EU files for three month deferment in ICT dispute case with India
- India and the EU will be back at the negotiating table after a high-level India - European Union Trade and Technology Council (TTC) meeting took place last month
In a sign of easing tensions between India and the European Union (EU) in the information and communication technology (ICT) goods dispute case at the WTO, the EU has filed a three month deferment, buying more time to hammer out a possible settlement, a government official aware of the development said.
A deferment at WTO allows disputing parties to find an out of court settlement within a stipulated time. If the talks fail, the EU could adopt the WTO panel filings and India could take the case to the Appellate Body which hasn’t been functional for nearly two years due to America’s blockage on the appointment of judges.
Mint had earlier reported that India and EU have had discussions on a possible WTO complaint settlement as both the parties are on the same page on China. However, the exact nature of an out of court settlement is not known yet.
In a setback to India, the WTO panel recently ruled against India stating that Indian tariffs on several electronic items were not in line with global norms. The EU had challenged India’s tariffs in 2019 and was joined by other countries, including Japan, Taiwan, China and other countries.
India and the EU will be back at the negotiating table after a high-level India - European Union Trade and Technology Council (TTC) meeting took place last month. The EU had claimed that up to €600 million of its technology exports to India were adversely impacted annually due to India’s imposition of tariffs on ICT products.
The Indian government estimates that the WTO panel’s report will have little impact on India’s ICT products as the EU’s share of total Indian imports of ICT products in 2022 was 3.03% or $550 million.
Queries sent to the commerce ministry late on Friday remained unanswered till press time.
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First Published:2 Jun 2023, 10:48 PM IST
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