Brussels, 03/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - At their General Council meeting on Monday 30 November, the member countries of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) approved a draft decision on e-commerce centre member countries for adoption by ministers at the WTO ministerial conference on 15-18 December in Nairobi.
Under the draft decision, the General Council would be asked to continue its periodic reviews of the work programme on e-commerce based on reports submitted by the WTO bodies responsible for implementing the programme: the Council for Trade in Services, the Council for Trade in Goods, the Council for Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Council) and the Committee on Trade and Development.
Also, WTO members would be asked to continue the practice of not imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions until the next session of the Ministerial Conference in 2017.
At the Bali Ministerial Conference in December 2013, WTO members decided to extend the existing “moratorium” on e-commerce and to abstain from imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions until the 10th Ministerial Conference. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)