PH Officials Meet with Semiconductor Industry Association to Discuss ITA Expansion
GENEVA, 04 April 2023 – Key Philippine officials met with the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) at the World Trade Organization (WTO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the expansion of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) on 16 March 2023. Key officials included Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Ivan Uy, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Rafaelita Aldaba, DICT Assistant Secretary Maria Teresa Camba, and Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the WTO Charge d'Affaires Gabriel Bautista. SIA President and CEO John Neuffer also attended the meeting.
The ITA is a plurilateral agreement among WTO member countries signed in 1996 to eliminate tariffs on information technology products, such as computers, semiconductors, and telecommunications equipment. The agreement has 82 signatories, accounting for approximately 97% of global trade in information technology products.
In 2015, the ITA was expanded to cover an additional 201 products worth an estimated $1.3 trillion in annual trade. This expansion, known as ITA II, was the first major tariff-cutting deal in the WTO in nearly two decades.
The proposed ITA III aims to expand further the agreement to cover additional products and technologies, such as medical devices, environmental goods, and emerging technologies.
The Philippines ratified the original ITA agreement in 1998 and the expansion agreement in 2017.
During the meeting, SIA discussed the benefits of the ITA and the importance of expanding the agreement. Both sides recognized the potential of ITA III to not only create new opportunities for businesses but promote innovation and economic growth.
The SIA is a trade association representing the semiconductor industry in the United States. Its members include companies involved in designing, manufacturing, and distributing semiconductor products. END
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