The meeting of the General Council of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva will now take the call on a moratorium on taxation of electronic transmissions that expired on Tuesday as the Ministerial Council (MC) could not take a call on it at their 14th meeting last week.

Along with the moratorium the GC will also take up the Work Programme on e-commerce for discussion, a commerce ministry statement said. The work programme is examining all trade related issues arising from global e-commerce.

“India extended its support for robust work at the WTO with a focus on the critical issues such as digital divide, digital infrastructure and skills and regulatory frameworks to ensure developing countries and LDCs have the tools to build their own digital futures,” the ministry said.

What did Piyush Goyal’s statement suggest?

The statement detailing the participation of the Indian delegation led by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal also pointed out that India opposed incorporation of Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement in WTO despite its backing by 128 countries  as it risks eroding the foundational principles and functional limits of the organisation. 

IFD is a plurilateral agreement which means it applies only to those members who sign on it. As consensus involving approval of all 166 member countries for any decision at WTO is being harder and longer to get, the countries with common interests are increasingly looking at plurilateral agreements. The US has proposed a new one on e-commerce moratorium as its proposal for a longer extension of  moratorium faces push back.

“India indicated that as part of WTO reform discussions, Members are seeking guardrails and legal safeguards for plurilaterals before integration of any specific plurilateral outcome,” the statement added.

WTO reform Agenda

On the WTO Reform agenda at MC 14, Goyal emphasised that consensus-based decision-making is the bedrock of the WTO’s legitimacy, and it is important for the WTO not to ignore the sovereign right of each member to not bind itself to rules which they do not agree to. 

India also cautioned against weaponising transparency to justify trade retaliation or challenge legitimate domestic policies and emphasised on the importance of all Members to have a fair opportunity to build productive capacity, create employment, and participate meaningfully in global trade.

In the context of the WTO, the transparency demand refers to the requirement for member countries to make their trade policies, regulations, and practices “open and predictable” for other governments and commercial traders

While extending India’s support for a time-bound restart of reform efforts with milestones, the minister stressed the importance of the WTO to undertake a transparent, inclusive and Member-driven stock-take of the current impasse and its underlying causes. 

.On Development including LDC issues, India extended support for the proposal for extension of the moratorium on non-violation and situation complaints (NVSC) in the TRIPS agreement. This moratorium has also expired and would come at the Geneva meeting.

Developing countries had relied on this safeguard to protect policy space in public health. Without it even WTO-compliant measures like compulsory license can be challenged.