The WTO Information Technology Agreement (ITA) was concluded at the Singapore Ministerial Conference in December 1996. Since then, the number of participants has grown to 82, representing about 97 per cent of world trade in Information technology products. The participants are committed to making the IT products covered by the Agreement duty free, although phasing rates may sometimes apply.
Additional coverage of prescribed IT goods is now to be provided in The Expanded Information Technology Agreement (eITA), which covers 201 information and communications technology products such as multi-component semiconductors (MCOs), medical equipment, GPS devices, tools for manufacturing printed circuits, video game consoles, printer ink cartridges, static converters and inductors, loudspeakers, software media (e.g., solid state drives), point-of-sale cards to download software and games, LEDs, touch-sensitive input devices, children’s electronic learning devices, and various ICT testing instruments. These are in addition to the products covered under the original ITA concluded in December 1996, which accounted for an estimated $1.6 trillion in global trade in 2013.
The Bill for the implementation of the eITA in Australia was introduced to Parliament on 20 October and is expected to commence 1 January 2017. A copy of it is available at
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r5749
The Bill will create new tariff subheadings and phase duty rates for selected subheadings in the following tariff headings: 3215; 3506; 3701; 3705; 3707; 3907; 3919; 3923; 4911; 5911; 8414; 8419; 8421; 8423; 8424; 8475; 8476; 8479; 8486; 8504; 8514; 8515; 8517; 8518; 8519; 8523; 8525; 8526; 8527; 8528; 8529; 8531; 8536; 8538; 8539; 8543; 9001; 9010; 9028; 9031; 9504 .
The amount and timing of the duty reductions will depend the staging category a particular subheading belongs to. There are seven staging categories, each one dependent on the duty rate that applies to goods prior to 1 January 2017.
Staging categories A, B, C, D and E are used for the majority of affected subheadings. All of these staging categories will reduce to Free by 1 July 2019.
Staging categories F and G are used for a small number of subheadings and will reduce to Free by 1 July 2021.
The staging categories are outline in the table below, which has been reproduced from the Explanatory Memorandum.
Staging category for tariff subheading
WTO bound tariff rate prior to 1 January 2017
Customs duty rates and dates of effect
Staging category A
5%, 6% or 7%
5%
From 1 January 2017: 3.75%
From 1 July 2017: 2.50%
From 1 July 2018: 1.25%
From 1 July 2019: Free
Staging category B
10%, 11% or 12%
5%
From 1 July 2018: 2.50%
From 1 July 2019: Free
Staging category C
15% or 16%
5%
From 1 July 2018: 3.75%
From 1 July 2019: Free
Staging category D
19%
5%
From 1 July 2018: 4.75%
From 1 July 2019: Free
Staging category E
23%
5%
From 1 July 2019: Free
Staging category F
15%
5%
From 1 July 2020: 2.50%
From 1 July 2021: Free
Staging category G
23%
5%
From 1 July 2020: 3.83%
From 1 July 2021: Free
Any current margin of tariff preference in FTAs etc has been maintained.