Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are discussing preparations to bring a new E-Commerce Agreement into force by mid-2027.
The E-Commerce Agreement prohibits the imposition of customs duties on electronic transmissions between a person of one party and a person of another party. This provides businesses the certainty to trade openly in the global digital economy.
Co-sponsors of the E-Commerce Agreement met on June 9 to discuss preparations for ratifying the world's first baseline set of global digital trade rules.
The ratification process forms part of the interim arrangements adopted by over 60 members at the 14th Ministerial Conference, pending incorporation of the ECA into the WTO rulebook.
Note: A WTO moratorium had exempted data flows from cross-border tariffs since 1998 and had been renewed at WTO Ministerial conferences since then. But failure to approve a renewal at the 14th conference implied expiry on March 30th. As of now about 20 members of the WTO have informally agreed among themselves not to impose duties on e-commerce.
Link: Members discuss preparations to bring E-Commerce Agreement into force by mid-2027