   
  
G/IT/W/52  
 
4 January 2021 
(21-0026) Page: 1/1 
Committee of Participants on the Expansion of Trade in 
Information Technology Products  Original: English  
 
MINISTERIAL DECLARATION ON TRADE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS  
(INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AGREEMENT – ITA) AND MINISTERIAL DECLARATION  
ON THE EXPANSION OF TRADE  IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS  
COMMUNICATION FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM  
The following communication, dated 17 December  2020, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of the United Kingdom.  
 
 
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I have the honour to refer to the Ministerial Declaration on Trade in Information Technology Produc ts 
to which the European Communities became a participant in Singapore on 13  December  1996 
(WT/MIN(96)/16) (the "1996  ITA") and the Ministerial Declaration on Trade in Information 
Technology Products to which the European Communities became a participant i n Nairobi on 
16 December  2015 (WT/MIN(15)/25) (the "2015  ITA Expansion").  
 
The United Kingdom ceased to be a Member State of the European Union at 23:00  GMT on 
31 January  2020. The European Union and the United Kingdom agreed a Withdrawal Agreement 
pursuan t to Article  50 of the Treaty on European Union, providing for a time -limited transition period 
during which European Union law, as modified by the Withdrawal Agreement, applies to and in the 
United Kingdom (the "transition period"). The transition period will end at 23:00  GMT on 
31 December  2020.  
 
As a consequence of its withdrawal from the European Union, the United Kingdom has circulated for 
certification its own independent schedule of concessions and commitments to the General 
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade  1994, set out in Schedule  XIX-United Kingdom (G/MA/TAR/RS/570) 
and its addenda. Schedule  XIX-United Kingdom replicates all tariff liberalisation commitments with 
respect to the products listed in the Annexes of the 1996  ITA and the 2015  ITA Expansion  as 
previously set out in the European Union Schedule  CLXXV -European Union.  
 
I have the honour to inform to you that, as such, the United Kingdom confirms its intention to 
continue to respect the provisions of the 1996  ITA and the 2015 ITA Expansion from the expiration 
of the transition period. The United Kingdom will continue to implement all tariff liberalisation 
commitments with respect to products annexed to both the 1996  ITA and the 2015  ITA Expansion, 
in its own right, and to participate in the Committee of Participants on the Expansion of Trade in 
Information Technology Products and the ITA  Expansion Group.  
 
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