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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (29931)	12/6/1999 6:19:00 AM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 50167

E trade and WTO ramifications.. the most important news to watch is status of the global moratorium on e-commerce customs duties, which began in May 1998, will it be extended further by 18 months to two years. if not we need to understand that it will create strong backlash. the recent failure of WTO should not be over-looked by traders.. Will WTO hurt e-commerce? Firms hope WTO won't construct trade barriers By Del Jones, USA TODAY SEATTLE -- Most companies at the World Trade Organization meeting here hope to chip away at trade barriers that have been erected over decades. But e-commerce firms see a unique opportunity to stop barriers from going up. There were strong indications Thursday that the companies were getting their wish. U.S. Commerce Secretary William Daley said he is confident the global moratorium on e-commerce customs duties, which began in May 1998, will be extended by 18 months to two years. That means countries will not be able to charge taxes on orders taken over the Internet or on products that can be transmitted online, such as music and software. E-commerce firms say that's important to ensure the Internet's growth. George Vradenburg, senior vice president of America Online, predicts the number of people worldwide with Internet access will grow from 200 million today to 1 billion over the next four years. "E-commerce is cross-border and cross-cultural," says Reza Jafari, vice president of global industry for EDS. "You cannot stop it." U.S. e-commerce firms fear a backlash because of their dominance of the Internet and because English is its primary language. The e-commerce industry also must deal with consumer privacy, crime, insulating children and protecting intellectual property. If not, governments may move to impose regulations that would impede online trade. As young as e-commerce is, there already are some trade barriers: Countries that permit monopolies on telecommunications and cable are not getting the "last mile" of fiber that would connect homes to the new services, says Rachel Rothstein, senior vice president of Cable & Wireless. UPS, which ships 55% of everything ordered over the Internet, must fill out lengthy tax forms when packages reach borders in Asia and Latin America. That can delay a package a day or more so that the host country can collect as little as $1 in duty. UPS wants the world to follow the United States' lead and not charge duties on packages valued at less than $200. "UPS is an enabler of foreign trade," CEO Jim Kelly says.