India seeks to extend tariff suspension on cross-border e-commerce beyond 2024 and China-led group's attempt to bring investment facilitation agreement within the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO) during the 13th International Ministerial Conference to oppose. Abu Dhabi's trade regulatory body will be established at the end of this month, a senior official announced on Tuesday.
The suspension of tariffs on e-commerce has been in place since 1998 and has been extended for two years multiple times since then.India
There are no restrictions on taxing cross-border flows of goods through e-commerce, but this is problematic as digitization has meant that many products, such as books and movies, can be distributed digitally and escape the tax net. It is occurring.
According to a 2017 study by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), data losses due to moratoriums amount to $10 billion annually, occurring primarily in developing countries, which are the largest consumers. UNCTAD estimated losses to India in 2017 at $500 million. Since then, digitalization has been manifold and losses will be even greater in 2024.
Apart from revenue, India wants power to tax electronic communications to protect emerging industry
He said that while music, game consoles, movies and books used to be imported in physical form, now they are distributed digitally, so India has to decide what constitutes a service and what constitutes a good when it comes to electronic transmissions. He also stated that he would like to clarify what constitutes a
The official clarified that streaming services such as Netflix and some music apps provide services because they don't sell movies or music, but if they allow people to download them for a fee, they become products. The line between digital products and services is so thin that other similar transactions require similar clarity.Along with India and South Africa
However, India will work on reinvigorating its work program on e-commerce, which aims to consider trade-related issues related to e-commerce. These include the protection of privacy and public order, the prevention of fraud, access to and use of public telecommunications transport networks and services, rules of origin, increased participation of developing countries in e-commerce markets, copyright and trademark protection and Includes execution. , strengthening the participation of developing countries and their small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
India will also oppose any move by a China-led group of 130 countries to conclude an “Investment Facilitation for Development” pact. At the WTO. All decisions at the WTO are made by consensus, but countries are also allowed to form groups and enter into agreements among themselves. Non-member countries also agree to join the WTO. These are part of Annex 4 of the WTO Agreement, which deals with multilateral trade agreements.
The agreement was first discussed in 2017 by China and other countries heavily dependent on Chinese investment, and exporters of foreign direct investment and countries with sovereign wealth funds are also parties to the agreement.
They want the agreement to become part of the WTO so they can access the multilateral body's dispute resolution mechanisms.
The focus of the IFD Initiative is not to substantively change members' investment policies, but rather to make such investment policies more transparent and investment-related administrative procedures more streamlined and efficient. India has decided not to get involved as this could lead to questions about the government's investment-related decisions, such as directing investments to certain regions or host countries.
Among the major countries, the United States has also withdrawn from the agreement.Even in India's neighboring countries like Sri Lanka and Pakistan
