Electronic commerce at the WTO

Since 1998, with the adoption of the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce, the WTO has monitored and discussed relevant developments in e-commerce and their impact on trade in goods, services, intellectual property and development.

In the ministerial declaration that adopted the 1998 Work Programme, the WTO members made a commitment to maintaining an e-commerce moratorium, that is, the practice “of not imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions “. Since then, they have renewed this commitment every two years on the occasion of the Organization’s ministerial conferences.

In view of the growing contribution of e-commerce to the global economy and of the need for a set of specific WTO disciplines aimed at regulating e-commerce transactions or transactions conducted by electronic means, 76 members of the Organization, including Brazil, decided to launch in January 2019 plurilateral negotiations on e-commerce,  open to the participation of any interested country. At present, 86 countries take part in the negotiations, an initiative that follows a separate track from the discussions at the WTO Work Programme on Electronic Commerce.

E-commerce-related issues have gained prominence in the international agenda and go beyond trade policy considerations due to concerns over  privacy and personal data protection, liability of online platforms, location of computing facilities, cybersecurity, taxation of the digital economy, consumer protection, among others.

Brazil actively takes part in the plurilateral e-commerce negotiations at the WTO with a view to contributing to the development of an international set of rules that, on the one hand, provide companies with an open, competitive and predictable business environment and, on the other hand, help to create an environment of trust and security for consumers by safeguarding legitimate regulatory objectives.