India has submitted two papers on e-commerce at the WTO, one on collaborating on consumer protection and the other on role of digital public infrastructure. This would provide an “alternative paradigm’’ to discussions at the multilateral forum currently dominated by a group of countries in a plurilateral mode on rule-making in e-commerce, senior officials said.

The paper on protection of consumer interest in e-commerce urges members to work together on addressing issues such as information asymmetry, tackling fakes and counterfeits, data protection, management of returns and dispute resolution.

“The idea is to trigger discussion on the important issue of consumer protection in e-commerce, including cross-border transactions. Once there is an understanding on the matter, countries can decide on what steps need to be taken to increase protection,” according to a senior Commerce Ministry official.

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India’s paper on consumer protection has already got positive response from several members including Brazil, South Africa, Djibouti, Kenya, Jamaica, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nigeria and Singapore. 

“Singapore specifically mentioned that this submission had served to reorient the agenda item from a negative to a positive one,” the official said.

In its second paper on ‘Role of digital public infrastructure (DPI) in promoting e-commerce’, India has presented an approach to overcome the challenge of digital divide. The paper highlights various issues limiting the adoption and use of e-commerce, the paradigm of DPI, and ideal features of a good DPI. The paper highlights examples from India such as UPI, COWIN and ONDC.

At present, a group of countries, dominated by developed nations, is holding plurilateral discussions on rule making in e-commerce at the WTO. India and several other developing countries are not part of the talk as they argue that the implications of e-commerce on market structures and technical issues such as data storage, transfer of technology and loss of traditional jobs, need to be fully understood first.

“India’s submissions are intended to generate free and frank discussions on all aspects of e- commerce, pros and cons for countries at different level of development, how exchange of ideas, information and collaboration can help bring benefits of E Commerce to those who are lagging behind and the role WTO can play in promoting inclusive and equitable development of e-commerce at global level,” the official said.

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