Taiwan wins WTO flat-panel tariff case against EU

A man shops for computers and LCD monitors inside an electronics shop in Taipei November 20, 2008.

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan has won a World Trade Organisation dispute against the European Union over LCD flat-screen panel tariffs, saving island exporters up to $611 million a year, local officials and media said on Saturday.

A WTO dispute settlement body ruled late on Friday that the European Union could not levy tariffs on panels bigger than 19 inches and with high-definition interface terminals, officials and media in tech-reliant Taiwan said.

Taiwan, in its first WTO dispute since becoming a member of the trade body in 2002, had argued that the European Union violated a 1994 information technology agreement that exempts tariffs on certain items, local media said. It had charged a 14 percent tariff.

Taiwan firms will save $162-$609 million per year on tariffs when the deal takes effect by Dec. 25, barring an appeal by the European Union, officials said.

"Of course, this is a huge help to our flat-panel screen manufacturers, because Taiwan's shipments are so numerous," an island economic affairs ministry official told Reuters.

The island filed its dispute in 2008 along with Japan and the United States. They also contested European Union tariffs on multi-functional printers and television set-up boxes.

(Reporting by Ralph Jennings and Sugita Katyal)