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A consumer electronic tax witch hunt has been started by the The World Trade Organization following several complaints about high taxes being added to imports of flat panel TV’s, computer monitors, set top boxes and PVE’s as well as multi function printer devices.

The investigation was launched following complaints by the U.S backed by Companies like Apple, Cisco and HP, Japan and Taiwan who claim that European Countries were ripping off taxes and that the 27-nation bloc were reneging on a 1996 agreement that ended tariffs on information technology equipment.

The Herald Tribune reported that the EU “and its member states promised duty-free treatment to those products,” the United States told the WTO’s dispute settlement body. “We spent over two years trying to work with the (EU) to address our concerns, without success.”

The US claims that taxes on these products impede trade and “threaten to undermine tariff commitments on information technology products, which are so important to trade and investment.” The Tribune said.

Last week, the EU proposed eliminating the taxes by reopening the WTO’s 12-year-old agreement. It says the monitors, satellite boxes and printers are not covered by the deal as they are new products that have entered the market since the accord went into effect.

On Tuesday, it told the WTO that it has “offered on many occasions … to solve these issues through negotiations.” This has not occurred because the U.S., Japan and Taiwan “have so far not demonstrated any willingness” to resolve the disagreement outside of litigation, the EU said.

The duties, which are as high as 14 percent, make U.S. exports less competitive in the European Union, according to the Information Technology Industry Council, a trade association. The group’s members include Hewlett-Packard, Apple and Cisco Systems.