Has Japan implemented the WTO's ruling on duties imposed on Korean DRAM? Or has it defied it? The WTO has now set up a group to rule on the issue.

Japan was putting a 27.2 per cent duty on Korean DRAM but the WTO ruled in November 2007 that it must remove it.

When nothing happened, the WTO's arbitrator set a date for removal of the duty. That was September 1st.

Now, it appears, Japan has reduced the duty to 9.1 per cent, but it was ordered to remove it altogether.

"Despite its earlier promise to comply with the DSB (Dispute Settlement Body of the WTO) ruling, Japan has instead engaged in delaying tactics in order to maintain an illegal countervailing duty on imports from Korea for as long as possible in contravention of the DSB's ruling," stated a Korean statement to the WTO.

Japan is arguing that it has done what was ordered.

The US and EU dropped duties on Korean DRAM earlier this year. The US duty was 44.71 per cent. The EU duty was 30 per cent.

The duties were imposed after the Asian Contagion fiascos when the IMF had to bail out some Asian economies, and when the Korean government was accused of using some of the bail-out money to support local DRAM producers.

See also: Mannerisms, the blog of David Manners. Updated twice daily, it's the distinctive, entertaining, authoritative and never dull commentary on the semiconductor industry, from someone who knows. Sign up for the Mannerisms eNewsletter.

Sign-up for the ElectronicsWeekly.com newsletters
Daily Latest [Daily]	Weekly roundup [Weekly]	Mannerisms [Weekly]	Circuits [Fortnightly]	Made By Monkeys [Fortnightly]