WTO showdown looms over e-commerce tariff moratorium

World Trade Organisation members are meeting in Yaounde, Cameroon this month to decide the fate of a longstanding global agreement that bans customs duties on electronic transmissions such as digital downloads and streaming.

The so-called e-commerce moratorium is set to expire at the 14th WTO ministerial conference, with members divided over whether to extend it — and if so, for how long.

Four formal proposals are on the table. The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group wants the moratorium extended until the next ministerial conference. The US is pushing for a permanent extension.

A group including Switzerland also backs a permanent extension but wants to go further by establishing a committee on digital trade. Brazil proposes extending the moratorium until the next conference while also creating a digital trade committee.

The e-commerce moratorium is a global agreement among WTO members that prohibits customs duties on cross-border electronic transmissions, including software downloads, e-books, music and movie streaming, and videogames.

Further extension

First adopted in 1998 at the WTO’s Second Ministerial Conference in Geneva to encourage early digital trade growth, it was originally intended to be temporary. It has since been renewed roughly every two years at each ministerial conference, and was most recently extended for two years in 2024.

WTO members with large digital economies — including the US, the EU, Canada and Japan — want the moratorium permanently extended, arguing it ensures predictability for global digital trade. Washington wants major American tech companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Apple to operate in a stable regulatory environment, free from the risk of countries introducing duties that could disrupt cross-border digital commerce.

Read: South Africa wants to tax online gambling. The industry is fighting back

More than 200 global business organisations have signed a joint statement calling for an extension. The International Chamber of Commerce warns that allowing the moratorium to lapse would raise costs, fragment the internet and hinder businesses’ ability to participate in cross-border digital trade.

Some developing nations, including India, have long opposed the moratorium, arguing that extending it would deprive them of tariff revenue needed to fund infrastructure and close the digital divide.

Sofia Scasserra of the Transnational Institute think-tank said the moratorium has failed to bolster digital economies in developing countries and instead entrenches the dominance of US and other advanced-economy Big Tech giants.

An Unctad research paper in 2019 estimated that developing countries faced a potential tariff revenue loss of US$10-billion in 2017 as a result of the moratorium. However, an OECD study found that the potential revenue loss could largely be offset by VAT or goods and services tax applied to imported digital services.  — Olivia Le Poidevin, (c) 2026 Reuters