(WASHINGTON) - The United States, Japan and Taiwan have asked the WTO to settle their dispute against the European Union over its duties on certain high-technology imports, the US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said Monday.

The US and the two Asian countries claim that EU is violating World Trade Organization rules by imposing duties on imports of certain products such as "cable boxes that can access the Internet, flat-panel computer monitors, and certain computer printers that can also scan, fax and/or copy."

Global exports of these products were estimated at over 70 billion dollars in 2007, the USTR office said.

A WTO Information Technology Agreement (ITA) signed in 1996 prohibits duties on certain high-technology products.

"The EU committed to bind and eliminate duties on ITA products in its WTO tariff schedules. We believe that these duties are inconsistent with the EU's commitments on these products, and that they discourage technological innovation in the IT sector," Schwab said.

"However, the EU claims it can now charge duties on these products simply because they incorporate technologies or features that did not exist when the ITA was concluded," she said.

"In effect, the EU is taxing innovation -- a move that could impair continued technological development in the information technology industry and raise prices for millions of businesses and consumers."

The WTO dispute settlement body is to consider the joint request at its next meeting, on August 29, according to the USTR office.

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