India pitches for clear definition of ecommerce trade in goods, services in WTO
India has asked the WTO members to work on a clear definition of e-commerce trade in goods and services as it would help provide developing countries a policy space to make decisions on the fast-growing sector, an official said. At present, there is a difference of understanding about the subject between developed and developing member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The issue came up for discussion during a recent meeting of senior officials of WTO members in Geneva last week.
Elevate Your Tech Prowess with High-Value Skill Courses
Offering CollegeCourseWebsiteIndian School of BusinessISB Product ManagementVisitMITMIT Technology Leadership and InnovationVisitIndian School of BusinessISB Professional Certificate in Product ManagementVisit«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.
Though certain WTO members have been discussing the e-commerce issue since 1998, there is no clear-cut definition of the subject. A group of 80 countries are discussing an agreement on the subject, but India is not part of that. The US has also recently opted out of those talks to frame global rules on e-commerce at the WTO.
«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
