./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/COMTD/47
21 July 2003
(03-3912)
Committee on Trade and Development
WORK ON ELECTRONIC COMMERCE IN THE COMMITTEE ON TRADE
AND DEVELOPMENT SINCE THE DOHA MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
I. INTRODUCTION
1. The Committee on Trade and Development (CTD) was one of the four subsidiary bodies of
the General Council mandated to work on the issue of electronic commerce (e-commerce) prior to theDoha Ministerial Conference.  At the Doha Ministerial Conference ministers agreed to paragraph 34
of the Doha Ministerial Declaration
1 which states:
"We take note of the work which has been done in the General Council and other
relevant bodies since the Ministerial Declaration of 20 May 1998 and agree to
continue the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce.  The work to datedemonstrates that electronic commerce creates new challenges and opportunities for
trade for Members at all stages of development, and we recognize the importance of
creating and maintaining an environment which is favourable to the future
development of electronic commerce.  We instruct the General Council to consider
the most appropriate institutional arrangements for handling the Work Programme,and to report on further progress to the Fifth Session of the Ministerial Conference.
We declare that Members will maintain their current practice of not imposing
customs duties on electronic transmissions until the Fifth Session."
2. In October 2002, Members agreed to maintain, for the duration of the work until the Fifth
Ministerial Conference, the previous institutional arrangements for handling the Work Programme on
Electronic Commerce, namely, that the Councils for Trade in Services, Trade in Goods and TRIPS,
and the CTD would examine and report on aspects of e-commerce relevant to their respective areas ofcompetence, and that the General Council would play a central role in the entire process.  The General
Council would also keep the Work Programme unde r continuous review and consider any trade-
related issue of a cross-cutting nature.
2  The CTD thus continued its work on e-commerce after the
Doha Ministerial Conference.3  This report covers the Work of the CTD on e-commerce since the
Doha Ministerial Conference until the 45th Session of the CTD.
II. WORK ON E-COMMERCE IN THE CTD SINCE THE DOHA MINISTERIAL
CONFERENCE
3. The CTD approved going ahead with a Work Programme on Electronic Commerce at its
36th Session.4  The Work Programme on E-commerce states that "in order to ensure continuity,
electronic commerce could be a standing item on the agenda of each of the regular meetings of the
CTD."  It also states that "In order to continue to share country experiences, the CTD could invite one
                                                     
1 WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1.
2 WT/GC/M/76.
3 WT/L/274.
4 WT/COMTD/36.WT/COMTD/47
Page 2
or several delegations (developing and/or developed) to present their experiences, either with respect
to a particular aspect of e-commerce, or their ge neral approach to e-commerce."  To allow for a more
"thorough and analytical educational process" a number of themes for seminars were proposed by
Members and these include revenue implications, effects on competitiveness, physical infrastructure
needs and development and human infrastructure needs and development.
4. There were two presentations on e-commerce at the 36th Session of the CTD.  One was a
presentation of a country experience made by the delegation of Panama and the other was a
presentation of the UNCTAD E-commerce and Development Report 2001.5  The delegation of
Panama described the experience of the Government of Panama in coordinating the use of new
technologies as development tools.  The different efforts by both the Government of Panama and the
private sector for the development of e-commerce were also explained.  The presentation by
UNCTAD highlighted that the aim of the E-commerce and Development Report 2001 was to assistdeveloping countries benefit from new technologies and thereby contribute to the narrowing of the
digital divide.  The topics covered in the report in cluded the lessons learned from the "dot com"-crisis
in 2000;  how to measure e-commerce;  the rela tionship between e-commerce and economic growth;
e-tourism, e-marketplaces, e-government, legal and regulatory issues, electronic payments and
logistics in the e-commerce age.  It also contained two chapters on empirical work;  one one-commerce in ten LDCs and one on China.  The presentation of country experiences continued at the
38
th Session with a presentation by the delegation of Costa Rica.6  That presentation included the
salient features of Costa Rica's experience with e-commerce and detailed the Government's adaptation
in terms of infrastructure, government policies and legislation.
5. The Committee’s Work Programme on E-Commerce includes Members' suggestions on a
number of themes for seminars, one of which was revenue implications.  A seminar on "Revenue
Implications of E-commerce" was held under the auspices of the CTD on 22 April 2002.  As
background, the Secretariat had issued a bibliography on revenue implications of e-commerce.7  The
seminar involved a general introduction to e-comm erce with some recent trends in e-commerce, a
description of the taxation-related issues at stake, an explanation of the situation for developingcountries and the WTO perspective on e-commerce.  Country experiences of Malaysia, Barbados and
Kenya were shared and one speaker provided a private sector company's experience with
e-commerce.  The Chairman of the seminar, Ambassador Mary Whalen (Ireland) reported on the
seminar at the subsequent meeting of the CTD.
8
6. The issue of e-commerce did not give rise to any substantial discussions at the 37th to the
40th Sessions of the CTD.  However, at the 41st Session, the delegation of Pakistan called for further
work on aspects relating to e-commerce, especially from the point of view of its implications for
developing countries.  At the 42nd Session of the CTD the Committee proposed that the Secretariat
prepare an update of the work that had been carried out in relation to the CTD's Work Programme on
E-commerce.9  As a result, document WT/COMTD/W/110 was issued for the 44th Session of the
CTD.  Members have since not made any specific proposals for further work on e-commerce in the
CTD.
__________
                                                     
5 WT/COMTD/M/36 - Annex.
6 WT/COMTD/M/38 - Annex I.
7 WT/COMTD/W/98.
8 The reports and programme of the seminar are annexed to the minutes of the 40th Session of the CTD
(WT/COMTD/M/40).
9 WT/COMTD/M/42.