./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/VAL/W/126
25 September 2003
(03-5099)
Committee on Customs Valuation Original:  English
TRANSITIONAL REVIEW UNDER ARTICLE 18 OF THE PROTOCOL OF
ACCESSION OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Written Questions from the Separate Customs Territory of
Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu on
Customs Valuation
The following communication, dated 25 September 2003, has been received from the
Permanent Mission of the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu.
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1. Article 28 of China’s Rules of General Administration of Customs Regarding Determination
of Customs Value of Imported and Exported Goods  indicates that where goods are imported by rail or
road transportation and transacted under DAF (deliv ered at frontier) terms, the customs administration
shall calculate the freight, insurance and other charges on the basis of 1% of the price of the goods.The representative of China stated at the last TRM meeting in November 2002, however, that the
fixed percentage would only be used to determine the customs value when the freight or cost of
insurance could not be determined or did not actually occur (paragraph 5.10 of G/VAL/M/32).
As there seems to be a discrepancy between the above-mentioned Rules  and the statement, we would
be grateful if China could clarify exactly how such charges are determined.
2. According to Article 4 of the WTO Agreement on Customs Valuation, at the request of the
importer, the sequential order of application of Articles 5 (deductive method) and 6 (computedmethod) may be reversed. However, Article 7 of China’s Rules of General Administration of Customs
Regarding Determination of Customs Value of Imported and Exported Goods  stipulates that an
importer needs to submit sufficient information when requesting such a change.
Would China please :
• clarify what kind of information an importer in these circumstances would be required to submit,
and
• clarify whether it has made a reservation to Article 4 as per paragraph 3 of Annex III of the WTO
Agreement on Customs Valuation.
3. According to paragraph 143 of its Working Party Re port, China agreed, within two years from the
date of accession, to apply the provisions of both  the Decision on the Treatment of Interest Charges in
Customs Value of Imported Goods and the Decision on the Valuation of Carrier Media Bearing
Software for Data Processing Equipment. Would China please describe progress to date on theadoption of these two Decisions.
4. China mentioned in its Checklist of I ssues of 2002 (G/VAL/N/2/CHN/1) that its Regulations on
Import and Export Tariff  are in the process of being revised and shall be published on the date of theirG/VAL/W/126
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ratification. It would be appreciated if China could update us on the current status of this revision
process, with particular reference to the revisions to the content relating to customs valuation.
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