   
  
S/C/58  
 
4 Decembe r 2019 
(19-8347) Page:  1/1 
Council for Trade in Services   
 
 
 
WORK PROGRAMME ON EL ECTRONIC COMMERCE  
REPORT BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE COUN CIL FOR TRADE IN SER VICES  
TO THE GENERAL COUNC IL 
1.1.  The Council f or Trade in Services agreed on 30 October  2019 that I should report to the General 
Council , on my own responsibility , regarding work carried out under the Work Programme on 
Electronic Commerce since the report presented in July 2019.1  
1.2.  The Council for Trade in Services discussed the Work Programme on Electronic Commerc e at 
its formal meeting o n 30 October 2019, in accordance with  the Ministerial mandate to continue the 
work under the Work Programme and endeavour to reinvigorate  work by the Members .  
1.3.  At that meeting, the United States provided additional clarifications on various questi ons that 
had been posed at the June meeting about its submission  on "The Economic Benefits of Cross -Border 
Data Flows" .2 It referred , inter alia, to APEC's Cross -Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) as an example of 
an interoperable system dealing with privacy ; provided some background  on LDC participation in 
global  economic activity generated from the flow of data ; noted  that requiring the local storage of a 
copy of data was trade -restrictive because it duplicate d data storage costs for firms ; and said that 
most governments had specific  rules for the treatment of personal data.  The United States said that 
its submission was designed to complement the on-going JSI negotiations  and encouraged Members 
to support a high -ambition outcome . 
1.4.  A couple of delegati ons offered further observations on the US submission , with one noting 
that the ability  of regulatory authorities  to access data was important  across all sectors, and  not 
only in the financial services  sector , and also pointing to the difficult y of delineating the boundary 
between personal and non -personal data.  
1.5.  China presented a case -study on e -commerce and poverty alleviation. It provided information 
about  a pilot programme launched by JD.com, Inc., one of China's largest e -commerce platforms, 
to help poor and small farmers from the rural Wuyi county to raise and sell organic chickens by 
leveraging Big Data. The case -study highlighted that digital technologies ha d an important role to 
play not only in urban contexts but also in rural areas , both  China and another delegation remarked . 
1.6.  One delegation  referred  to the Moratorium  on customs duties on electronic transmissions  and 
its upcoming expiry , recalling the interventions and submissions3 it had made in  the General Council  
and noting that the Mor atorium was an issue of a cross -cutting nature.  
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1 Document S/C/5 7. 
2 Document S/C/W/382.  
3 Document WT/GC/W/747 and WT/GC/W/ 774. 