On 1 March, during the extra day of negotiations, WTO Members gathered in Abu Dhabi for the 13th Ministerial Conference agreed to extend the current Moratorium on Customs Duties on Electronic Transmissions until the next ministerial meeting, or until 31 March 2026, whichever is earlier. In spite of that, this could be the beginning of the end of the Moratorium: this is likely to be the last renewal.

A new blog-post from Digital Watch Observatory expert Marilia Maciel, in which she explains the dynamics and the outcomes of the 13th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference (MC13) held from 26-29 February, 2024 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

The negotiating positions on the Moratorium ranged from, on the one hand, OECD countries, some developing countries, and China, aiming to make the Moratorium permanent and, on the other hand, some developing countries led by India, Indonesia, South Africa and Indonesia requesting the end of the Moratorium.

In 2022, an extension was granted until MC13, but fears of another postponement of the Ministerial led Members to call for an explicit renewal by Ministers or by the WTO General Council if the Ministerial got delayed beyond 31 March 2024. This would prevent the Moratorium from sliding into permanence, revealing that the idea of non-renewal was by that time strongly held by some members.