Overview
- Singapore and nine partners in the FIT Partnership issued a Mar 16 declaration supporting a permanent WTO ban on customs duties for electronic transmissions.
- The moratorium, first adopted in 1998 and renewed every two years, is slated for decision at MC14 in Yaounde on Mar 26–29 and will lapse if members do not agree to renew it.
- India has signaled it will oppose extension or permanence, arguing the measure shifts costs to developing net importers and limits policy space, with experts estimating about $1 billion in annual forgone revenue.
- The United States is pushing for permanence to provide stability for the digital economy and MSMEs, and China has voiced support for continuing the moratorium.
- FIT members also pledged to fold the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement and the E‑Commerce Agreement into WTO rules and to use the MPIA to strengthen dispute settlement.