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India on Tuesday proposed a decision for the World Trade Organization’s 13th ministerial conference that would extend the multilateral work program on e-commerce but, notably, would not also extend the moratorium on imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions.

The “draft ministerial decision” from India, dated Jan. 23, says WTO members “agree to build on the progress since last Ministerial Conference and intensify the work under the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce ... particularly in line with its development dimension.”

“We instruct the General Council to hold periodic reviews based on the reports that may be submitted by the WTO bodies entrusted with the implementation of the Work Programme and report to the next session of the Ministerial Conference,” the proposal adds.

The following Chair's text, dated 15 January 2024, has been prepared by the Co-convenors of the WTO JSI on E-commerce for the purpose of further review and negotiation. It is without prejudice to the positions or views of Australia, Japan and Singapore as individual WTO Members participating in the negotiation.

Australia, Singapore and Japan, as Co-convenors, take sole responsibility for this Chair's Text, which reflects our judgement on where consensus is most likely to be achieved in the agreement. This Chair's Text does not represent the dropping of any proposals from the Consolidated Text INF/ECOM/62/Rev.5 issued on 15 November 2023, which remains a comprehensive record of proposals, attributions and drafting notes.

The GC meeting, which continued on 14 December, appears to have cast a dark shadow on issues like the extension of the MC12 Ministerial Decision on the TRIPS Agreement to cover COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics; the proposed termination of the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions; the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) graduation issue concerning transition support measures in favour of those LDCs that have graduated from the LDC category; and several other issues, said people who asked not to be quoted.

The adoption of a Global Digital Compact (GDC) as one of the outcomes of the Summit of the Future opens up the opportunity to address in a systematic manner issues that are of critical importance for the digital global governance. It also poses a challenge to developing countries, as most of them lack the infrastructure and capabilities to fully participate in the digital transformation. Many inequalities, including a deep digital divide, do exist and would need to be addressed by the GDC for it to become a real instrument of change and improvement in the living conditions and the prospects of a better future for most of the world population. This paper examines the current fragmentation in the digital governance and some of the issues raised by the proposals made by the UN Secretary-General for adoption of the GDC.

The withdrawal by the United States of its proposals on cross-border transfer of data, location of computing facilities, and source code appears to have resulted in the facilitators of the informal Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) negotiations on electronic commerce issuing a low-ambition text.

The United States has announced that it is withdrawing its proposals on cross-border data flows, location of computing facilities, and source code from the Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) negotiations on electronic commerce.

Article 2 Objectives

1. The general objective of this Protocol is to support the attainment of the objectives of the AfCFTA, stipulated in Article 3 of the Agreement, by establishing harmonised rules and common principles and standards that enable and support digital trade for sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development and the digital transformation of the continent.

2. The specific objectives of this Protocol are to:

a. promote and facilitate intra-African digital trade by eliminating barriers to digital trade among State Parties;

b. establish clear, predictable and transparent harmonised rules, and common principles and standards for digital trade;

c. create a transparent, open, predictable, secure, and trustworthy digital trade ecosystem for businesses and consumers;

d. enhance cooperation among State Parties on matters related to digital trade;

e. establish an institutional framework for the implementation and administration of this Protocol;

f. promote common and open standards to enable the interoperability of frameworks and systems to facilitate cross-border digital trade;

Third World Network is pleased to announce the release of an important new report on how the trade rules being proposed in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other free trade agreements would impede the ability of governments from the Global South to tax the digitalised economy.