After two years of legal wrangling, Taiwan finally scored a major victory over a dispute against the European Union at the World Trade Organization. As a result, Taiwans LCD manufacturers could be benefited by saving nearly 20 billion NT dollars each year. Final report of the ruling is expected to be issued later this month.

In 2008, Taiwan, Japan, and the United States filed a joint trade dispute with the World Trade Organization over the European Union's decision to impose a 14% tariff on LCD panel imports larger than 19 inches and panels with composite video connectors.

Taiwan, Japan, and the U.S. saw the tariff as a violation of the WTO's Information Technology Agreement, and the WTO ruled in their favor on Monday.

Taiwan's annual LCD panel exports to Europe amount to 100 billion NT, and the WTO's decision will in theory save domestic manufacturers nearly 20 billion NT annually.

However, as a number of domestic manufacturers had previously set up production plants on the European mainland to circumvent the tariff, actual savings may be slightly lower.

Nevertheless, the ruling is symbolically significant for Taiwan as this was the first trade complaint filed by Taiwan since it joined the WTO. The WTO's final report will be issued on July 24th.

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