National car issue has not reached WTO panel: Tunky<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Industry and Trade Tunky Ariwibowo
\nsaid that Indonesia's controversial national car policy would not
\nbe discussed by the World Trade Organization's (WTO) dispute
\nsettlement body which will meet today in Geneva.<\/p>\n
Tunky said yesterday that, based on reports from Indonesia's
\nrepresentatives at the WTO's Geneva headquarters, no country had
\nfiled a complaint against the national car policy.<\/p>\n
The dispute settlement body meets once a month.<\/p>\n
Tunky said that countries with complaints to be heard by the
\npanel must submit their agendas several weeks before the meeting.<\/p>\n
\"But after making a thorough inventory, we discovered that not
\na single WTO member had referred to the national car policy for
\ndiscussions (scheduled today),\" he said.<\/p>\n
But he admitted that this did not necessarily mean that
\ncountries would stop taking the case to the WTO.<\/p>\n
\"We are still holding bilateral talks which means that we
\nstill hope the talks will be fruitful,\" Tunky said.<\/p>\n
The United States, Japan and the European Union have
\nthreatened to take the issue of Indonesia's national car policy
\nto the WTO, saying the policy breached international trade rules.<\/p>\n
Last October, Japan, the U.S. and the EU lodged their first
\ncomplaints with the WTO, which allows parties 60 days for
\nconsultation to try and settle trade disputes.<\/p>\n
That period has lapsed but the three have extended their talks
\nwith Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Under the national car policy, the government granted a series
\nof import duty and luxury tax breaks to a so-called national car
\nmaker provided that the cars' local component content was 20
\npercent by the end of the first year of production, 40 percent by
\nthe end of the second year and 60 percent by the end of the third
\nyear.<\/p>\n
The government granted PT Timor Putra Nasional -- controlled
\nby President Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo Mandala Putra -- the
\nsole right to develop the national car.<\/p>\n
The program allowed Timor Putra -- in conjunction with its
\nforeign partner Kia Motors Corp. of South Korea -- to produce
\nKia's Sephia sedans under the local brand name \"Timor\".<\/p>\n
Since Timor Putra had no assembly plants, the government later
\nallowed it to import 45,000 completely assembled sedans from Kia
\nMotors for its first year of production.<\/p>\n
Tunky said yesterday the reason the countries raised
\ncomplaints at the WTO was because there were \"differences among
\nus on how to interpret the clauses of the WTO\".<\/p>\n
\"We say that as a developing country, we should be given some
\ntime to line up our regulations for (global free trade) in the
\nnext century. And we will abide by this. But some countries say
\nwe should abide by this right now,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He denied that the United State's decision to postpone its
\ncomplaint on the national car policy was compensation for
\nIndonesia's support for the United States-sponsored Information
\nTechnology Agreement signed last month.<\/p>\n
Under the agreement reached during a conference of WTO
\nministers in Singapore, several member countries agreed to
\nliberalize trade on information technology products.<\/p>\n
Indonesia -- the only developing country that signed the
\nagreement -- committed itself to submitting by March its table of
\ncommitments for liberalizing this sector.<\/p>\n
Economist Mari Pangestu said the stages in the WTO dispute
\nsettlement process consisted of consultation (60 days);
\nestablishment of an independent panel, issuance of a report and
\nruling (six and a half months to one year); adoption of the
\npanel's report (60 days); compliance within a reasonable period
\nor appeal (three months); and compliance (within a reasonable
\ntime agreed upon by the disputing parties). (pwn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/national-car-issue-has-not-reached-wto-panel-tunky-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}