Trade bodies want WTO to extend zero customs duty on electronic transmissions

Though there is no concrete definition of what comprises electronic transmission, WTO members have generally agreed that anything from software to email, digital text messages, music videos, songs, and video games fall under the ambit of this term.

In the letter, associations such as Asia Cloud Computing Association, Australian Services Roundtable, India Electronics & Semiconductor Association, Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association, Global Data Alliance and others have said that allowing the current moratorium of zero per cent customs duty on electronics transmissions to expire would “be a historic setback for the WTO, representing an unprecedented termination of a multilateral agreement in place nearly since the WTO’s inception”.

“Continuation of the Moratorium is critical to the Covid-19 recovery. As detailed by the United Nations, the World Bank, the OECD, and many other organizations, the cross-border exchange of knowledge, technical know-how, and scientific and commercial information across transnational IT networks, as well as access to digital tools and global market opportunities have helped sustain economies, expand education, and raise global living standards,” the letter read.

Last year in August, India was among the countries which had urged WTO members to review the zero per cent customs duty rate on electronic transmissions.

“As we have been repeatedly highlighting, a reconsideration of the moratorium is critical for developing countries, inter alia, to preserve policy space to regulate imports, generate revenue through a simple and direct instrument such as customs duties and achieve digital industrialisation,” India had said at the General Council meeting of the WTO held in July 2021.

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The 12th WTO Ministerial Conference, which was to be held from November 30 to December 3 last year was postponed and is now scheduled to be held between June 12 and June 15 at WTO’s headquarters in Geneva.