WTO

The European Union was found to be wrong imposing duties on three types of electronics products from the United States and other countries according to a ruling by the World Trade Organization, as reported by trade sources.

According to a report by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative China imposed a great number of trade restrictions in 2009, more than in other years. The Celestial Empire failed to comply with its obligations as a member of the World Trade Organization in many areas including intellectual property rights, industrial policies, trading rights and distribution services, agriculture and services.

 Censorship of the Internet is open to challenge at the World Trade Organization as it can restrict trade in services delivered online, a forthcoming study says.

A censorship case at the WTO could raise sovereignty issues, given the clear right of member states to restrict trade on moral grounds -- for example, by blocking access to child pornography websites.

But a WTO ruling could set limits on blanket censorship and compel states instead to use more selective filtering, according to the study, to be published on Thursday by think-tank ECIPE.