Electronic Commerce at the World Trade Organization

E-commerce has moved to the centre of global trade, but World Trade Organization (WTO) members remain divided on how to govern it. As the 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) approaches, decisions on the multilateral Work Programme and the plurilateral Joint Statement Initiative on E-Commerce (JSI) will shape the rules, opportunities, and challenges of digital trade for years to come—particularly for developing countries seeking to bridge the digital divide.

What Is the Issue, and Why Does It Matter? 

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is no longer just a niche sector—it has become a central pillar of the global economy. A growing share of the world’s GDP is linked to digital activities, and that share is only expected to rise. But as digital trade expands, so do questions about how it should be governed: who sets the rules, who benefits, and how can we ensure that the digital revolution doesn’t leave developing countries behind? 

For many businesses—including micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises—e-commerce lowers barriers to entry and enables participation in international markets that were previously out of reach. For consumers, it can expand choice and reduce costs. For governments, however, digital trade raises complex regulatory, fiscal, and development challenges. These include, among others, consumer protection, cybersecurity, data governance, taxation, and the widening digital divide between and within countries. 

The WTO is a key global forum for addressing these challenges. Yet WTO members are divided on how, and how fast, rules for e-commerce should evolve. As a result, two parallel tracks now define the WTO’s engagement on e-commerce: a multilateral track, centred on the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce (WPEC) and the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions, and a plurilateral track, embodied in the Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) on E-Commerce. 

As WTO members prepare for MC14 to be held from March 26 to 29, 2026, in Yaoundé, Cameroon, e-commerce is at the top of their agenda. They are expected to make decisions on these two tracks that will have far-reaching implications for the future of e-commerce in the WTO and beyond. 

The Multilateral Work Programme and the Moratorium on Customs Duties 

The WTO first formally addressed e-commerce in 1998. At its Second Ministerial Conference (MC2) held that year in Geneva, Switzerland, WTO members adopted the Declaration on Global Electronic Commerce, committing themselves to exploring trade-related aspects of e-commerce and to continuing their practice of not imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions. 

To operationalize this commitment, the WTO General Council established the WPEC later that year. The WPEC provides a multilateral forum for examining how e-commerce interacts with trade and existing trade rules for trade in goods, trade in services, intellectual property, and development. It also serves as the institutional home for discussions on the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions. 

Since 1998, the WPEC has been the main avenue for all WTO members to discuss wide-ranging issues related to e-commerce. Developing countries, in particular, have used the forum to raise development concerns and digital divide issues. At the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) in 2024, WTO members agreed to continue the WPEC under its existing mandates, with a specific focus on addressing the digital divide and improving developing countries' participation in the digital economy, until MC14 or March 31, 2026, whichever comes first. Pursuant to that decision, throughout 2025, discussions within the WPEC have been organized around thematic issues, with technical assistance and capacity building for developing and least developed countries consistently emphasized as a cross-cutting priority. 

These thematic discussions have centred on four main areas: 

1. Bridging the digital divide through investment in information and communications technology infrastructure, digital skills, and regulatory frameworks.
2. Sharing national legal frameworks for e-commerce, including cybersecurity and consumer protection laws, to compile best practices without creating new binding rules.
3. Examining the trade implications of artificial intelligence and its policy impact.
4. Debating the renewal of the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions, with members divided over its economic and fiscal effects. 

Throughout these discussions, members have proposed several roles for the WTO. These suggestions include the WTO acting as a central hub for information sharing and dialogue, leveraging its convening power to coordinate with other international organizations, and significantly enhancing the delivery of targeted technical assistance and capacity building. Additionally, members see a role for the WTO in helping countries understand and utilize existing trade rules related to e-commerce and in promoting regulatory coherence to prevent global fragmentation in digital trade and emerging areas like artificial intelligence governance. 

Since 1998, the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions, alongside the WPEC, has been renewed at every Ministerial Conference—but always on a temporary basis and often after difficult negotiations. As digital trade has expanded and the range of products delivered electronically has grown, concerns about the impact of the moratorium—particularly among several developing countries—have intensified. 

These developing-country members argue that the moratorium may result in significant foregone tariff revenue, especially as more products shift from physical to digital forms. They also highlight the absence of a clear multilateral definition of “electronic transmissions,” warning that this ambiguity could progressively erode their tariff base and constrain policy space for digital industrialization. These concerns are explored in analyses such as those by Kaukab (2024) and the South Centre (2023) study on Association of Southeast Asian Nation developing countries. 

Supporters of the moratorium counter that imposing tariffs on electronic transmissions would increase costs for consumers and businesses, fragment global digital markets, and be extremely difficult to administer in practice. They argue that governments can raise revenue through alternative instruments, such as value-added taxes, without disrupting cross-border digital flows (see Amon & Krummenacher, 2024). 

These tensions came to a head at MC13 in Abu Dhabi in 2024. After protracted negotiations, members agreed to extend the moratorium and the WPEC only until March 2026 or MC14, whichever comes earlier (MC13 Ministerial Decision). For the first time, the decision also explicitly stated that both the moratorium and the WPEC would expire on that date. 

The JSI on E-Commerce 

The JSI was launched at the WTO’s Eleventh Ministerial Conference (MC11) in Buenos Aires in 2017, when a group of 71 members announced their intention to pursue exploratory work toward future negotiations on e-commerce. Frustrated by the slow pace of multilateral discussions, participants sought to develop modern digital trade rules among willing members. 

Formal negotiations began in 2019, and participation eventually grew to 91 members. In July 2024, the co-conveners of the JSI (Australia, Japan, and Singapore) announced the conclusion of the technical phase of negotiations and released a stabilized legal text for a proposed Agreement on Electronic Commerce. 

The Agreement covers a wide range of issues, including electronic transactions, paperless trading, digital payments, online consumer protection, cybersecurity, personal data protection, telecommunications regulation, and a permanent prohibition on customs duties on electronic transmissions among parties, which will be reviewed 5 years after the entry into force of the Agreement. 

The Agreement has its critics, too. Several developing countries argue that it entrenches a permanent digital tariff moratorium without sufficient development flexibilities or guaranteed technical assistance. They also raise systemic concerns, warning that incorporating plurilateral agreements into the WTO could weaken multilateral processes such as the WPEC. Proponents, by contrast, argue that the JSI fills a critical gap in global rule-making and helps reduce fragmentation caused by the proliferation of bilateral and regional digital trade agreements. 

What Is on the Table for MC14? 

Two contrasting proposals are shaping discussions regarding the WPEC and the moratorium on customs duties ahead of MC14. Barbados, on behalf of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group, circulated a draft Ministerial Decision on November 5, 2025, calling for the continuation and reinvigoration of the WPEC, deeper analysis of the development impacts of the moratorium, enhanced technical assistance, and the extension of the moratorium until the next ministerial conference. On the other hand, the United States, later joined by Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala and Paraguay, submitted a short draft decision on November 25, 2025, proposing a broad definition of electronic transmissions (a transmission made using any electromagnetic means and including the content of the transmission) and committing members to maintain the practice of not imposing customs duties on them, without an end date—effectively making the moratorium permanent. The draft decision does not mention WPEC. 

On the JSI front, the central question for MC14 is whether members can agree to incorporate the Agreement on Electronic Commerce into the WTO framework as a plurilateral agreement under Annex 4 of the WTO Agreement. Several members have so far blocked consensus on this decision, making the outcome uncertain. If incorporation proves impossible, participants may explore alternative pathways, such as provisional implementation or implementation outside the WTO—each with significant legal and political trade-offs. 

These current debates at the WTO encapsulate broader tensions in the global trading system: between speed and inclusiveness, innovation and policy space, plurilateral flexibility and multilateral legitimacy. The WPEC remains the only multilateral forum for structured dialogue on digital trade, including the moratorium on customs duties, particularly from a development perspective. Both have been key pillars of the WTO since 1998. At the same time, the JSI Agreement on E-Commerce reflects the urgency several members feel to update global trade rules for the digital age. The decisions on these issues at MC14 will shape the future of global digital trade governance. 

For more detailed information and analysis, the reader is referred to the recent IISD report by Rashmi Jose and Rashid S. Kaukab, Electronic Commerce and the World Trade Organization: State of Play Ahead of the 14th Ministerial Conference.