Technology to Customs: Catch me, if you can

The WTO's Harmonised System (HS) convention is probably one of the most successful international conventions and aims to harmonise tariff codes for goods worldwide. The WTO also has successful conventions, including the 1996 Information Technology Agreement (ITA), which aims to improve trade in technology products by eliminating customs duties on selected and defined products. The interests of the HS and the ITA are not identical. While the HS aims to establish rules for a unified classification, regardless of whether the result leads to duty-free treatment or not, the ITA's objective is duty-free treatment for technological products.