JOB/GC/132  
 
14 July 2017  
(17-3830) Page: 1/2 
General Council  Original: English  
 
ADVANCING WORK ON TH E E-COMMERCE WORK PROGRA MME  
COMMUNICATION FROM AUSTRALIA, CANADA, C OLOMBIA, QATAR AND SINGAPORE  
The following communication, dated 13 July 2017, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Singapore.  
 
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1.1.  Discu ssions on e -commerce have picked up pace in the WTO since MC10. This is reflected in 
the 13 papers that have been tabled thus far1. These discussions have covered both substance and 
process issues. Members have been able to share on their priorities for e -commerce, and 
perspectives on the process to take the discussions forward.  
1.2.  On substance, Members have spoken on a vast range of issues including, inter alia , 
infrastructure needs, facilitating regulatory framework, transparency, trade facilitation, electr onic 
signatures and authentication, paperless trade, consumer protection, data flows, electronic 
payments, and sharing of regional experiences. On process, while some discussions took place at 
the Dedicated Discussion in 2016, most of the discussions since  then have been held in the four 
regular bodies in the Work Programme viz. the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG), Council for Trade 
in Services (CTS), TRIPS Council and the Committee on Trade and Development (CTD).  
1.3.  The recent discussions have highlighted t he inherent cros s-cutting nature of e -commerce.  It 
has been useful in some respects but the siloed nature of the discussions in the respective bodies 
also makes it difficult to have a holistic understanding of the various e -commerce issues. For 
example, de velopment issues often overlapped with the conversations under goods, services, and 
IP, and goods and services issues were often interlinked (e.g. enabling services for trade in goods 
enabled by the internet, relevance of e -signatures for trade facilitatio n and also cross -border 
supply of services). Compartmentalised conversations make it hard to recognise synergies, and 
hence to make recommendations for a way forward.  
1.4.  While the General Council is currently tasked to oversee and to take up consideration of any 
trade -related issue of a cross -cutting nature, it is not a technical forum to discuss the inter -
linkages between the issues or delve into any in -depth conversation on e -commerce. The current 
mechanism of the Dedicated Discussion also remains an informa l arrangement, and makes 
knowledge management challenging as there are no formal records of the meeting.  
1.5.  The 1998 E -commerce Work Programme sets out the programme of work for the four 
relevant bodies, with a view towards having these bodies make recommend ations to the Ministerial 
Conference for action. Although useful work has been done, for the reasons raised in the preceding 
paragraphs, there has been limited progress in making recommendations despite nearly 20 years 
of discussions at the WTO  
1.6.  Given that  e-commerce is increasingly becoming an important driver of inclusive economic 
development, it would be useful to have more clarity on how to advance work, how the current 
process can be improved, what issues to focus on, and how to facilitate Members arri ving on 
concrete recommendations on the way forward.  
                                                
1 JOB/GC/94, JOB/GC/96,  JOB/GC/98, JOB/GC/99, JOB/GC/100, JOB/GC/110, JOB/GC/113, 
JOB/GC/115, JOB/GC/116, JOB/GC/117, JOB /GC/126, JOB/GC/128  and JOB/GC/129.  JOB/GC/132  
 
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  PROPOSED  NEXT STEP FROM NOW T O MC11  
1.7.  Members should embark on a discussion on how the E -commerce Work Programme could 
better facilitate more focused and holistic discussions on e -commerce. Members should  reflect on 
and build on the discussions since MC10, and identify possible (i) improvements to processes, and 
(ii) issues of interest, if any, that they would like to take forward. This could be done on the basis 
on Members’ proposals and ideas. This discu ssion would be without prejudice to Members’ 
positions on substantive issues related to e -commerce and would not alter the underlying 
exploratory nature of the Work Programme.  
1.8.  The outcome of these discussions should be captured in the MC11 Ministerial Decision on 
E-commerce. Ministers at MC11 should give clear direction for future work in e -commerce, with 
development at the core, and set out a clear, updated framework/process through which f uture 
work could be undertaken.  
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