Release Issued by Photo Image Council:

Reclassification of Digital Cameras by European Commission

The Photo Imaging Council continues its support of an international initiative against the reclassification of digital cameras by the European Commission.

The international photo industry and photo traders continue to urge Brussels to comply with the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), countering arguments that digital cameras with a video function can be equated with dedicated camcorders in terms of customs legislation.

If the EC reclassification proposals are adopted, customs duties of 4.9% will be placed on digital cameras which have an auxiliary function for recording short video sequences. At present, no digital cameras are manufactured inside the European Union so consumers in Europe would have to pay more for digital cameras in the future.

Considerable resistance has emerged against these plans that are clearly opposed to the interests of European importers, traders and final consumers. A second paper detailing industry’s views on why the tariff classification should not be changed has been submitted by Eicta, the European association for consumer electronics, to the EC’s Nomenclature Committee.

Eicta cogently reasons that all ITA signatory countries and all WTO regions should continue to recognise digital cameras as information technology products, thus respecting the exemption from import duties decided in the first WTO Ministerial Declaration of Singapore, 1996. The paper is supported by PIC and other leading photo industry and trade associations particularly in Europe and Japan.

The issue may be decided as early as April at the next meeting of the Nomenclature Committee.

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