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Electronic Commerce

Asked by Rebecca PaulConservativeDepartment for Business and TradeTabled Answered 16 December 2025UIN 99440

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to support UK participation in the WTO Joint Statement Initiative on e-commerce.

Answered by Chris Bryant

The WTO Agreement on E Commernce (ECA) is the first global digital trade agreement that will make trade faster, cheaper, fairer, and more secure. The UK is an active and supportive participant of the Joint Statement Initiative on E-commerce (JSI). In July 2024, following five years of JSI negotiations, the UK joined the resulting plurilateral WTO Agreement on Electronic Commerce (ECA) as a founding Member, alongside 70 other countries. The number of participants to the Agreement has now risen to 72. The UK is working closely with other WTO Members to give legal effect to the ECA as soon as possible.

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