Page 3 - World Trade Organization

India seeks to resolve WTO import duty dispute with EU on ICT goods

India seeks to resolve a WTO import duty dispute with the European Union on certain information and technology products through the proposed free trade agreement, which is under active negotiations, an official said. Following a ruling of the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) dispute panel on April 17 that import duties imposed by India on certain information and technology (ICT) products such as mobile phones and components, base stations, integrated circuits and optical instruments violate global trading norms, India and the European Union (EU) are discussing ways to resolve the matter amicably outside the ambit of the WTO. As part of the discussion, the EU has sought duty concessions from India on these goods as it was violative of the global trade norms, but India has stated that it would be again a breach of WTO rules, if the concessions be extended only to the EU, the official said. They are seeking duty concessions, which according to India can be discussed only under the free

India seeks 5 yr patent waiver for Covid diagnostics, therapeutics from WTO

India is among eight other developing nations pushing for a patent waiver that has already been authorised for the use of the Covid-19 vaccine

Public procurement for Make in India

Strategic use of government purchases is the need of the hour if India is to achieve manufacturing success

'Pandemic is still alive; need to extend TRIPS waiver to Covid diagnostics'

Four countries, including India and South Africa, have asked the WTO members to extend patent waiver to Covid-19 diagnostics and therapeutics as the pandemic is still alive and the risk of new variants remains real, an official said. These four member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) raised the demand in an informal meeting of TRIPS (Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Council in Geneva on Wednesday, the official said. In June last year, members of the WTO agreed to grant a temporary patent waiver for the manufacturing of Covid-19 vaccines for five years. It was also agreed to start talks on including therapeutics and diagnostics, as proposed by India and South Africa, under the purview of this waiver. The proponents of the proposal for extension argued that a decision on this was long overdue and should be taken at the General Council (GC) meeting of the WTO in December. This would also complement and support the work of the WHO (World Health ...

No new issue agri issue in WTO till solution on public stockholding: India

India has told a WTO grouping with a major interest in farm trade that it will not discuss any new issue in the agriculture segment like imposition of export restrictions before a permanent solution is found with regard to public stockholding of food grains, an official said. This position was cleared during a mini-ministerial virtual meeting of about 28 WTO (World Trade Organisation) member countries on agriculture issues on November 28. In the meeting, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal put forward New Delhi's approach to the issue saying that public procurement and stockholding of food grains serve the twin objectives of food security and income support to marginal farmers. The 19-member Cairns group, which includes agri-exporting nations, lobbies for agricultural trade liberalisation. It was formed in 1986 in Cairns, Australia. Its members include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, ..

India, S Africa, Egypt introduces paper on WTO dispute settlement reform

India, South Africa and Egypt have introduced a paper regarding ongoing discussions on the reforms of the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) dispute settlement body, an official said. The paper - Reflections on the Reform of the WTO Dispute Settlement System - was introduced in a meeting of the body in Geneva. In the meeting, "India took the floor to introduce the joint communication from Egypt, India and South Africa," the Geneva-based official said, without disclosing details of the paper. It was circulated among the WTO members on November 24. The introduction of the paper assumes significance as India is batting for starting formal negotiations by WTO members to reform the dispute settlement body, as the present informal deliberations are creating hindrances for several nations to participate in the talks. WTO's dispute settlement body (DSB) is one of the important arms of the 164-member Geneva-based body. Besides monitoring global exports and import-related rules, it adjudicate

India faces queries from WTO on PMGKAY extension and rice export ban

Countries, including the United States, European Union, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, and New Zealand, are seeking clarity on the expiry dates of India's export restrictions and duties

India criticises Cairns members in Geneva talks on foodgrain stockholding

India has criticised Cairns member countries during a WTO meeting on public stockholding of foodgrain for food security purposes in Geneva, stating that members are monopolising time to discuss their submission on domestic support, an official said on Tuesday. At a dedicated session on public stockholding on November 20, India said it would refrain from commenting as the session had been "ambushed" by some Cairns agriculture-exporting members, the Geneva-based official said. "India expressed the belief that certain Cairns members were attempting a motion to take away dedicated talks on public stockholding by monopolising time to discuss their submission on domestic support, a topic that arguably should be addressed by the Committee on Agriculture in Special Session, scheduled to convene the next day," the official added. The 19-member Cairns group lobbies for agricultural trade liberalisation. It was formed in 1986 in Cairns, Australia. The members include Argentina, Australia, ...

Will not accept unfair taxes on steel, aluminum industry: Piyush Goyal

Expressing serious concerns over the European Union's move to impose carbon tax on imports from certain sectors like steel, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday assured the domestic industry that India will not accept such unfair taxes and will fight to get a fair deal for producers and exporters. He said India has already flagged its concerns over the carbon tax with the European Union (EU) and in the WTO (World Trade Organization). The CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) or carbon tax (a kind of import duty) will come into effect from January 1, 2026, but from October 1 this year, domestic companies from seven carbon-intensive sectors, including steel, cement, fertiliser, aluminium and hydrocarbon products, will have to share data with regard to carbon emissions with the EU. "I will assure you that we are extremely concerned about CBAM...We are taking it up with the WTO very very seriously. We shall try to work and fight to get a fair deal for the Indian ..

WTO member nations need to discuss crypto under e-comm negotiations: GTRI

The member countries of WTO (World Trade Organisation) should include issues pertaining to crypto currency while negotiating any agreement on the e-commerce sector, think tank GTRI said on Monday. As the crypto market garners increasing global attention, its classification under the WTO e-commerce framework remains ambiguous, Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said. It added that the debate should pivot on whether exchanges of crypto-currency fall under 'electronic transmissions' in the e-commerce scope. "With the multifaceted dynamics of the e-commerce landscape, the outcomes of the ongoing WTO negotiations hold significant implications for global digital trade. "The inclusion or exclusion of crypto-currencies and the diverse positions of influential nations will shape the future of international e-commerce policies," GTRI Co-Founder Ajay Srivastava said. At present, the WTO members are holding two-pronged e-commerce negotiations (joint initiative and e-commerce moratorium)

US move to withdraw some digital trade proposals at WTO to benefit India

The development comes ahead of the WTO's 13th ministerial conference and will see in-depth discussions on global e-commerce rules that include these topics

Dispute settlement reform, agri, e-commerce discussed at 2-day WTO meet

Issues like dispute settlement reform, agriculture, fisheries subsidies and moratorium on customs duties on e-commerce trade figured in the two-day meeting of senior officials of WTO members in Geneva. The meeting concluded on October 24. From India, senior officials, including Additional Secretary in the commerce ministry Peeyush Kumar, participated in the deliberations. According to the chairperson's summary of the meeting, senior officials strongly supported the ongoing informal process on dispute settlement (DS) reform being carried out in Geneva by technical experts. This summary was prepared by WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and General Council Chairperson Athaliah Lesiba Molokomme from Botswana. In expressing their political support for DS reform work, senior officials emphasised on the need to focus on addressing the DS challenges with a sense of urgency; and to take into account the dispute settlement interests of all member countries of the World Trade Organisat

LIVE: Middle-East conflict raises fuel price concerns, says FM Sitharaman

Catch all the latest updates LIVE from across the globe here

India urges WTO members to start text talks for public food stockholding

India has urged WTO members to start text-based negotiations from this month on finding a permanent solution to the issue of public stockholding for food security purposes, an official has said. The official added that the European Union (EU) is ready for talks with India on the stockholding issue. The issue came up for discussion at an agriculture negotiations meeting on October 2 in Geneva. It was chaired by Ambassador Alparslan Acarsoy of Turkiye. At that meeting, the EU offered a positive response to the chair's textual suggestions related to the safeguards mechanism aimed at preventing illegitimate exports stemming from excessive food stocks, the official said. The Geneva-based trade official also said that the EU explicitly recognized that the safeguards and anti-circumvention are indeed the key provisions which deal with the possible impact of public stockholding policies. India urged members to commence text-based negotiations as soon as possible, preferably at the senior

US, EU criticise India's rice export ban, request immediate resumption

Representatives from Japan, Australia, Brazil, the EU, the UK, and the US raised concerns over the impact of the ban on the global food market

Indo-US trade ties need to be more ambitious: Ambassador Garcetti

Settling for another deal 'won't be good enough', he says at economic summit

India agrees to cut import duty to 5-10% on some processed food items

Although the duty reduction stems from negotiations between India and the US, the tariff cut will apply to all countries in line with WTO rules

QCOs act as NTBs; raise compliance burden and costs

The products under QCOs must conform to the corresponding standard and must bear the standard mark under a licence or certificate of conformity (CoC) from BIS

India, EU ask WTO not to adopt ruling on ICT import duties till Dec 18

India and the European Union have again asked the WTO's dispute settlement body not to adopt a ruling against New Delhi's import duties on certain information and technology products till December 18 as both sides are engaged in bilateral talks to resolve the matter. Earlier, the two regions sought time till September 19 by making a similar request in June. The WTO's dispute settlement body (DSB) will meet on September 19 in which it would consider adopting a draft decision shared by India and the European Union (EU). "We consider that the draft DSB decision, if adopted, would facilitate the resolution of the dispute," according to a communication of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). For that meeting, they urged the DSB not to adopt the WTO's dispute settlement panel's ruling of April 17, which stated that India's import duties on certain information and technology products are inconsistent with the global trade norms. As per the rules of the WTO, the panel's ruling will have to

Using all platforms to flag non-tariff barriers impacting trade: Official

India is using all multilateral and bilateral platforms including G20 to flag concerns with regard to non-tariff barriers (NTBs) which are impacting the free flow of trade, a top government official said on Friday. India has already raised its concerns on issues like the European Union's (EU) carbon tax on different platforms, including the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Such measures by G20 member countries are likely to figure in the trade ministers' meeting of the grouping next week in Jaipur. "Definitely, we are discussing those NTBs and we are also discussing how to find a good solution, how to find a platform where we can coordinate on these issues and we can understand these issues," Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal told reporters here. The two-day Trade and Investment Ministerial Meeting (TIMM) is scheduled on August 24 and 25 in Jaipur. The secretary also said that on the sidelines of TIMM, several high-level bilateral meetings will be held with countries such as the UK