WT/GC/W/692  
 
8 December 2014  
(14-7143)  Page: 1/2  
General Council  
10-11 December 2014    
 
 ITEM 5 - WORK PROGRAMME ON ELECTRONIC COMMERCE – REVIEW OF PROGRESS 
REPORT BY AMBASSADOR ALFREDO SUESCUM - FRIEND OF THE CHAIR 
 
1.1.  In December 2013 Ministers adopted a Decision that called , among other things, for 
continued positive work under the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce, based on its existing 
mandate and guidelines and on the basis of proposals submitted by Members in the respective WTO bodies. Ministers further instructed the General Council to hold periodic reviews of progress on the Work Programme at its meetings in Ju ly and December 2014 and July 2015, based on the 
reports submitted by the WTO bodies entrusted wi th the implementation of the Work Programme. 
1.2.  This report, which I am making under my own responsibility, covers developments under the 
Work Programme on Electronic Commerce since the General Council's meeting of July this year at 
which I was appointed the "Friend of the Chair".  
1.3.  Since then, I invited all delegations to meet  with me bilaterally to share their views on the 
Work Programme and how to move work forward in this area. I consulted with the Chairs of the 
4 bodies charged by the General Council with vari ous parts of the Work Programme. I also chaired 
an informal open-ended consultation on e-commerce on 20 November 2014.  
1.4.  Members will recall that the WTO bodies charged by the General Council with conducting the 
Work Programme on Electronic Commerce are the Councils for Goods, Services and TRIPS and the 
Committee on Trade and Development, with the General Council exercising an oversight function 
and considering any trade-related issue of a cross-cutting nature, as well as all aspects of the Work Programme concerning the imposition of customs duties on electronic transmission. The 
Council for Trade in Services and the Council fo r Trade in Goods Chairs have submitted their 
individual reports on developments in their respective bodies, and Delegations should refer to them for a detailed account. As a general summary, however:  
1.5.  The Council for Trade in Goods  met on 9 April, 19 June and 17 November 2014. As 
Members will note from the report circulated by the CTG Chair under his own responsibility, 
contained in document G/C/55, despite recalling the Ministerial mandate and inviting delegations to express their views, no Member has made any suggestions on how to carry forward the work on 
electronic commerce.  
1.6.  The Council for Trade in Services  met this year on 26 February, 8 May, 20 June, 
17 September and 28 November. The Work Programme on Electronic Commerce was on the 
agenda in each of those meetings. As reflected in the Chair's report circulated on his own 
responsibility, contained in document S/C/45, a number of issues and papers related to e-commerce were discussed.  
1.7.  At the Committee on Trade and Development , electronic commerce was only discussed at 
its meeting on 2 April 2014. The discussion focuse d on how Members could take forward the work. 
A few delegations expressed their support for th e Bali Decision on e-commerce, and expressed 
interest in exploring ways to help advance work in this area. The Chair invited Members to 
consider submitting written proposals on possible areas of work. However, to date, no proposals 
have been submitted.  
1.8.  The TRIPS Council  has yet to undertake further work on e-commerce. WT/GC/W/692 
 
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  1.9.  With regard to the horizontal discussions which I had been appointed to coordinate and chair, 
I met bilaterally with about 30 delegations. The purpose of those consultations was to hear Members' sense of the status of the work on e-commerce, to gauge the appetite among Members 
for the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce in the short and medium term, and to poll 
Members on whether they foresaw or wished to see any concrete results for MC10. Specifically, 
during the consultations, I posed 3 questions to Members: 
1. What are Members views on the current status of work on e-commerce given the (then) 
status on Bali implementation? 
2. How do Members see work continuing in the short to medium term? 
3. Are there any concrete results or objectives foreseen for the next Ministerial Conference? 
1.10.  The views expressed by Members were varied . Most delegations were of the view that the 
e-commerce Work Programme was indeed part of th e normal work of the WTO and that it should 
continue. I must report that one Member was of the opinion that the Work Programme had been subsumed into the DDA. In that regard, in its vi ew, e-commerce was of low priority and could not 
move ahead of the rest of the DDA work prog ram which involved more important issues.  
1.11.  A few delegations indicated that they wanted to see all other Bali Decisions implemented as 
well. It was also suggested that Members should perhaps now move beyond workshops and the 
routine extension of the moratorium towards other concrete results. Some expressed a desire to 
start thinking about making the moratorium permanent and not to wait until shortly before the Ministerial Conference to start discussions. 
1.12.  In addition to the "confessionals", I chaired an informal open-ended consultation on 
e-commerce on 20 November 2014 to report to Members on the consultations I had held and to 
discuss the way forward in preparation for this General Council meeting. Twenty (20) delegations intervened. Many reiterated their support to an  invigorated Work Programme on E-Commerce and 
their readiness to engage more.  
1.13.  With regard to concrete outcomes for MC10, many underscored the importance of a 
bottom-up approach whereby proposals should come from Members in the relevant WTO bodies. 
Many also said that there was no mandate to initiate negotiations on concrete outcomes or 
deliverables for e-commerce by MC10. With regard to horizontal and cross-cutting issues, some found it more appropriate to continue discussing and sharing experiences.  
1.14.  With regard to the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions, while some 
were in favour of making it permanent, others thought that it was premature to discuss this given 
that it was a sensitive issue and there were outstanding trade related issues that needed to be discussed. Support was also expressed for the need  to give priority to development issues and 
concerns as well as the link between e-commerce and SMEs.  
1.15.  In concluding the informal open-ended consultation, I reminded Members that Ministers at 
Bali did instruct the General Council to consider any recommendations on possible measures 
related to electronic commerce to the next Sessi on of the Ministerial Conference. I urged Members 
to continue to discuss amongst themselves and to reflect on the 3 questions I had raised during 
the consultations.  
1.16.  I remain ready and available to meet with any Member for further discussion. I do intend to 
convene a Dedicated Discussion early next year and hope to be in a position to report on 
substantive progress at the General Council's next review of the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce at its July 2015 meeting. 
 
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