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World Business Quick Take

■ LCD monitors
EC tariffs to hurt Asia
The European Commission plans to impose a 14 percent tariff on imports of liquid crystal display monitors, which may affect Asian exports to Europe, Yonhap News reported, citing the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. The commission ruled that LCD computer monitors that receive digital video signals are commonly used to watch movies and should be classified entertainment-related electronic products, which attract the 14 percent levy, the report said. The decision may affect exports from South Korea and other Asian countries to Europe because most LCD monitors have digital signal reception capabilities, the report said.

■ Trade
Visa policy causes losses
US companies are losing billions in revenue worldwide because of the tighter visa application process, Hong Kong's Sunday Morning Post reported, citing a report by the American Chamber of Commerce in China. A survey by eight American business associations estimated more than US$30 billion was lost in revenue between July 2002 and March this year because of visa delays and denials by US authorities, according to the AmCham-China annual White Paper, seen by newspaper before its publication next month. US visa approvals for Chinese travelers fell nearly 40 percent last year from a peak in 2001, the Post cited the white paper as saying. Applications for visas fell 25 percent, it said. The US tightened visa applications are the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. For most Chinese, a visa application now means finger-printing, interviews and background checks, and may end in arbitrary rejection, the report said.

■ Banking
South Korea does well
South Korean banks posted a combined net profit of 3.63 trillion won (US$3.1 billion) in the first half of this year thanks to a surge in interest income, a financial watchdog said Sunday. The profit was compared to 733 billion won a year ago, the Financial Supervisory Service said, adding banks reported bigger interest income and a drop in loan loss reserves. In the first six months to June, South Korea's leading Kookmin Bank recorded a net profit of 307 billion won, compared with a net loss of 40 billion won a year ago.

■ Telecoms
US' FCC adds restrictions
The US Federal Communications Commission, citing concerns about national security, will no longer give the public access to information about past telephone network outages, reversing a 10 year-old policy, the Washington Post reported. The decision, which takes effect this month, has angered consumer advocates and state regulators who say the data is critical in evaluating service reliability around the country, the Washington Post said. They also say that concerns that the information poses a national security risk are overstated. The reports typically include details about the cause of an outage, how long it lasted and how many customers were affected, the Post said. The information is used by regulators, consumer groups and consultants to assess which companies are having problems and which are most reliable.

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