S/C/56  
 
10 December  2018 
(18-7806) Page:  1/2 
Council for Trade in Services   
 
 
WORK PROGRAMME ON EL ECTRONIC COMMERCE  
REPORT BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE COUN CIL FOR TRADE IN SER VICES  
TO THE GENERAL COUNC IL 
1.1.  Pursuant to the 201 7 Ministerial Decision1 instructing the General Council to hold periodic 
review s of work under the Work Programme on Electronic Comm erce in its session of 
December  2018, the Council f or Trade in Services agreed on 7 December 2018 that I should report 
to the General Council , on my own responsibility , regarding work carried out since the most recent 
report presented on July 2018 .   
1.2.  The Council for Trade in Services discussed the Work Programme on Electronic Commerc e at 
both of its formal meetings , on 12 October  and 7 December 2018, in accordance with  the Ministerial 
mandate to continue the work under the Work Programme and endeavour to reinvigorate  work by 
the Members .  
1.3.  At the October meeting, the United States shared with the Council some of the work being 
carried out by its devel opment agency to help developing and LDC Members integrate into the digital 
economy and harness its potential for economic growth, in an attempt to identify possible areas of 
common interest amongst Members. Australia, the European Union and New Zealand al so provided 
an overview of their experiences with capacity -building efforts aimed at assisting developing 
countries participate in, and benefit from, the digital economy. China shared with the Council 
information on its new e -commerce Law, and provided det ails on some of its main elements.  
1.4.  Like it had done in October, at the December meeting India drew Members' attention to the 
communication its delegation and the delegation of South Africa had submitted to the General 
Council, titled "Moratorium on custom s duties on electronic transmissions" .2  Recalling the position 
it had expressed at the informal dedicated session of the General Council on 27 November, convened 
to consider the joint communication, India said that the realities of e-commerce had changed 
significantly since 1998, when the Moratorium was first agreed, and that the Moratorium's 
implications needed be re -examined, including on the basis of improved and more comprehensive 
empirical work . Numerous other delegations ref erred to their own position on the Moratorium as 
articulated at the General Council; some also wondered if India intended to engage in a discussion 
of the issue in the Council for Trade in Services, in addition to the General Council.  
1.5.  Both a t the October  and December  meeting s, some Members referred to issues that they 
deemed essential for consideration under the Work Programme, particularly those related to the 
infrastructural and regulatory challenges developing countries  had to overcome to participate in the 
digital economy. While acknowledging the opportunities created by the digital era, some Members 
were of the view that, until the issues  they had identified  had been discussed in -depth and clearly 
understood, rule -making suggestions for e-commerce were premature, asserting , in addition , that 
the Work Programme did not contain a negotiating mandate.   
1.6.  Many Members underlined their full engagement and active participation in  discussions under 
the Work Programme.  A couple of Member s also expressed concern  with regard to the plurilateral 
initiative on e -commerce being pursued in parallel to the multilateral track under the Work 
Programme. These delegations stated that there was no mandate for this approach, that it ran 
contrary to the exploratory mandate of  the Work Programme , and that they could not support it .  
 
                                                
1 Document WT/L/ 1032. 
2 Document WT/GC/W/747 . S/C/56 
 
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  1.7.  At the October  meeting, the representative of the ITU shared a report on the ITU's Global 
Symposium for Regulator s on "New regulator y frontiers" held in July 2018.  
1.8.  The Council for Trade in Services  will revert to the Work Programme at its next  formal  meeting  
in 2019.  
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