E-commerce turns deal breaker at WTO meet

NEW DELHI: WTO member nations failed to agree to any meaningful outcome at the second ministerial meeting in Africa, including their inability to extend the 28-year moratorium on e-commerce, opening the doors for possible tariffs on digital downloads and streaming services.It also resulted in a public health concern as the freeze on “non-violation complaints” (NVCs) under the TRIPS Agreement also expired for the first time since 1995. This opens the doors for countries to move WTO in case treaty provisions are violated, including in cases, such as the use of compulsory licensing norms to waive patent rights in case of a health emergency.Besides, the issue of reforming the multilateral agency was not agreed upon, although the WTO leadership led by DG Ngozi OkonjoIweala suggested that decisions would now be taken in Geneva, but did not disclose any timeframe.The collapse of talks exposes how countries have stuck to their stance, putting the multilateral trading architecture at risk and opens the doors wider for bilateral deals to take precedence. Talks collapsed early Monday (India time) after the US and Brazil could not agree to the timeline of an extension in the moratorium, with Washington seeking a fouryear freeze, compared with the two years that were on offer. Besides, Brazil wanted to leverage the e-commerce moratorium to push for liberalisation of global trade rules, something that the US was unwilling to offer given its current position.While India has been seeking formalisation of the proposals on e-commerce, it managed to block the inclusion of China-driven investment facilitation for development, despite having no other country backing it.“India constructively engaged in all agenda items and in areas where India had strong concerns, we took a position based on the principles of openness, fairness, non-discrimination and inclusivity, which are the cornerstones of WTO engagement… Going forward, India will continue to engage with WTO members on issues of critical importance for the global trade landscape, transparently, constructively and in good faith!” commerce & industry minister Piyush Goyal said in a social media post.