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Europe Wants Longer Online Tax Ban
by Danielle Belopotosky
The European Commission on Tuesday called for extending a tax moratorium on electronic radio and television and other e-services delivered outside the European Union.
The proposal would extend the directive until the end of 2008. Without that step, European Union suppliers would have to tax services distributed outside of the region, which the commission warned would impose a competitive handicap.
"I urge the EU Council of Ministers to rapidly reach an agreement on this extension, as I cannot imagine we would revert to the rules prevailing before the e-commerce" directive was introduced in 2003, Taxation Commissioner Laszio Kovacs said in a statement.
Under the 2003 directive, e-services distributed outside the European Union are exempt from a tax that is imposed at each level of production based on the value of the service at that stage. E-services provided within the region are subject to the tax, according to the commission.
Moreover, the new proposal aims to help non-EU operators, who would be subject to the same tax rules for providing digital products abroad.
The commission and EU nations must review the issue by the end of June.
Lawmakers Are Concerned About Russian Trade
As bilateral negotiations over Russia's accession into the World Trade Organization move toward conclusion, members of Congress last week urged President Bush to use caution when reviewing Russia's trade practices.
Leaders from the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees on Thursday sent a letter to the White House expressing strong concerns about Russia's commitment to protecting intellectual property. The United States and Russia are expected to conclude talks before Russian President Vladimir Putin hosts the annual Group of Eight meeting of the top economies in July.
"Every prospective WTO member ... must demonstrate its willingness, ability and commitment to abide by WTO rules," the lawmakers wrote, "Unfortunately, Russia has not yet done so."
The letter's authors were: Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa; panel ranking Democrat Max Baucus of Montana; House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif.; and ranking Democrat Charles Rangel of New York.
The congressman cited Russia's near-decade long inclusion on the "Special 301" priority watch list of intellectual property violators "due to egregious and costly violations of copyright, patent and trademark [law]."
Piracy rates in Russia are estimated to be as high as 70 percent, and Russia is home to some 50 optical-disc manufacturing facilities, of which roughly half are suspected of producing pirated music and movie discs. As many as 16 of those facilities operate on government-owned sites.
While Russia has taken steps aimed at curbing piracy, including increased inspections at the manufacturing plants, the congressmen say that action is not enough, and the Russian government is on the brink of moving backward.
Russia is set to annul existing intellectual property laws. In February, the government proposed changes to its civil code. Observers said the revisions would cancel current laws on copyrights, origin of goods, service marks and trademarks.
"Such a move would put Russia out of compliance with international and bilateral commitments to protect" IP rights and would "inject an enormous amount of uncertainty" in areas where Russia has improved its enforcement, the letter said. The congressmen called on the Bush administration to require definitive action by Russia before concluding the WTO negotiations.
Meanwhile, China and Russia this week deepened ties to promote cooperation in investment, technology and trade projects.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Viktorovich Lavrov in Beijing on Tuesday. China's state-owned media, the Xinhua News Agency, reported that officials vowed to maintain momentum to strengthen the Chinese-Russian relationship.
The leaders pledged to expand cooperation on major issues, including democratizing their shared boarders and encouraging two-way trade. The ministers also said they would work together to address concerns about nuclear weapons research in Iran and North Korea.
Tech Groups Laud Deal On Vietnam, WTO
The United States and Vietnam on Sunday announced an agreement in principle to pave the way for Vietnam's accession into the World Trade Organization.
U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman said the agreement would open market access for American financial services and manufactured products. "Vietnam recognizes that broad-based reform and economic liberalization are essential to its integration into the global economy," Portman said in a statement, adding that the United States will work to ensure the Southeast Asian nation's accession to the WTO.
Under the agreement, Vietnam committed to open services sectors such as telecommunications and satellites. Vietnam is finalizing intellectual property legislation and regulations, according to USTR. By acceding to the WTO, Vietnam also will become a signatory to the trade body's Information Technology Agreement.
Myron Brilliant, vice president for East Asia at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, called the agreement an important step for Vietnam to "integrate itself into the global economy." Bilateral trade between the nations reached more than $7.6 billion last year.
Telecommunications Industry Association President Matthew Flanigan said Vietnam's commitments will encourage increased investment in the country and will create "new opportunities for TIA member companies and the global communications industry as a whole."
The Vietnamese telecom market is valued at about $1.5 billion, according to TIA. Vietnam boasts more than 5.3 million Internet users, while less than a million households have computers. And broadband penetration is less than 43,000 subscribers.
Cisco Aids Istanbul Police With Surveillance
The police in Istanbul soon will be equipped with a video, voice and data surveillance network, according to Cisco Systems.
During the first phase of implementation, Cisco announced last week that the company has installed 700 surveillance cameras at points around the Turkish city of Istanbul. The cameras are connected to the police department's security system via a high-speed digital Internet service provided by Turk Telecom. The project is called MOBESE.
The project has led to the recovery of stolen vehicles through the use of mapping technologies and faster communications, according to Cisco. The system is capable of sending images over the connection, and the images then are analyzed by software applications for license-plate recognition and police-vehicle tracking.
The network also supports an Internet-based contact center, which can match calls made to the police to images captured via video cameras from the scene of incidents.
"We expect MOBESE to make a significant contribution to Istanbul's safety and are already planning to extend the project across the city," Halit Korken, the deputy chief information officer of the Istanbul Police Department, said in a statement.
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