Concerns with E-commerce Trade Decisions

Why in news?

India has opposed the proposal of “Friends of E-commerce for development” group in recent WTO ministerial meeting

What is Friends of E-commerce for development group?

• Friends of E-commerce for Development includes Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Uruguay.
• This Group is looking to change policies adopted by governments to ease the flow of goods integral to bridging the digital divide.

What are the recent proposal of the group?

• Friends Group made a proposal in ongoing Ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• It is related to infrastructure and services for information and communications technology (ICT), trade logistics and payment solutions.
• They claim for a cross-border trade facilitation framework to advance goods-related e-commerce for development.
• They also want to look at regulating telecommunications, computer and related services, and relevant distribution services.

What are the concerns for India?

• India senses that the impact of any negotiations for binding rules on e-commerce would take away the ability of developing countries to regulate and create a sustainable e-commerce model in their respective countries.
• India state that regulating telecommunications, computer and related services would interfere in the sovereign rights of the country.
• The proponents of rules on e-commerce have been of the view that the servers that help e-commerce transactions should be located in a country of choice.
• But India has opposed this as it feel that the servers servicing customers in India should be physically located in India for greater control over the data generated within the country.

Source: Financial Express