Tax-free status of movie, music and games traded online is on table as WTO nations meet in Abu Dhabi
As the World Trade Organization opens its latest biannual meeting of government ministers on Monday, its longtime moratorium on duties on e-commerce products is coming under pressure like never before
GENEVA (AP) — Since late last century and the early days of the web, providers of digital media like Netflix and Spotify have had a free pass when it comes to international taxes on films, video games and music that are shipped across borders through the internet.
But now, a global consensus on the issue may be starting to crack.
As the World Trade Organization opens its latest biannual meeting of government ministers Monday, its longtime moratorium on duties on e-commerce products — which has been renewed almost automatically since 1998 — is coming under pressure as never before.
This week in Abu Dhabi, the WTO’s 164 member countries will take up a number of key issues: Subsidies that encourage overfishing. Reforms to make agricultural markets fairer and more eco-friendly. And efforts to revive the Geneva-based trade body’s system of resolving disputes among countries.
