India on Thursday said that the continuation of the moratorium on taxation of cross border electronic transmissions needs a “careful reconsideration.”
The moratorium is coming up for renewal at the 14th Ministerial Conference (MC) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which is taking place at Yaoundé in Cameroon.
“In the absence of a common understanding among members on the scope of the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions and given its potentially significant implications, the continued extension of this moratorium warrants careful reconsideration,” Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said in his opening statement at MC 14.
March 31 Deadline
The moratorium—an agreement among WTO members not to impose customs duties on electronic transmissions—is set to expire on March 31, 2026. It has been in force since 1998 and has been renewed every two years at the WTO’s Ministerial Conference.
At the previous ministerial (MC13) in 2024, members agreed to this hard deadline, explicitly stating that the moratorium would lapse at MC14 or by the end of March 2026, unless a new consensus is reached.
Goyal also called for restoration of the automatic and binding dispute settlement system at the world trade watchdog. The dispute settlement system has been non-functional since December 2019, when the US blocked the appointment of members to the appellate body. As the system of appeals is not available, all trade disputes between members end up in a void.
Multilateralism vs. ‘Elite Clubs’
The minister also said that the consensus should continue to be the basis of incorporation of plurilateral agreements in the WTO framework. Plurilateral agreements are those which are entered into by members who are willing and its obligations are taken up by those who agree to be a part of it. However, to be included as a WTO agreement it needs consensus of all members, including those who want to stay out of it.
Currently at the WTO, some members have been trying to bring in an agreement called Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) as a plurilateral agreement. More than 125 countries have already agreed to sign on it but India is opposing it.
Goyal also said for Global South, permanent solution on public stockholding for food security purposes, special safeguard mechanism and cotton are long-pending mandated issues and must be delivered on priority.