技术产品零关税的胜利

本周早些时候，来自50多个国家的贸易部长达成协议，取消全球每年出口信息和通信技术（ICT）产品约1.3万亿美元的关税。
消除ICT关税降低了制造商的商品成本，使全球年度GDP增加了约1900亿美元，并有助于将半导体技术的好处带到消费者手中。
关税取消公告是一个漫长过程的结束。
1996年，信息技术协议（ITA）取消了对半导体，计算机和电信设备的关税。
如今，ICT贸易量已从1996年的水平增加了近两倍，达到每年4万亿美元以上。
随着全球ICT产品贸易的激增，以及技术进步创造了1996年不存在的产品，更新ITA的需求变得越来越重要，并且在2012年开始了扩大ITA的谈判。来自美国，欧洲的贸易部长
加拿大，日本，菲律宾和马来西亚在最近的谈判中特别咄咄逼人，以推动强有力的产品清单，在2016年7月1日协议生效后，关税将立即消除。
照片：©WTO。
由Admedia Communication提供。
扩展的ITA产品清单将包括各种产品。
据美国贸易代表称，受影响的半导体产品以及对这些产品征收的现行关税是：
磁共振成像（MRI）机器 - 关税高达8％
计算机断层扫描（CT）扫描仪 - 关税高达8％
全球定位系统（GPS）设备 - 关税高达8％
印刷品/卡片下载软件和游戏 - 关税高达10％
打印机墨盒 - 关税高达25％
静态转换器和电感器 - 关税高达10％
扬声器 - 关税高达30％
软件媒体，如固态硬盘 - 关税高达30％
视频游戏机 - 关税高达30％。
扩大的ITA还将取消对一系列其他技术产品的进口关税，包括高科技医疗设备，摄像机和一系列高科技ICT测试仪器。
此外，扩展的ITA清单包括多组件集成电路。
半导体封装技术的进步将越来越多地将不同类型的元件（包括传感器）整合到单个封装中。
这种多组件设备可能不符合当前海关对集成电路的定义，因此可能不包括在现有的ITA中。
消除多部件关税（高达25％）将降低包含此类设备的产品的成本。
本周的ITA扩张;
在肯尼亚内罗毕举行的世贸组织会议上结束;
是世界贸易组织18年来首个重大关税削减协议。
世界贸易组织目前正在就环境商品协议进行谈判，该协议将取消促进清洁环境的产品的关税，包括可再生能源产品和能源效率的产品。
安森美半导体一直是ICT产品零关税的长期支持者，其设备包含在本协议中包含的许多产品中。
我们期待与客户合作，因为他们解决了由较低关税刺激的额外需求。



以下为原文

Earlier this week, trade ministers from over 50 countries reached an agreement to eliminate tariffs on approximately $1.3 trillion in annual global exports of information and communications technology (ICT) products.   Eliminating ICT tariffs lowers the cost of goods for manufacturers, increases annual global GDP by an estimated $190 billion, and helps get the benefits of semiconductor technology into the hands of consumers.
The tariff elimination announcement is the end of a long process.  In 1996, the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) eliminated tariffs on semiconductors, computers and telecommunications equipment.  Today, ICT trade has nearly tripled from 1996 levels to over $4 trillion annually.  With the explosion of global trade in ICT products, and with technology advances creating products that did not exist in 1996, the need to update the ITA became increasingly paramount, and negotiations to expand the ITA began in 2012.  Trade Ministers from the U.S., Europe, Canada, Japan, Philippines, and Malaysia were particularly aggressive in recent negotiations to push for a robust list of products where tariffs would be eliminated immediately upon the agreement’s entry into force on July 1, 2016.

Photos: © WTO. Courtesy of Admedia Communication.
The expanded ITA product list will include a wide range of products.  According to the U.S. Trade Representative, the impacted products that contain semiconductors and the current tariffs imposed on these products are:

• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines – Tariffs up to 8 percent
• Computed Tomography (CT) scanners – Tariffs up to 8 percent
• Global Positioning System (GPS) devices - Tariffs up to 8 percent
• Printed matter/cards to download software and games – Tariffs up to 10 percent
• Printer ink cartridges – Tariffs up to 25 percent
• Static converters and inductors – Tariffs up to 10 percent
• Loudspeakers – Tariffs up to 30 percent
• Software media, such as solid state drives - Tariffs up to 30 percent
• Video game consoles – Tariffs up to 30 percent.
• An expanded ITA will also eliminate import duties on a range of additional technology products including high-tech medical devices, video cameras, and an array of high-tech ICT testing instruments.
  

In addition, the expanded ITA list includes Multi-Component Integrated Circuits.  Technology advances in semiconductor packaging will increasingly lead different types of components, including sensors, incorporated into a single package.  Such multi-component devices might not meet the current Customs definition of an integrated circuit, and thus might not be included in the existing ITA.  Elimination of multi-component tariffs, which can be as high as 25 percent, will lower costs for products that contain such devices.
This week’s ITA expansion; concluded at a WTO meeting in Nairobi, Kenya; is the first major tariff-elimination deal at the WTO in 18 years.  Negotiations are also currently underway within the WTO on an Environmental Goods Agreement that would eliminate tariffs on products that promote a clean environment, including renewable energy products and goods that enable energy efficiency.   
ON Semiconductor has been a strong and long-time supporter of zero tariffs on ICT goods, and its devices are included in many of the products that are included in this agreement.  We look forward to working with our customers as they address the additional demand stimulated by lower tariffs.