Need re-examination of customs duties moratorium on electronic transmissions: India at WTO meet
India on Thursday pitched for re-examination of the implications of the customs duties moratorium on e-commerce trade for developing and least developed member nations of the WTO.
India is not in favour of further continuation of the moratorium of customs duties on e-commerce trade as it is impacting developing countries.
The issue came up for discussion during a session of a work programme on e-commerce at the World Trade Organization's 13th Ministerial Conference, which entered its last day on Thursday.
The e-commerce medium is a fast-growing segment for cross-border and domestic trade.
India said that this emerging segment of the global economy holds the promise for economic development and prosperity for developing countries, including the least developed countries (LDCs).
Due to this, New Delhi has stressed that all policy options, including the imposition of customs duties on e-commerce trade, should be available for the WTO members to promote digital industrialisation.
«With the digital revolution still unfolding and with increasing diffusion of technologies such as additive manufacturing and 3D printing, data analytics, artificial intelligence, Internet-of-Things etc., there was a need for re-examination of the implications of the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions, particularly for the developing countries and the LDCs,» the commerce ministry said.
Currently, a few firms based in developed countries dominate the global landscape of e-commerce.
«India explained that there was a
