The move follows the declaration issued by participating countries at the WTO’s 14th Ministerial Conference in March this year setting out interim arrangements for the agreement
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World Trade Organization
In an important intervention at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), India has questioned the institutional arrangements supporting a proposed e-commerce agreement between a group of member countries and the legal basis for the WTO Director-General and Secretariat to facilitate its implementation despite the pact lacking the consensus required for incorporation into the WTO framework.In a communication circulated to WTO members on July 8, India posed a series of questions on the interim arrangements adopted by 66 countries to bring into force the Agreement on Electronic Commerce (ECA), negotiated under the Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) launched on the sidelines of the WTO’s 11th Ministerial Conference in 2017.The move follows the declaration issued by participating countries at the WTO’s 14th Ministerial Conference in March this year setting out interim arrangements for the agreement.On June 10, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala circulated the text of the ECA to WTO members.The communication also questions the Director-General’s role as depositary of the agreement. India pointed out that the Marrakesh Agreement provides for the Director-General to act as depositary only for WTO agreements and Annex 4 plurilateral agreements. Since the ECA has not been added to Annex 4, India has sought clarification on the legal authority under which the Director-General is receiving instruments of acceptance for the agreement.“We request clarification regarding the legal basis within the WTO Agreement vide which the WTO DG is assigned the role to act as the depositary of the ECA,” it asked.New Delhi has also questioned the use of WTO Secretariat resources to service the pact. Under the interim arrangements, the Secretariat would support the agreement’s institutional functions, including its dispute settlement mechanism. The arrangement also envisages using the WTO’s roster of arbitrators unless parties decide otherwise, while the Director-General would notify disputing parties of the selection of arbitrators. It also establishes an E-Commerce Committee that would report annually to the WTO General Council.India noted that proposals to incorporate the agreement into Annex 4 of the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the WTO had failed to secure consensus in the General Council on two occasions, in February and December 2025.“In the absence of consensus, we would like to understand the institutional basis on which the Interim Arrangements (IA) are operating,” the submission said.India has raised a very important systemic issue about how the DG can assume responsibilities and functions that are not prescribed in the Marrakesh Agreement, noted trade expert Abhijit Das.“ India is right in challenging the DG and proponents of the Interim Arrangements for the Agreement on Electronic Commerce. Left unchecked, a handful of countries and the DG will increasingly feel emboldened in departing from the WTO rule book and bending in favour of the rich and powerful members of the WTO. India should make efforts to get more countries to its corner on this issue,” he told businessline.India has also sought explanations on the legal basis for deploying WTO personnel, administrative resources and dispute settlement infrastructure for an agreement that has not been adopted by the full WTO membership.India has consistently argued that agreements negotiated by a subset of members cannot become part of the WTO architecture without consensus, warning that doing so would erode the organisation’s multilateral and member-driven character.Published on July 9, 2026
