E-commerce: Switzerland launches consultation on the ACE

Context

TL;DR

• Consultation launched on October 14, 2026
• ACE among 67 WTO members
• Deadline set for January 28, 2027
• Tariffs on electronic transmissions prohibited

Key facts

• What → plurilateral agreement on electronic commerce (ACE)
• Who → 67 WTO members
• Scope → approximately 70 percent of world trade
• Switzerland → has participated in the negotiations from the outset
• Deadline → January 28, 2027

A federal announcement with international scope

In Bern, on October 14, 2026, the Federal Council opened the consultation on the Plurilateral Agreement on Electronic Commerce (ACE). The press release published on SECO's portal indicates January 28, 2027, as the deadline for the procedure.

The ACE brings together 67 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) around a common framework for electronic commerce. They include, among others, the European Union and its Member States, Australia, China, Japan, Canada, Singapore, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. Together, they account for approximately 70 percent of world trade.

The text is intended to facilitate cross-border digital trade in goods and services and provide more reliable framework conditions. A key provision prohibits the imposition of customs duties on electronic transmissions. The agreement also promotes the recognition of electronic procedures and documents and the conduct of commercial transactions without paper.

Areas covered by the agreement include consumer protection, data protection and cybersecurity; these provisions are intended to strengthen trust in digital commerce.

Operational details

The scope of the shared rules

The figure of 67 members should be read together with the approximately 70 percent share of world trade attributed to them collectively. The source therefore does not describe an agreement limited to a single relationship between two countries, but a common framework among multiple economies and open to all WTO members. This openness is the feature highlighted by the plurilateral definition: the ACE starts with a group of participants, without closing the door to subsequent accessions.

The link between these elements and legal certainty is explicit in the communiqué. For Swiss companies, the more reliable framework conditions therefore concern how cross-border digital trade is recognized and managed among the contracting parties. The source also associates the agreement with better competitive conditions and the risk of not penalizing Switzerland compared with the other parties.

The scope, however, remains that described by the text: the prohibition concerns customs duties on electronic transmissions. It is not presented as a general elimination of every duty applicable to trade, nor as a modification of all trade procedures. The same caution applies to the guarantees: consumer protection, data and cybersecurity are provisions intended to strengthen trust, not results already measured by the source.

Key points

Negotiations, declaration and consultation

In 2024, negotiations on the ACE reached a substantive conclusion within the WTO framework. The formal incorporation of the agreement into the WTO Agreement has so far remained impossible due to opposition from some member countries. The source therefore distinguishes between the negotiated text and its formal inclusion in the organization's legal framework.

A ministerial declaration was issued by 67 members on March 28, 2026, during the 14th regular WTO Ministerial Conference. Through it, the members agreed to bring the ACE into force through an annex containing provisional provisions; the formal inclusion of the agreement in the WTO legal framework nevertheless remains a shared objective for them.

Since the beginning of the negotiations, Switzerland has participated in the work and contributed to drafting the text of the agreement. The country promotes modern rules for e-commerce both in bilateral relations and within the framework of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). According to the press release, the ACE is consistent with the high standards pursued by Switzerland in its most recent trade agreements and takes Swiss needs into account, especially regarding data protection.

The timeline thus includes a national consultation phase and an interim solution agreed upon by 67 WTO members. The consultation launched by the Federal Council will close on January 28, 2027. The available text does not report an outcome of the consultation or a date for the formal inclusion of the ACE in the WTO Agreement; it only indicates that the latter remains the shared objective of the participants.

Source: seco.admin.ch