WTO talks conclude; no consensus on extension of e-commerce duty moratorium

NEW DELHI: (Mar 30) The four-day Ministerial Conference (MC14) of the WTO concluded on Monday in Yaounde, Cameroon, with members failing to resolve the contentious issue of extending the moratorium on e-commerce customs duties.

Cameroon's Minister of Trade Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, the Chair of MC14, said that trade ministers worked to conclude several issues across the various areas of negotiation during the four-day meeting.

However, he said "we ran out of time" with regards to several outstanding issues such as the WTO's work programme on electronic commerce and the continuation of the existing moratoriums on customs duties for electronic transmissions and non-violation complaints under the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).