Ohio’s Diebold Gains Duty Free Access into India’s $100+ Million IT Market
The International Trade Administration’s (ITA) Market Access and Compliance (MAC) Unit recently supported Diebold, a Canton, Ohio-based manufacturer of automated teller machines (ATMs), in its efforts to overcome an unfair cost of doing business in India’s IT sector.
Why it matters: Though India had committed to provide duty free access to certain IT products, including ATMs, its decision not to classify Diebold’s machines as ATMs subjected Diebold to a 30 percent duty. This significantly raised the cost of Diebold’s exports and undermined their competitiveness in the Indian market.
The problem: Indian Customs authorities refused to classify Diebold’s machines as ATMs because the machines did not accept deposits, thus depriving Diebold of the benefits of duty-free treatment to which India had previously agreed under the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Information Technology Agreement.
The solution: MAC, in cooperation with other U.S. Government agencies, placed sustained pressure on the Indian Commerce and Finance Ministries to reclassify Diebold’s machines appropriately as ATMs. As a result, India finally reclassified Diebold’s machines, reducing the tariff’s Diebold owed from 30% to zero, and ensuring its continued duty-free access to the $100+ million market for the company in India.
Working closely with U.S. companies, MAC creates, expands and defends market access for U.S. goods and services overseas. Through its Trade Agreements Compliance Program, MAC ensures that our trading partners live up to their commitments. “We promote policy that develops a more favorable business climate for U.S. companies in global markets; we employ commercial diplomacy to resolve trade barriers; and we leverage our bilateral and multilateral trade agreements to ensure our trading partners live up to their commitments so that our businesses can compete on a level-playing field.” - Assistant Secretary for Market Access and Compliance, Michael C. Camuñez.
