Date/Time: November 13, 2023 (Monday) 10:30-11:30 (GMT+8)
Organizer: Taiwan Coalition of Service Industries
Subsidy Organization: International Trade Administration, MOEA, Taiwan
Language: English
Platform: Webex Meetings
Background: Since 1998, WTO member countries have agreed not to impose customs duties on electronic transmissions. However, some WTO members, mainly India, Indonesia, and South Africa, expressed reservations at the recent Ministerial Conference in 2022 about the WTO Moratorium on Customs Duties on Electronic Transmissions (the Moratorium), concerned primarily with foregone customs revenues. Allowing the Moratorium to expire would be a historic setback for the WTO, representing an unprecedented termination of a multilateral agreement in place nearly since the WTO's inception – an agreement that has allowed the digital economy to take root and grow.
The session invites Dr. Badri Narayanan Gopalakrishnan, a fellow and the former Head, Trade, Commerce, and Strategic Economic Dialogue, NITI Aayog, Government of India, to address on this topic and its relevance at a time of unprecedented digital transformation.
