The EU has agreed to void tariffs on larger LCD monitors, set-top boxes and multi-functional printers from Taiwan, the US and Japan by June 30 at the latest, according to a statement yesterday from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
The announcement follows a ruling by the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body in July last year in favor of these countries, which had filed a joint suit against the EU claiming its tax impositions on the three products had violated WTO’s regulations.
NO APPEAL
The EU officially said in September at a meeting convened by the body that it would not appeal the ruling and had since negotiated with the three countries to enforce a reasonable period of time to exempt the taxes.
The so-called reasonable period of time should not exceed 15 months and should begin from the day when the body makes such a ruling.
CONSENSUS
The consensus between the four parties was reached last Thursday and the statement said that it would be implemented by June 30 at the latest.
In September 2008, Taiwan, the US and Japan launched a joint suit against the EU over tariffs imposed on the above mentioned products, charging the EU had broken the WTO’s Information Technology Agreement that gives tariff-exempt status to existing technology products that incorporate new technologies.
LABELING
The EU maintained that monitors with sizes of 19 inches and above, which also have DVI and HDMI terminals, were “TV products” and printers that have scanning and faxing functions should be categorized as “copiers.”
It said set-top boxes with recording and playback features that have built-in memory storage were “multimedia players,” and therefore none were applicable under the Information Technology Agreement.
Tariffs ranging from 6 percent to 14 percent had been imposed on these products, which significantly hurt the price competitiveness of locally made products in the crowded EU market.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure