. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/VAL/N/4/LKA/1
14 August 2000
(00-2968)
Committee on Customs Valuation Original:  English
NOTIFICATION CONCERNING THE DECISION UNDER PARAGRAPH 1
OF ANNEX III OF THE AGREEMENT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF
ARTICLE VII OF THE GENERAL AGREEMENT ON
TARIFFS AND TRADE 1994
SRI LANKA
The following communication, dated 4 August 2000, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Sri Lanka.
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This communication is in reference to the Decision of the Committee on Customs Valuation
adopted on 9 March 2000 delaying Sri Lanka's application of the provisions of the WTO Agreement
on Customs Valuation until 1 January 2001, according to which Sri Lanka should report to the
Committee on Customs Valuation on 30 June 2000 on the progress in fulfilling the work program inAttachment 1 and the status of implementation of the Agreement.
Accordingly, the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka has the honour to inform the Committee
that:
1. Legislation
Although it was expected that the necessary laws amending the Customs Ordinance would be
passed before end of August, the passing of the necessary laws have been delayed due to:
(i) Sri Lanka Customs Department had to hold further discussions with stake holders,
namely the trade chambers concerned in order to clarify implications of the new law;
(ii) the inter-ministerial consultation process has taken time to deliberate upon the
relevant issues;
(iii) the Ministry of Finance has proposed additional amendments to the Customs
Ordinance be made both to accommodate provisions of the WTO Customs ValuationAgreement and also improvements in general to the Customs Ordinance to be
incorporated in one document to be presented to the Parliament.
However, since necessary clarifications have been made and the inter-ministerial consultation
process has also been completed, the Department of Customs is confident that the new Act would beapproved by the Parliament before end of December 2001 so that Sri Lanka would be ready to
implement the WTO Valuation Agreement from 1 January 2001.G/VAL/N/4/LKA/1
Page 2
2. Improvements to Administrative structure
The Sri Lanka Customs Department has already established a post clearance audit branch
with two specialised units to handle sea and air cargo.  The valuation investigation unit is in operation
to target valuation frauds based on risk assessments.
3. Human Resources Development
(i) A core group of customs officers from the senior and middle management levels have
been trained recently with the assistance of a valuation expert from the WCO.
(ii) In July 2000, another training programme on the subject of risk analysis and targeting
was conducted by a WCO expert for 20 senior officers of the Department.
(iii) Furthermore, a deputy director of customs participated in a one-month regional
training programme conducted by the I ndian Customs Administration in India.
(iv) A group of ten customs officers were also trained by the Japanese Customs
Administration in Japan on the basic principles of the WTO Valuation Agreementwith special reference to post clearance audit.
(v) The Department of Customs has conducted an awareness programme for the
executives of importing firms.
(vi) The Customs administration has already prepared a detailed training module for the
training of the operational level customs officers as well as customs brokers.  These
training programmes would commence from the first week of September.
The Sri Lanka Government, whilst appreciating the technical assistance extended by the
WCO, Japanese and Indian Governments in its endeavours on human resource development and
improvements to the organisational structure of the Customs Department, would like to request its
developed trading partners for further specific training programmes for Customs officials at middle
and senior management levels on the subject of risk analysis and targeting of valuation methods and
also on basic principles of WTO Valuation Agreement, with special reference to Post Clearance
Audit.
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