Five years of trade negotiations reached a milestone last Friday with 91 nations agreeing on new norms for e-commerce - among them extension of a moratorium on taxation of cross-border electronic transmissions.

The moratorium matters because the term "electronic transmissions" describes almost everything that passes over the internet - video, audio, and the content of The Register.

The Joint Statement Initiative on Electronic Commerce states "No Party shall impose customs duties on electronic transmissions between a person of one Party and a person of another Party."

No such duty has ever actually been imposed. And, given the overall theme of the document is that when data flows freely small-to-medium businesses benefit, such tariffs seem unlikely.

But the agreement leaves open the prospect of "internal taxes, fees, or other charges on electronic transmissions" in the future, should a state wish to impose them.

That's an interesting option, given the ongoing efforts to have Big Tech pay for the traffic it generates, and which carriers argue sees them carry an unfair capital investment burden. Carriers don't get it all their own way: the document also includes measures to stop them creating network bottlenecks.

The internal taxes idea is also noteworthy in the context of efforts to have social networks and search engine operators pay taxes that fund local journalism - an arrangement that Meta in particular opposes.

Other elements of the agreement include a requirement for signatory nations to allow access to the internet "subject to reasonable network management that does not block or slow down internet traffic for unfair commercial advantage." Which sounds rather like a net neutrality mandate.

Electronic exchange of data for small businesses gets a mention, as an enabler for cross-border e-commerce that doesn't tie small orgs in red tape.

The agreement also requires signatories to make government data available in machine-readable format and at reasonable cost, to combat spam, and to take cyber security seriously.

Help for less-developed nations is also on the agenda.

Work on the initiative was led by Australia, Japan, and Singapore - and they're mostly felt to have done a decent job.

But the moratorium on taxing electronic transmissions has been extended by just two years, with a review to follow. And the agreement also glossed over some matters in the interests of getting this document done. Plenty more international gabfests and wrangling therefore lie ahead. ®

https://www.theregister.com//2024/07/29/wto_joint_statement_initiative_on_electronic_commerce/