India and Chinese Taipei have reportedly urged the dispute settlement body of the World Trade Organisation to avoid issuing any ruling for now as both the sides are involved in discussions to resolve their conflicts. The nations have asked the global body to not adopt any ruling against India’s import duties on some information and technology products till July 26, to allow the parties involved to find a solution amongst themselves.
The issue came up for discussion when the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) met in Geneva on Friday, reported PTI. The report quoted an official based in Geneva and said that both nations urged the DSB to postpone looking into a dispute panel’s reports till July 26, 2024. The global body also agreed to delay considering the matter.
Notably, the DSB also approved three prior requests from both the countries to postpone evaluation of these reports. The norms of the WTO state that the DSB is required to adopt the ruling of the panel for implementation within 60 days of the order’s release, but countries can mutually urge the DSB to postpone the ruling’s adoption,
The panel’s report, dated April 17, 2023, found India’s import duties on certain IT products in violation of global trading norms. The ruling was given after the EU, Japan, and Taiwan filed cases against the duties in the WTO.
Notably, Chinese Taipei filed a case against India in the WTO in May 2019 regarding import duties levied on some electronic goods like telephones for cellular networks, voice reception, conversion, and regeneration machines, telephone set parts, etc.
India, however, noted that these products were a part of the Information Technology Products (ITA-2) agreement of the WTO, but New Delhi was not a part of the deal.
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WTO typically oversees norms formulation for global trade, along with the resolution of trade disputes amongst the member nations.