Trade Polices for Electronic Commerce

Mattoo, Aaditya ; Schuknecht, Ludger

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: AGGREGATE IMPORTS;    AGREEMENT ON TRADE;    AIR TRANSPORT;    APPLIED TARIFF;    AVERAGE;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2380
RP-ID  :  WPS2380

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Some countries in the World TradeOrganization initially opposed WTO's decision to exemptelectronic delivery of products from customs duties, out ofconcern for the revenue consequences. Others supported thedecision as a means of securing open trading conditions. Theauthors argue that neither the inhibitions nor theenthusiasm is fully justified. First, even if all deliveryof digitizable media products moved on-line--an unlikelyprospect--the revenue loss for most countries would besmall. More important, however, the prohibition of customsduties does not ensure continued open access forelectronically delivered products and may even promptrecourse to inferior instruments of protection. Barrier-freeelectronic commerce would be more effectively secured bydeepening and widening the limited cross-border tradecommitments under the General Agreement on Trade in Services(GATS), and by clarifying and strengthening certain GATS disciplines.