India for digital public infra, fair competition at WTO

New Delhi India wants three key issues on e-commerce to be included at the World Trade Organisation’s deliberations – using digital public infrastructure for development, disciplining unfair competition and consumer protection – while it may oppose a move by wealthy nations to perpetuate duty-free online trade by further extending a moratorium on customs duty on electronically transmitted products, two people aware of the development said. “India along with other developing countries such as South Africa and Indonesia are against a further extension of customs duty moratorium on e-commerce, which is a ploy of developed countries like the US and the European Union to gain duty-free access to markets, largely developing countries and LDCs,” a second person said. The proponents of the moratorium say the standstill on customs duties has supported a “stable and predictable” environment for digital trade, allowing it to thrive, according to the Digital Trade for Development report prepared jointly by the International Monetary Fund, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, World Bank and WTO. “Developing countries and LDCs are importers of these digitised products and developed countries are exporters, who get duty-free access to these markets through this moratorium,” the second person said.