GENEVA -- The United States is pushing for a "no Internet commerce tax" declaration at next month's World Trade Organization summit, diplomats said today.
The diplomats and other trade sources said Washington was signaling that President Clinton would only attend the 18-20 May gathering if an agreement on such a declaration was reached in advance among the 132 member states.
"There is a very hard push on to get this done in time," said one source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The US is very keen to have something solid come out of the meeting."
One Geneva negotiator said the United States was expected to circulate a draft declaration for discussion later this week.
In February, the United States proposed World Trade Organization (WTO) talks on an accord that would permanently exempt products transmitted over the Internet -- like software, architectural drawings, and audio-visual products -- from customs duties.
The overall idea was first launched by Clinton last July. The world could build prosperity in the next century, he declared, by using cyberspace "in ways that most of us cannot even imagine." Clinton said the United States wanted to ensure "that international trade on the Internet remains free of new discriminatory taxes, free of tariffs, free from burdens and regulations, and safe from piracy."
Many analysts predict that electronic commerce -- which no country currently taxes in part because there are no effective monitoring systems -- will undergo an enormous boom over the coming decade. One study has forecast that by 2002 some US$327 billion will be spent on products bought and transmitted over the Internet, as compared to $8 billion in 1998.
In a report of its own last month, the WTO secretariat said the number of Internet users could rise to 300 million or more by the turn of the millennium, compared to just 4.5 million at the start of the decade.
WTO delegations in Geneva are working on a general declaration confirming a commitment to implement accords reached during the 1986-93 Uruguay Round. But trade envoys said the US idea was to have a separate declaration on electronic commerce that could be issued while major leaders were in Geneva, giving the three-day gathering a much stronger impact.
