New Delhi, Oct 30 (KNN) India has urged WTO members to collaborate in establishing a precise definition for e-commerce encompassing both goods and services,  an official said.

This move would help provide developing countries a policy space to make decisions on the fast-growing sector.

The issue came up for discussion during a recent meeting of senior officials of WTO members in Geneva last week.

“India stated that the definition should be clear about digital goods and services because customs duties are there on goods and not on services. The Western world wants no customs duties, and on the other hand, developing countries want that policy space to impose the duties,” the official said.

Customs duties help protect domestic industries and provide a policy space to support the growth of MSMEs.

Now, goods and services are embedded, then there is a definitional problem. For example, Netflix is showing a film in India. So, the film is a product, but the membership that Netflix is taking to show the film is a service. So, it is very difficult to make that distinction between goods and services,” reported FE, citing an official, who did not wish to be named.

As per reports, India has decided to oppose the continuation of the moratorium on customs duties on e-commerce trade at the 13th ministerial conference of the WTO in Abu Dhabi in February next year.

Think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said the rapid rise of cryptocurrencies challenges the existing WTO e-commerce framework, necessitating urgent discussions on their classification as electronic transmissions.

“Members must prioritise discussions on cryptocurrency and its possible linkages with ongoing e-commerce negotiations before members start taking liberties with interpretation leading to disputes,” GTRI cofounder Ajay Srivastava said.

Currently, WTO members discuss e-commerce under a joint initiative on e-commerce and a moratorium on countries from applying customs duties on electronic transmissions. 

(KNN Bureau)