The United States has complained to the World Trade Organisation over European taxes on technology goods like computer monitors and printers.

Some of the duties are as high as 14 percent and make American technology goods less competitive in Europe, it claims.

According to the New York Times, the complaint is being made on behalf of the Information Technology Industry Council, a trade association whose members include HP, Apple and Cisco.

The US feels that European duties violate a 1996 WTO agreement that removed tariffs on IT gear.

However the EC said it can charge duties on the goods, which include cable and satellite boxes for using the Internet and printers that can also scan, fax and copy. These amount to 'new technology' and are not covered by the 1996 agreement.

The Commission said in a statement that it was willing to renegotiate the 1996 Information Technology Agreement to cover new products, but the United States had refused.

At the centre of the row are flat-panel screens which can work with DVD players, not just computers. Under the agreement they are classified as video monitors, which are not covered. X

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New York Times