India will strongly oppose the continuation of the moratorium on e-commerce tariffs at the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Geneva next month, as it has a negative impact on developing countries. development, an official said.

The official said it was important for developing countries to let the moratorium expire in order to preserve policy space for their digital progress, regulate imports and generate revenue through tariffs.

WTO members had agreed not to impose customs duties on electronic transmissions since 1998 and the moratorium has been periodically extended at successive Ministerial Conferences (MCs), which is the WTO’s highest decision-making body. organization of 164 members.

“At MC12 next month, many WTO members are asking for a temporary extension of the moratorium until MC13, but India does not want to continue like this this time. India will take this time a firm stance on the issue,” the official said.

India and South Africa have repeatedly called on the organization to revisit the issue and underlined the negative impact of the moratorium on developing countries.

In a joint communication submitted to the WTO earlier, the two countries said that all issues relating to the e-commerce moratorium should be reviewed with “the utmost urgency and in their entirety”.

According to an earlier submission from these two countries, the potential loss of tariff revenue for developing countries is estimated at $10 billion per year.

India is witnessing an exponential increase in imports of electronic transmissions, mainly items like films, music, video games and printed matter, some of which may fall under the moratorium.

While the profits and revenues of digital players are steadily increasing, the ability of governments to control these imports and generate additional tariff revenue is “severely” limited due to the moratorium on e-commerce.

The moratorium was extended at the 11th MC in Argentina in 2017 for two years. At the General Council meeting in December 2019, members agreed to maintain the current practice until the 12th Ministerial Conference.

Furthermore, the official said that India wants the WTO to intensify the work program on the e-commerce sector.

In 1998, the General Council of the WTO established the work program on electronic commerce to examine in depth all trade-related issues relating to global electronic commerce taking into account the economic, financial and development needs of emerging economies. .

India also said that the Council for Trade in Goods, the Council for Trade in Services, the TRIPS Council and the Committee on Trade and Development should initiate discussions on e-commerce in accordance with their respective mandates originally defined.

“We support the reinvigoration of work under the 1998 work program on electronic commerce in accordance with its terms of reference,” the official said, adding that discussions had taken place on the subject in recent years but that he did not there was no conclusion yet.

The official said India believed that formal negotiations in the WTO on e-commerce rules and disciplines would be premature given the highly asymmetric nature of the current global e-commerce space and the lack of understanding of the implications of multiple dimensions of the problems. related to the sector.

“Developing countries must preserve flexibility to implement policies aimed at catching up with developed countries in the digital realm. We must first focus on improving national physical and digital infrastructure,” the official added.

India and South Africa presented a communication highlighting the need to reinvigorate work under the work plan.