(Source: "Global Times" 2024-07-29)

[Global Times Report Reporter Ni Hao] "Digital goods and services, as the fastest-growing part of world w88, will benefit from the results of this negotiation." Bloomberg reported on the 27th that after five years of negotiations, about half of the members of the World w88 Organization (WTO) reached a preliminary agreement on e-commerce, which will permanently prohibit the imposition of tariffs on digital w88. In this regard, Singapore's "Lianhe Zaobao" stated that global e-commerce negotiations have reached an "important milestone."

More than half of WTO members reached agreement

"Nihon Keizai Shimbun" reported that Japan, Australia and Singapore jointly convened the negotiations and announced their participation in the World w88 Organization's Joint Statement Initiative on E-Commerce (Joint Statement Initiative, hereinafter referred to as JSI). Currently, 91 countries and regions have reached agreement on this initiative. According to Singapore’s Lianhe Zaobao, the JSI agreement covers three major areas: promoting digital w88, an open digital environment, and business and consumer trust. Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for w88 and Industry Gan Kim Yong said in a statement: These rules will be the WTO's first comprehensive set of e-commerce rules and will bring benefits to governments, businesses and consumers by promoting greater interoperability and transparency.

In recent years, with the vigorous development of the digital economy, the scale of digital w88 worldwide has grown rapidly. However, the WTO framework does not have corresponding multilateral rules. Public information shows that in 1998, the WTO issued the "Global E-Commerce Declaration". The w88 ministers of each member party recognized the huge potential w88 opportunities in global e-commerce and promised to temporarily exempt digital w88 (or electronic transmission) from tariffs. Since then, the WTO has maintained its decision to exempt tariffs by renewing its commitments and reaching a temporary agreement at the Ministerial Conference. From the end of February to the beginning of March this year, the WTO held its 13th Ministerial Conference in the United Arab Emirates and once again extended the agreement.

Professor Zhou Nianli, Beijing Institute of Opening up, w88 casino, China WTO Research InstituteIn an interview with the Global Times on the 28th, he believed that the agreement has been initially agreed upon and will become the first plurilateral agreement on e-commerce under the WTO framework, which is of great significance.

"Nihon Keizai Shimbun" stated that the next steps will include obtaining the agreement of other WTO members on the proposed rules and incorporating them into the WTO's legal framework. Zhou Nianli said that judging from the content of the agreement, this is an open agreement that encourages all WTO members to participate in the agreement, and will eventually be incorporated into the WTO's legal framework and become multilateral rules. She believes that the agreement will play an important role in supporting the development of the digital economy and harmonizing global digital w88 rules.

The "uncertainty" of changing the past

At present, the WTO has formed a relatively complete system of rules in the fields of w88 in goods, w88 in services, and intellectual property rights. However, it has not yet established special rules in the field of digital economy and digital w88. Therefore, the digital economy rules at the international legal level are very limited. In January 2019, 76 WTO members including China, the United States, and the European Union jointly issued a joint statement to officially launch negotiations on w88-related e-commerce issues. According to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, as of the end of last year, the number of negotiating parties had expanded to 90 members, covering more than 90% of global w88.

Zhou Nianli told the Global Times reporter that w88 activities based on electronic transmission do not go through customs. Tariff collection is technically difficult to implement, and it is difficult to determine the scope of taxation on electronic transmission or transmitted digital content. Therefore, WTO members have reached a consensus that electronic transmission is temporarily exempt from tariffs, and they have continued their commitment to temporarily exempt electronic transmission from tariffs at the biennial ministerial meeting. "Nihon Keizai Shimbun" stated that due to the time limit of the measure, the industry has been calling for the formulation of a permanent clause to prevent future tariffs on a wide range of digital w88 content such as applications, videos and business-related information transmission. "The outcome of this negotiation will be to fix the exemption of electronic transmissions from tariffs in the form of WTO rules within five years after the plurilateral agreement comes into effect, so as to change the uncertainty caused by the review every two years in the past." Zhou Nianli told reporters.

The United States will not join yet

Although the vast majority of the approximately 90 members participating in the negotiations have unanimously agreed to the agreement, members including the United States, Brazil and Indonesia currently do not intend to join the agreement.

According to Bloomberg, U.S. Ambassador to the WTO Maria Pagan said in a statement: “As the United States has repeatedly communicated to initiative co-conveners and participants, the current text is not complete enough and more work needs to be done, including on the basic security exception.”

According to OECD estimates, the current scale of digital w88 reaches approximately US$4 trillion, accounting for approximately half of total global services exports. Jack Colvin, chairman of the Washington-based National Council on Foreign w88, praised the WTO's progress but also blasted a lack of U.S. leadership.

Zhou Nianli believes that starting from the second half of 2023, the United States has withdrawn its highly ambitious rules requirements including cross-border data flows in the WTO e-commerce JSI negotiations, and the United States has become passive in the e-commerce JSI negotiations. This is closely related to the United States’ implementation of protectionism in digital w88 and even the entire international w88 field.

China has become an important digital trading power in the world in recent years. China is also an important participant and main proposer in the WTO e-commerce negotiations. It has put forward 9 proposals, involving more than 20 specific topics, and most of them have been included in the consensus. Zhou Nianli said that China is a staunch supporter and defender of the multilateral trading system. It has always been active and pragmatic in WTO e-commerce negotiations. It actively submitted relevant proposals before negotiations and promoted the progress of negotiations in rounds. It is an active participant and important contributor in the formulation of digital w88 rules.

Attached is the original link: https://world.huanqiu.com/article/4Ing1PmcECX.