The World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled in favor of Taiwan in a dispute it filed against the European Union, which could save the country's LCD manufacturers more than NT$19.6 billion (US$611.54 million) in tax on EU exports every year. In its final report issued in Brussels Friday, a panel under the Dispute Settlement Body of the Geneva-based WTO determined that the EU should not impose tariffs on any of its imports of LCDs or other information technology products from any country. It was the first trade complaint Taiwan has filed with the WTO for settlement since it was admitted to the body in 2002. Gleeful trade officials said the report, which confirmed the panel's finding in its interim report June 11, is expected to take effect before Dec. 25 this year unless the EU appeals against it. In that case, the officials said, the dispute will have to be resolved before March of next year. They said the result was widely expected as neither the Taiwanese nor the EU authorities made any new arguments in their responses to the interim report after the WTO asked them for comments. 'It is a victory for the country's diplomacy and business, ' one trade official said. Economics officials began the trade dispute settlement process in June 2008 when they requested consultations with the EU following complaints from Taiwanese LCD manufacturers. The manufacturers said the EU had violated its obligations under the 1994 WTO Information Technology Agreement by imposing a 14 percent tariff on imports of LCD panels that are larger than 19 inches and equipped with high definition interface terminals and digital video interface terminals. They said the panels should be considered information technology products that enjoy duty-free trade under the agreement. EU officials, however, defined them as consumer products because they can be used with DVD players, home-use projectors, video cameras and video game players. After three fruitless consultations with the EU, Taiwan asked for the establishment of a panel to settle the dispute on Aug. 18, 2008 along with the United States, which complained about the EU's 13.9 percent tariff on its television set-top boxes, and Japan, which complained about the EU's 6 percent tariff on its multi-functional products. The economics officials submitted two affidavits and pleaded the case twice before the panel in Geneva over the last two years. Because of the complexity of the matter and the fact that the proceedings involved three complainants, the panel could not complete its work within the stipulated six months from the date of its Sept. 23, 2008 formation, economics officials said. During the dispute-solving process, however, some EU states stopped levying duty not only on products covered in the case, but also on other controversial products such as cell phones that can be used as TV sets and global positioning system devices. The officials said one difficulty in the case lies in the fact that the products at the center of the dispute had not been developed in 1994, so were not specifically addressed in the 1994 agreement. Noting that Taiwan exported NT$140 billion-worth of the LCD panels involved in the dispute, a local analyst said that the tariff savings will be especially important as European consumers' purchasing power has been seriously dented by the recent depreciation of the euro. The case highlights the difficulty in keeping regulations up to date with rapidly developing technology and is being closely monitored by other countries, as it is the first case under the Information Technology Agreement and is poised to set a precedent for other new information technology products. Taiwan churned out NT$1.34 trillion-worth of LCDs in 2009, representing a 17 percent plunge from the previous year. The industry is expected to expand by 8.2 percent this year to NT$1.45 trillion, according to statistics compiled by the Industrial Technology Research Institute. 