[governance] "Information Technology Agreement" being negotiated

parminder parminder at itforchange.net
Fri Sep 20 09:53:44 EDT 2013


Thanks, Carolina...

Countries like Brazil and South Africa were never members of ITA -1 
(International Technology Agreement -1 under WTO). India did sign it, 
and there is a great amount of internal consternation lately that it 
altogetherkilled India's IT manufacturing base. India has recently 
announced  a policy to leverage some exception clauses of ITA -1  - like 
of public procurement and some security considerations, to provide 
preferential market access to domestic manufacturers. Interestingly, it 
seems that India has refused to participate in the ITA round 2 being 
proposed/ negotiated....

parminder


On Friday 20 September 2013 07:08 PM, Carolina Rossini wrote:
> And here some background on this from a friend who lives in Geneva:
>
> "On Fri, Sep 20, 2013 at 9:32 AM, Thiru Balasubramaniam 
> <suryavamsha75 at gmail.com <mailto:suryavamsha75 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     From my limited understanding of this process, I gather that USTR
>     and many technology companies are pursuing an expanded ITA and
>     they want this to be concluded before/during the Bali Ministerial.
>
>     Bridges Weekly and the WSJ have reported on this.
>
>     The last I heard, talks were suspended in the summer because China
>     and some other countries did not agree to the terms. I will try to
>     find out from my USTR contacts what the latest state of play is.
>
>     http://ictsd.org/i/news/bridgesweekly/172659/
>
>     <SNIP>
>
>     The negotiations in Geneva have been put on hold due to
>     differences between China and many of the WTO members involved,
>     Washington says. The group, which includes the US and EU, has been
>     working to develop a list of products to add to the agreement for
>     over a year, and had hoped to complete a final list this month.
>     (See Bridges Weekly, 6 June 2013)
>
>     “The United States is extremely disappointed that it became
>     necessary today to suspend negotiations to expand the Information
>     Technology Agreement,” US Trade Representative Michael Froman said
>     in a statement. “Unfortunately, a diverse group of members
>     participating in the negotiations determined that China’s current
>     position makes progress impossible at this stage.”
>
>     Geneva sources speaking to Bridges in recent weeks had noted that
>     Beijing’s sensitivities regarding certain product lines could
>     prove difficult to resolve as the group tries to whittle down its
>     draft list to a consolidated final version.
>
>     In an e-mailed statement later on Wednesday, China stressed that
>     it has taken a “very serious attitude” toward the ITA talks.
>
>     “We share the same goal with the rest of the participants to
>     conclude the negotiations before the Ninth Ministerial Conference
>     in December,” China said. “After intensive and difficult domestic
>     consultations, China has added its support to 150 tariff lines, or
>     two thirds of the proposed products, which is a concrete
>     contribution to the negotiations.”
>
>     Expressing “deep regret” for the decision of other members to put
>     the talks on hold, Beijing said that resuming the talks “should
>     not be conditioned upon China’s supporting its list of sensitive
>     products.”
>
>     However, Washington has said that it is “hopeful” that Beijing
>     will take into account the concerns of its negotiating partners,
>     and urged the Asian country to “revise its position in a way that
>     will allow the prompt resumption of the negotiations.”
>
>     *Bali in the background*
>
>     The ITA is a plurilateral pact under the aegis of the WTO that
>     eliminates tariffs on trade in information and communication
>     technology (ICT) products. Forty-nine of the WTO’s 159 members
>     have signed onto the ITA, if counting the EU as one member, though
>     the benefits extend to the full WTO membership. Of these 49, over
>     20 are currently involved in the expansion talks.
>
>     - See more at:
>     http://ictsd.org/i/news/bridgesweekly/172659/#sthash.bYvOiJB2.dpuf"
>
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 20, 2013 at 2:58 AM, parminder <parminder at itforchange.net 
> <mailto:parminder at itforchange.net>> wrote:
>
>
>     An important civil society initiative that is doing the rounds.
>     Also enclosed two documents on Information Technology Agreement
>     (ITA) - 2  .....
>
>     This shows that there is more to globalisation and people's rights
>     and livelihoods than what normally appears to the starry eyed
>     Internet-ists. Integration may generally be good, however,
>     integration on what and whose terms is always the key question....
>     And that is the democratic global governance question, that many
>     in the IG space want to bypass in preference to a kind of techno
>     determinism, ..
>
>     Also gives a pointer to civil society's role. I dont say that
>     trade protectionism is necessarily good, in all situations and at
>     all times.... But quite often trade agreements have very strong
>     impact on people's livelihoods and other rights... Those global
>     companies who would like to promote unrestrained global trade have
>     their interests already well represented. The question is, who
>     will represent the interests of the ordinary people, those who
>     cant be present in the global policy spaces.... That role falls to
>     civil society. And it is easy to see that although not always,
>     quite (very?) often these interests may not be the same as that of
>     the big business. This is the reason for civil society to keep a
>     respectful distance from big business lobbyists, at least in its
>     internal working.
>
>     parminder
>
>     -------- Original Message --------
>     Subject: 	{Forum Against FTAs} Request for your endorsement
>     against FTA - "Information Technology Agreement"
>     Date: 	Fri, 20 Sep 2013 12:02:11 +0530
>     From: 	Mani Candan <manicandan at gmail.com>
>     <mailto:manicandan at gmail.com>
>     To: 	forum-against-ftas at googlegroups.com
>     <mailto:forum-against-ftas at googlegroups.com>,
>     peoplesaarc at yahoogroups.com <mailto:peoplesaarc at yahoogroups.com>
>
>
>
>     Dear All
>
>     Please sign on to this important letter on proposed WTO agreement
>     on Information Technology Goods. For details see the message
>     below. Thank you.
>
>     Regards
>     G.Manicandan
>
>
>     ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>     From: *Deborah James* <djames at cepr.net <mailto:djames at cepr.net>>
>     Date: Fri, Sep 20, 2013 at 5:23 AM
>     Subject: Re: Request for your endorsement against FTA -
>     "Information Technology Agreement"
>     To: Deborah James <djames at cepr.net <mailto:djames at cepr.net>>
>
>
>     Dear Friends,
>     Please see this note below – requesting endorsements for an
>     important letter by our friends at ITUC (developed together with
>     OWINFS) against yet another proposed FTA in the WTO – this time on
>     "Information Technology Goods" aka "kiss your infant industry and
>     jobs creation programs goodbye!" Please send organizational
>     endorsement with country to Georgios Altintzis at
>     georgios.altintzis at ituc-csi.org
>     <mailto:georgios.altintzis at ituc-csi.org> by September 23rd. We
>     really need to make a strong showing to governments on this one
>     soon! It has been endorsed by IndustriALL, International Trade
>     Union Confederation (ITUC), the Arab NGO Network for Development
>     (ANND), UNI Global Union, International Union of Food workers
>     (IUF-UITA-IUL), and more (see attached) but now we need YOU!
>
>     Thank you!
>
>     - Deborah, Our World Is Not for Sale (OWINFS)
>
>     ------------------------------------------
>
>     Dear colleagues,
>
>     Estimados compañeros y compañeras, (español abajo)
>
>     Chers/chères camarades, (français ci-dessous)
>
>     With very little public knowledge, governments are negotiating to
>     expand the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) of the WTO,
>     which commits countries to assess zero tariffs on myriad
>     manufactured products. We are writing to express our deep concern
>     because ITA-II will reduce policy space for governments to protect
>     infant industries and jobs, and is not a solution to the global
>     jobs crisis. In light of the stagnation of the Doha Round in the
>     WTO, developed countries are seeking to achieve their agenda
>     (getting new market access for their corporations) without having
>     to make concessions to developing countries that would make the
>     global trading system more fair.
>
>     *Join our sign-on letter*to governments that participate in the
>     expansion of the ITA-II, urging them to be cautious and prudent
>     when negotiating on issues that concern industrial development,
>     policy space, technology transfer, technical standards, market
>     access and security.
>
>     The sign-on was developed with Our World Is Not For Sale Network
>     (OWINFS), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the
>     Global Union ‘IndustriALL’ and the Arab NGO Network for
>     Development (ANND).
>
>     *Please send your organisational endorsement*, with country (or
>     countries) of your group, to Georgios Altintzis at
>     georgios.altintzis at ituc-csi.org
>     <mailto:georgios.altintzis at ituc-csi.org>. The deadline for signing
>     on the letter is September 23, so that it can be delivered before
>     the next round of negotiations. The attached letters are in
>     English, Arabic, Spanish, and French versions; we urge you to
>     share this call with your networks, especially as we are on a
>     tight deadline.
>
>     All the best,
>
>     Saludos solidarios,
>
>     Meilleures salutations
>
>     Yorgos Altintzis, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
>
>     -------------------
>
>     Sin apenas informar a la opinión pública, los gobiernos están
>     negociando la ampliación del Acuerdo sobre Tecnología de la
>     Información (ATI) de la OMC, que comprometería a los países a
>     aplicar derechos arancelarios nulos a una gran cantidad de
>     productos manufacturados. Nos expresamos nuestra seria
>     preocupación, en particular, porque ATI-II reducirá el espacio
>     político de que disponen los gobiernos para proteger sus
>     industrias nacientes y empleos, y no ofrece una solución a la
>     crisis mundial del empleo. Ante el estancamiento de la Ronda de
>     Doha en la OMC, los países desarrollados están buscando la manera
>     de hacer avanzar sus intereses (tener acceso a nuevos mercados
>     para sus empresas), sin tener que hacer concesiones a los países
>     en desarrollo, concesiones que harían que el sistema mundial del
>     comercio fuera más justo.
>
>     *Añadan su firma a una carta *que dirigiremos a los gobiernos que
>     participan en la ampliación del ATI-II, instándolos a actuar con
>     la máxima prudencia al negociar sobre cuestiones relativas al
>     desarrollo industrial, espacio político, transferencia de
>     tecnología, normas técnicas, acceso a los mercados y seguridad.
>
>     Esta carta fue elaborada conjuntamente por la Red ‘Nuestro Mundo
>     No Está en Venta’, la Confederación Sindical Internacional (CSI), 
>     el Sindicato Mundial ‘IndustriALL’ y la Red de ONG Árabes para el
>     Desarrollo (ANND).
>
>     *Les rogamos confirmen el apoyo de su organización*, mencionando
>     el país (o países) de su grupo a Georgios Altintzis
>     (georgios.altintzis at ituc-csi.org
>     <mailto:georgios.altintzis at ituc-csi.org>).  El plazo para enviar
>     la carta firmada es el 23 de septiembre, a fin de que pueda
>     entregarse antes de la próxima ronda de negociaciones. Les
>     enviamos en anexo las cartas en ingles, árabe, español y francés. 
>     Asimismo les rogamos que difundan este llamado entre todas sus
>     redes rápidamente, ya que el tiempo apremia.
>
>     ------------------
>
>     N’informant pas le publique, les gouvernements négocient
>     l’élargissement de l’Accord sur les technologies de l’information
>     (ATI) de l’OMC, qui engagerait les pays à ramener à zéro les
>     droits de douane pour la fabrication d’une multitude de produits.
>     Nous vous faisons part de notre vive inquiétude, notamment parce
>     que l’Accord réduira l’espace politique dont disposent les
>     gouvernements pour protéger leurs industries naissantes et les
>     emplois et qu’il n’offre pas de solution à la crise de l’emploi
>     mondiale. Compte tenu de la stagnation du cycle de Doha à l’OMC,
>     les pays développés cherchent à réaliser leur programme (obtenir
>     un accès à des nouveaux marchés pour leurs entreprises) sans
>     devoir faire de concessions aux pays en développement, qui
>     rendraient le système mondial du commerce plus équitable.
>
>     Nous vous invitons *à signer la lettre* que nous adresserons aux
>     gouvernements participant à l’élargissement de l’ATI, les
>     exhortant à agir avec prudence et précaution dans le cadre de la
>     négociation des questions concernant le développement industriel,
>     l’espace politique, le transfert de technologie, les normes
>     techniques, l’accès aux marchés et la sécurité.
>
>     Cette lettre a été élaborée conjointement avec le réseau « Notre
>     monde n’est pas à vendre » (OWINFS), la Confédération syndicale
>     internationale (CSI), la fédération syndicale internationale
>     IndustriALL et le Réseau d’ONG arabes pour le développement (ANND).
>
>     Nous vous prions de bien vouloir confirmer le soutien de votre
>     organisation, en indiquant le pays (ou les pays) de votre groupe à
>     Georgios Altintzis(georgios.altintzis at ituc-csi.org
>     <mailto:georgios.altintzis at ituc-csi.org>). Le délai pour envoyer
>     la lettre signée est le 23 septembre, afin qu’elle puisse être
>     remise avant le prochain cycle de négociations. Nous vous annexons
>     la lettre en anglais, en arabe, en espagnol et en français. Nous
>     vous exhortons également à diffuser rapidement cet appel à vos
>     réseaux, compte tenu du très court délai.
>
>
>
>     Yorgos Altintzís
>
>     Economic & Social Policy
>
>     ITUC International Trade Union Confederation
>
>     ΔΣΣ Διεθνής Συνομοσπονδία Συνδικάτων
>
>
>     -- 
>
>     Deborah James
>     Our World Is Not For Sale (OWINFS) network
>
>     Director of International Programs
>     Center for Economic and Policy Research
>     1611 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 400 Washington DC 20009
>     +1.202.293.5380 x111 <tel:%2B1.202.293.5380%20x111>
>     djames at cepr.net <mailto:djames at cepr.net>
>     www.cepr.net <http://www.cepr.net>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
>
> -- 
> *Carolina Rossini*
> /Project Director, Latin America Resource Center/
> Open Technology Institute
> *New America Foundation*
> //
> http://carolinarossini.net/
> + 1 6176979389
> *carolina.rossini at gmail.com <mailto:carolina.rossini at gmail.com>*
> skype: carolrossini
> @carolinarossini
>

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