Justice, Equality and Tax Law

S. 6101. Introduction

The OECD defines e-commerce as “the sale or purchase of goods and services, conducted over computer networks by methods specifically designed for the purpose of receiving or placing of orders”. The tasks performed by enterprises engaged in e-commerce are best described as “the production, advertising, sale and distribution of goods and services via telecommunication networks”. Services sold online are referred to as “online supplies” while the physically delivered goods sold online are referred to as “distance sales of goods”.

The size of e-commerce is not easy to measure because trade statistics report what is traded but not how it is traded. “The development of statistics on digital trade remains, largely, in its infancy.” The World Trade Organization estimates that, in 2016, “the value of e-commerce transactions totaled US$ 27.7 trillion, of which US$ 23.9 trillion was business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce transactions”. This means USD 3.8 trillion for business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions. Projections estimated that the B2C e-commerce would reach USD 4.88 trillion in 2021.

The growth of cross-border purchase of goods and services over the internet, particularly d...