ID :
55275
Tue, 04/14/2009 - 05:50
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/55275
The shortlink copeid
Japan to lift punitive tariffs on S. Korea's Hynix chips+
TOKYO, April 13 Kyodo - The Japanese government will lift punitive tariffs on computer chips made by South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor Inc., leading to a settlement of a three-year trade dispute between the two countries, Japanese Finance Ministry officials
said Monday.
Following a recommendation from a ministry panel, the government is scheduled
to eliminate the tariffs April 23, the officials said. The Cabinet is set to
endorse the recommendation Friday.
Japan had claimed Hynix, the world's second-largest maker of dynamic random
access memory chips, received South Korean government-led financial assistance
in 2001 and 2002, enabling the company to set unfairly low prices for DRAM
chips in the Japanese market.
Japan and South Korea have been locked in a trade dispute since January 2006,
when Tokyo imposed a countervailing duty of 27.2 percent on imports of Hynix
DRAM chips -- the first time Japan imposed such a duty on foreign products to
offset alleged unfair subsidies.
Since last September, the duty has been reduced to 9.1 percent after a World
Trade Organization arbitration panel effectively ruled in favor of South Korea
and recommended that Japan lift or review the trade barrier.
South Korea had called on the WTO to order Japan to completely abandon the
special duty.
The Japanese ministry's Council on Customs, Tariff, Foreign Exchange and Other
Transactions concluded Monday that Hynix's business is no longer benefiting
from the state-led assistance, according to the officials.
The ministry has also confirmed that Hynix is not receiving any additional
South Korean government-sponsored support, they said.
''We have already accomplished our desired aim,'' an official at the Finance
Ministry said, noting that without the duty Japan's Elpida Memory Inc., the
third-largest DRAM chip maker in the world, could have been exposed to unfair
competition.
The European Union and the United States have already abolished their similar
punitive duties on Hynix-made DRAM chips, which both had put in place in 2003.
==Kyodo
said Monday.
Following a recommendation from a ministry panel, the government is scheduled
to eliminate the tariffs April 23, the officials said. The Cabinet is set to
endorse the recommendation Friday.
Japan had claimed Hynix, the world's second-largest maker of dynamic random
access memory chips, received South Korean government-led financial assistance
in 2001 and 2002, enabling the company to set unfairly low prices for DRAM
chips in the Japanese market.
Japan and South Korea have been locked in a trade dispute since January 2006,
when Tokyo imposed a countervailing duty of 27.2 percent on imports of Hynix
DRAM chips -- the first time Japan imposed such a duty on foreign products to
offset alleged unfair subsidies.
Since last September, the duty has been reduced to 9.1 percent after a World
Trade Organization arbitration panel effectively ruled in favor of South Korea
and recommended that Japan lift or review the trade barrier.
South Korea had called on the WTO to order Japan to completely abandon the
special duty.
The Japanese ministry's Council on Customs, Tariff, Foreign Exchange and Other
Transactions concluded Monday that Hynix's business is no longer benefiting
from the state-led assistance, according to the officials.
The ministry has also confirmed that Hynix is not receiving any additional
South Korean government-sponsored support, they said.
''We have already accomplished our desired aim,'' an official at the Finance
Ministry said, noting that without the duty Japan's Elpida Memory Inc., the
third-largest DRAM chip maker in the world, could have been exposed to unfair
competition.
The European Union and the United States have already abolished their similar
punitive duties on Hynix-made DRAM chips, which both had put in place in 2003.
==Kyodo
