Downward pressure on IT pricing

THE PRICE of IT products in Australia will today be examined as the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties holds public hearings in Canberra.

Committee Chair, the Hon Stuart Robert MP, says the committee will examine an amendment to the schedule of concessions under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, as well as a protocol to amend the air services agreement with Bahrain, a new air services agreement with Kuwait, and the Convention on Choice of Courts.

“By further liberalising international trade in information technology products, the recently negotiated amendments to the schedule of concessions will put downward pressure on the price consumers pay for some IT products in Australia, with flow-on effects up and down the supply chain,” Mr Robert says.

“Air services agreements, the schedule of concessions and the Convention on Choice of Courts will also have important effects for Australia.”

Mr Robert says people interested in the Committee’s inquiries can visit the Treaties Committee’s website for further information.

 

Public Hearing: Monday 10 October 2016, Committee Room 2R1, Parliament House, Canberra

11.30am: Air Services Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the State of Kuwait; Protocol to Amend and Supplement the Agreement between the Government of Australia and the State of Bahrain relating to Air Services

12.00pm: Australia’s Accession to the Choice of Courts Agreement

12.30pm: Amendment of Australia’s Schedule of Concessions under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT) and the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the World Trade Organisation for Implementation of: Ministerial Declaration on the Expansion of Trade in Information Technology Products; and Ministerial Decision – Export Competition

More detailed programs for the hearings, including witnesses, are available from the Committee website.

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