India formally questioned at the WTO the legal and institutional basis of an interim arrangement that 66 member countries are using to bring a plurilateral e-commerce agreement into force. New Delhi argues the arrangement bypasses the multilateral consensus the WTO requires, noting the General Council twice failed in 2025 to agree to add the pact to Annex 4, which covers deals binding only on members that accept them. It is asking on what basis the interim arrangements operate without that consensus, and by what legal authority the WTO director-general became the pact's depositary. India's challenge tests whether smaller groups of countries can move agreements through the WTO without full-membership backing, and the questions are set for the General Council's next meeting.
