/ Earphones and Electric converters, since February 2022.

EU’s share of total imports of the contested ICT products into India during the calendar year 2022 was at 3.03 percent ($550 million), while Japan's and Taiwan's shares were 0.33 percent ($24 million) and 2.86 percent ($235 million) respectively.

Also read: India to appeal against WTO import duty ruling on electronic products, government says no immediate impact of order

(Edited by : Anand Singha, Pradeep John)

First Published:Apr 19, 2023 11:04 PM IST