New Delhi, 30 March. The four-day 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) ended in Yaoundé, Cameroon on Monday, but no agreement could be reached on the contentious issue of extending the customs moratorium on e-commerce. Cameroon’s Trade Minister Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, who chaired the conference, said that during the four-day meeting, trade ministers tried to settle a number of issues, but due to time constraints, consensus could not be reached on some outstanding issues.
These included the WTO’s working process on e-commerce, continuation of the existing moratorium on charging customs duties on ‘electronic transmissions’ and resolution of complaints related to trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS). Now the discussion on these topics will continue at the organization’s headquarters in Geneva. Brazil and the US have reached an impasse in talks on e-commerce import tariffs.
Some countries are against extending the moratorium or want only a two-year period, while the US is seeking to extend it to five years. WTO members have agreed not to impose customs duties on electronic services such as digital downloads and streaming since 1998 and this moratorium has been extended from time to time at ministerial meetings.
The profits and income of digital companies are increasing, but due to this ban it has become difficult for the governments to control these imports and raise revenue from additional customs duties. India has opposed the expansion several times. It was last extended for two years at the MC13 held in Abu Dhabi in 2024. This ban is going to end this month.
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