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Informist, Monday, Mar. 30, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The World Trade Organization's 14th Ministerial Conference ended Monday in Yaounde, Cameroon, without a consensus on key issues like the moratorium on customs duties on digital trade, non-violation complaints under the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement, and a reform roadmap. The four-day-long conference, which started Thursday, saw the participation of nearly 2,000 trade officials and over 90 ministers.

 

"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," Cameroon's Trade Minister Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana said Monday. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala suggested the members use the draft texts developed over the four days of ministerial discussions and finalise agreements on outstanding issues in Geneva at the next general council meeting.

 

While developed economies like the US, the European Union, and Japan pushed for a long-term or permanent extension of the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions, developing nations, including India, opposed it. The WTO had imposed the moratorium in 1998 and had been extending it since, with the last extension coming at the WTO ministerial meeting in 2024. "With no agreement on the moratorium this year, it has lapsed for the first time in 26 years, opening the door for countries to impose tariffs on digital transmissions," think-tank Global Trade Research Initiative said in a note.

 

The lapse of the e-commerce moratorium has also led to the expiry of the safeguard against non-violation complaints under the trade-related intellectual property rights agreement. "Developing countries have relied on this safeguard to protect policy space, especially in areas like public health. For India, this increases the risk of disputes over its intellectual property rules," the Global Trade Research Initiative said. 

 

India opposed the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement. New Delhi argues that bringing such plurilateral deals into the WTO would weaken its multilateral nature and allow smaller groups to shape rules, the think tank said.

 

The WTO had also proposed to delineate a reform roadmap to follow until the next ministerial conference in 2028. The proposal failed to gain consensus. "The divide is clear: advanced economies want quicker decision-making and stricter rules, while developing countries want to protect policy flexibility and the consensus-based system," the think tank said.

 

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, accompanied by Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal and other officials of the ministry, represented India at the conference. On the sidelines, Goyal also held bilateral meetings with several of his counterparts.  End

 

Reported by Krity Ambey

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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