RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/VAL/M/25
5 March 2002
(02-1105)
Committee on Customs Valuation
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF 26 FEBRUARY 2002
Chairman: Mr. K. J. Weerasinghe (Sri Lanka)
The agenda proposed for the meeting, circulated in WTO/AIR/1719 and amended at the
meeting, was adopted as follows:
Table of Contents
A. P ARAGRAPH 12 OF THE DOHA MINISTERIAL DECLARATION (WT/MIN(01)/ DEC/1):
IMPLEMENTATION -RELATED ISSUES.........................................................................................1
B. T ECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ............................................................................................................7
C. E LECTION OF OFFICERS ..............................................................................................................9
D. O THER BUSINESS .........................................................................................................................9
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A. PARAGRAPH 12 OF THE DOHA MINISTERIAL DECLARATION (WT/MIN(01)/ DEC/1):
IMPLEMENTATION -RELATED ISSUES
1. The Chairman recalled that the Doha Ministerial Declaration, in paragraph 12 of document
WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1, stated that "the other outstanding implementation issues shall be addressed as
matter of priority by the relevant WTO bodies, which shall report to the Trade Negotiations
Committee… by the end of 2002 for appropriate action".  The Decision adopted at Doha on
Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns (WT/MIN/(01)/17), in paragraph 13, stated that the
outstanding implementation issues were contained in document Job(01)/152/Rev.1.  Specifically forthe Committee on Customs Valuation, the outstanding implementation issues were contained in tirets
57 through 61 in paragraph 7 of the latter document.
2. He added that the Decision on Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns, in paragraph 8.3,
contained the results of the negotiations on the proposal for an exchange of information mechanism.This paragraph also directed the Committee on Customs Valuation to "identify and assess practical
means to address such concerns, including the exchange of information on export values and to report
to the General Council by the end of 2002 at the latest."  Therefore, the Committee had two reports to
prepare at the end of the year.  One was to the TNC on the outstanding implementation issues, and the
other was to the General Council on the results of the work related to exchange of information amongcustoms administrations. These two areas of work were listed as sub-items 1 and 2 of item A of the
agenda for this meeting.G/VAL/M/25
Page 2
3. Following his informal consultations, the Chairman circulated a draft schedule of meetings
for the year 2002, keeping in mind the above tasks, in document G/VAL/W/94.  He noted that,
following the Secretariat coordination of meetings, the November meeting dates must be changed to
4-5 November, instead of 5-6 November.  He pro posed that the Committee adopt the draft schedule.
4. The representative of India proposed that the heading of Agenda item A of the agenda in the
draft schedule be amended to read "Paragraph 12 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration
(WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1):  Implementation-related issues".
5. The Committee adopted the schedule of meetings for 2002 contained in G/VAL/W/94 as
amended by India and with the change noted by the Chairman.6. The Chairman recalled for Members' information that India, one of the proponents of the
tirets in paragraph 7, had circulated its proposals in document WT/GC/W/227.  In addition, two
papers circulated by a group of developing countries, in documents WT/GC/W/354 and 355, also
described the proposals.  Further, these issues had been elaborated by a group of Members in
document Job(99)/3169 and Add.1.  The Chairman of the General Council also held consultations on
these issues in informal meetings, including one on 10 April 2000.  He noted that the Committee hadaddressed two of the issues in paragraph 7 of Job(01)/152/Rev.1 and the issue that resulted in
paragraph 8.3 of document WT/MIN/(01)/17.  The minutes of that meeting were contained in
G/VAL/M/17 and the report by the Chairman of the Committee to the General Council Special
Session was contained in G/VAL/36.  Finally, a report from the Chairman of the Committee to the
General Council on the issue addressed in paragraph 8.3 was contained in WT/GC/49.
7. At the request of some Members, he underst ood that India had agreed to re-introduce the
tirets in paragraph 7 to start the Committee's work as mandated in paragraph 12 of the Doha
Declaration and to build on the work already carried out. He added that the Secretariat would shortly
issue a reference document containing  past discussions on these tirets as well as on paragraph 8.3.
8. The representative of India noted that in the period since the Tokyo Round Code on Customs
Valuation was agreed, several amendments had been made to the Customs Classification System and
other customs procedures both under the auspices of the WCO as well as by national governments.
Implementation of the Customs Valuation Agreement under the WTO, which was an integral part ofthe customs assessment process, had to keep in mind the challenges posed by changes in the world
trade patterns, customs classification and customs procedures. For instance, the share of trade between
transnational corporations and their overseas branches and affiliates had increased significantly over
time. There was also much more diversification of production of parts and components across the
globe leading to intra-firm import of such parts and components for assembly. Transfer pricing
problems had also increased.  Recent political events and some types of business practices had further
eroded the confidence in accounting practices followed by major accounting firms. In additiondeveloping countries, which relied to a much greater extent on customs revenue, faced special
problems in tackling invoice manipulation which had become easier with the advent of modern
communication technology. One set of problems emanated from the growth over several decades of
various preferential agreements, free trade areas and customs unions.  This created the need to take
into account the rules of origin of products at customs entry points and to apply, through policies andpractices, the principles of non-discrimination in differentiating treatment of imports depending upon
their origin and upon the principle of substantial processing through either transformation or value-
added of the imported goods.
9. Another set of problems emanated from multilateralism in the context of customs valuation.
Her delegation’s proposals, which were set out in the documents cited by the Chairman, drew upon
recognition in the Agreement itself that the provisions  of Article VII needed to be elaborated in order
to provide greater uniformity and certainty in their implementation. The Agreement required thatG/VAL/M/25
Page 3
customs value should be based on the transaction value or the actual value. The Agreement also
required that a fair, uniform and neutral system for the valuation of goods for customs purposes
should preclude the use of arbitrary or fictitious customs values.  India attached importance to both
these dimensions of the Agreement and noted that the Agreement clearly qualified that the actual
value would be the sale price in the ordinary cour se of trade and under fully competitive conditions.
Uniform customs valuation methods presented in the Agreement had been advocated on the groundsthat importing countries should not use arbitrary values to restrict trade and that traders would know
with certainty, in advance, their duty liability. Implementation of the Agreement, however, posed
many problems particularly for the customs administrations of developing countries. It was perhaps
much easier to rely on transaction values in developed countries where duty rates were low, import
controls were not based on value, exchange controls were non-existent, voluntary compliance was
high and the number of cases of fraudulent transactions was generally low.  But the situation in
developing countries was different.  Her Govern ment’s customs administration noted that in a
developed country’s customs valuation division within its customs administration there may be
perhaps six under-valuation cases in a month.  A single appraising officer in India's major custom
houses might have that many cases in a single day.
10. She reiterated that she had already identified the basic principles on which the proposals were
based in a document circulated by her delegation in WT/GC/W/227.  She also recalled that the issues
had been raised by a group of developing countries in documents G/C/W/354 and 355, by the Africa
group in WT/GC/W/301, by Kenya in WT/GW/W/233 and by another group of developing countries
in Job(99)/3167 and Add.1. With this introduction, she proceeded to introduce tiret 57 of document
Job(99)/152/Rev.1.
Tiret 57
11. Article 8.1(b) of the Customs Valuation Agreement allowed the addition in the customs value
of various assists supplied by the buyer in the form of goods and services to the extent the value ofsuch goods and services were not already included in the price. These included, under subheading (i),
"materials, components, parts, incorporated;"  under  sub-indent (ii), “tools, dies, moulds used";  under
sub-indent (iii), "materials consumed";  and under sub-indent (iv), “engineering, development,
artwork, design work, plans and sketches necessary for the production”.  No distinction, however, was
made regarding country of supply for the items covered in sub-indents (i) to (iii).  This meant that ifthese items were supplied from the country of importation, their value would be included in order to
determine the customs value of the imported good.  However, the assist provided for in sub-indent
(iv) was excluded from the determination of the customs value of the imported good when coming
from the country of importation.  Such exclusion provided scope for duty evasion as well lacked
economic logic.  First there was no rationale to make a distinction between goods and services on the
basis of country of procurement.  Second, even value of engineering, drawings etc. procured from the
country of importation, but from a person other than the buyer, was not excluded from being added tothe customs value.  It made no sense to exclude the same when supplied by the buyer alone from the
country of importation but not when supplied by any other supplier in the country of importation.
There were two sets of discrimination which were implicit in this provision.  She noted four points:
(i) the value of goods supplied from abroad and from the importing country by the buyer, or anyone
else, were to be included;    (ii) the value of services supplied from abroad by the buyer and anyoneelse were to be included;  (iii)  the value of services supplied from the importing country by anyone
else was to be included;  and (iv) only the value of services supplied from the importing country by
the buyer was not to be included.  The argument that this helped indigenous development of
engineering etc. was also not valid as no exclusion was provided under sub-indent 8.1(b)(iii).  The
provision encouraged artificial reduction in customs value and parallel payments.  In the event that aMember wished to exclude the value of indigenousl y produced engineering, design, etc., it could do
so by grant of a suitable exemption in its national legislation.  A parallel for this already existed in
Article 8.2 for exclusion of freight.  Basically this proposal was to provide for inclusion of such costsG/VAL/M/25
Page 4
related to engineering, development and design wherever it was undertaken.  The interpretative notes
to this Article already set out the manner in which different situations were to be dealt with when such
costs were incurred by the buyer other than in the country of importation.
12. The representative of the United States requested the presentation by India in writing in order
to use it to prepare for further detailed discussions on these technical issues.13. The Chairman noted that the Indian delegation had declared its intention to make its
statements available in written form and that they would be reproduced in the minutes of this meeting.14. The representative of Senegal sought confirma tion that the explanation provided by the Indian
representative meant that all costs should be included in the import value, such as the costs resulting
from services, work and so forth obtained in the importing  country.
15. The representative of India drew Senegal’s attention to Article 8 which set out four sub-
indents of goods or services which were required to be included in the valuation of imported goods by
the customs authority.  However, of these sub-indent s, the fourth sub-indent relating to engineering,
development, artwork, design work, etc., one categor y of procurement that was or could be carried out
in the importing country, was given differential treatment.   First, whenever it was procured from the
buyer it was not allowed to be included in the cost, but if procured from a supplier other than the
buyer, it could be included;  and second, these costs, if supplied from abroad, not necessarily from the
country of export, but from a third country, could be included. Her delegation considered this
provision discriminatory in that it allowed manipulation of the invoices presented to the customsauthorities in the importing countries.  The proposal basically sought to eliminate this discrimination
so that these specific listed costs could also be allowed to be included in the valuation.
Tiret 58
16. The representative of India explained that the residual method under Article 7 (which was
reached by way of the hierarchical system of valu ation methods set out in the Agreement) was limited
to situations where the transaction value of the goods or of identical and similar goods could not be
determined, and where deductive and computed value methods could not be applied. Such situations
posed serious problems for customs administrations in determining the customs value in the absenceof adequate information.  Under these circumstances, the stipulation in Article 7.1 that customs value
should be determined on the basis of data available in the country of importation, and the prohibition
in Articles 7.2(c) and (e) that prices in the exporting country or in a third country could not be used,
was difficult to rationalise, and created implementation problems.  If the prices in exporting countries
and in third countries were validly used for implementation of Article VI of the GATT, then why
should their use be prohibited under Article VII of the GATT?  In fact, the note to Article 7 of the
Customs Valuation Agreement, in paragraph 3(a) and 3(b) provided that customs value could bebased on identical and similar goods produced in a third country.  It was therefore surprising that third
country goods could provide a basis of valuation but not the value of the goods under import in the
exporting market or in a third country market.  Such provisions in the Agreement on Customs
Valuation were self-contradictory and excluded reasonable and valid bases of valuation.  Customs
valuation related to international transactions of goods involving at least two countries, and in some
cases more than two countries.  There was no reason to limit the basis for customs valuation to data
available within the country of importation and to exclude the price of the same goods in the
exporting country and in third countries, particularly when such prices were being used for
implementing other articles of the GATT.G/VAL/M/25
Page 5
Tiret 59
17. The representative of India noted that the fifth preambular paragraph to the Agreement on
Customs Valuation stated that the basis for customs valuation should be the transaction value of the
goods being valued to the greatest extent possible. The transaction value method under Article 1 may
not be applicable in a given case for several reasons:  either there was no sale for export, the valuationconditions were not met, objective and quantifiable data did not exist to make the required additions
or, in terms of the 1994 Ministerial Decision, a customs administration doubted the truth or accuracy
of the declared value.  In these cases, recourse had to be made to Articles 2 and 3 sequentially to base
the customs value on the transaction value of identical and similar goods.  These Articles provided for
adjustments on account of quantity as well as commercial levels.  However, Articles 2.3 and 3.3
which mirrored each other, stipulated that if more than one transaction value of identical or as the case
may be, similar goods was found, the lower value would be used.  Her delegation found that theseprovisions were being grossly misused by unscrupulous traders.  At times, small pilot consignments
were cleared through customs at very low values.  At times a number of consignments were imported
at low prices by a cartel of traders.  Articles 2.3 and 3.3 made it difficult for customs to discard
artificially low values even though contemporaneous evidence of higher values for identical or similar
goods existed for sales between independent buyers and sellers of repute under fully competitiveconditions.  Taking recourse to the 1994 Ministerial Decision on fraudulent transactions would be
rendered meaningless if ultimately a very low value had to be accepted under Articles 2.3 and 3.3.
Such values often did not even cover the cost of the basic raw materials used.  Her delegation,
therefore, considered it desirable to amend Articles 2.3 and 3.3 in order to provide for use of the
highest value of identical or similar goods.  This would prevent misuse of the provisions of theAgreement, curb invoice manipulation, prevent trade distortion and revenue loss.  It may be
mentioned that determination of such a value would also require quantity level and commercial
adjustments and other factors to be taken into account under the existing provisions of Articles 2 and
3 and would therefore represent a proper customs value.
Tiret 60
18. The representative of India stated that, in arriving at the customs value, Article 8.1(a) of the
Customs Valuation Agreement allowed additions to be made to the price for commissions and
brokerage, cost of containers and cost of packing to the extent these were incurred by the buyer, butwere not included in the price.  However, Article 8.1(a)(i) allowed buying commissions to be
excluded.  Apart from the fact that there was no rationale for excluding just one type of provision,
such a provision had also given rise to misuse.  It was easy for a large scale buyer to set up a buying
agent abroad and show part of the price paid as a buying commission to substantially reduce the duty
liability.  The existing technical committee instruments were not particularly helpful in curbing such
misuse, nor did they justify why such a commission, wh ich was paid by the buyer and was part of the
procurement price, should be excluded from the customs value.  In case a Member country wished toexclude buying commissions from the customs value they could do so by providing an appropriate
exemption in their national legislation.  Also, an option was available for inclusion or exclusion of
freight, insurance and loading, unloading and handling charges under Article 8.2 of the Customs
Valuation Agreement.  In her delegation’s view, buying commissions, being part of the price paid for
the goods, should not be excluded from the customs value.  In the face of such exclusion, it becameparticularly difficult for the customs administration of developing countries to verify and take action
against large importers of industrial plants and machinery having overseas links when
disproportionately large deductions were claimed as buying commissions.
Tiret 61
19. The representative of India explained that Article 15.5 of the Customs Valuation Agreement
was a conditional provision which provided that sole agents, sole distributors and sole concessionairesG/VAL/M/25
Page 6
be deemed to be related if they were otherwise related under Article 15.4.  In effect therefore, such
close business associates were required by customs to be treated as unrelated persons and
consequently safeguards under Articles 1.2(a) and (b) could not be made use of.  The effect of the
provisions in Article 15.5 was that the onus of proving that sole agents, sole distributors and sole
concessionaires were related to other persons associated in the business, rested with the customs
authority of the importing country.  Moreover, it was unlikely that the customs authorities in theimporting country would have access to pertinent business documentation on contracts and on
associations with sole agents, sole distributors and sole concessionaires which could later justify the
custom's decision to determine such persons as related and which could thereafter also, hold in a court
of law.  The 1994 Ministerial Decision on Texts Relating to Minimum Values and Imports by Sole
Agents, Sole Distributors and Sole Concessionaires recognised that problems may exist in the
valuation of imports by sole agents, sole distributors and sole concessionaires.  During the transitional
period available to developing countries, this Decision recommended that developing countryMembers could conduct appropriate studies and take such other actions as necessary to facilitate
application with the assistance of the World Customs Organisation.  To the best of her delegation’s
knowledge, no significant studies had been made in this regard.  It had, however, come to her
delegation’s notice that one developing country Member, at least in its national legislation, had
specifically defined sole agents, sole distributors and sole concessionaires to be related persons.  Herdelegation’s proposal sought to introduce a similar provision in the Customs Valuation Agreement
itself.  In this regard it may be pointed out that the provisions in GATT 1994 (ad Article VII
paragraphs 2.2 and 2.3) would also support inclusion of  such a provision in as much as in transactions
involving sole agents etc.  The buyer and seller were not independent of each other and prices
involved special discounts to such exclusive agen ts which may thereafter not meet the standards of
ordinary course of trade nor of fully competitive conditions which were the cornerstones of
Article VII and which were set out in its paragraph 2.
20. The representative of Colombia asked whether it would be possible for the Secretariat to
prepare a background paper on the negotiating history of the Agreement and reference the appropriate
documents.  She wondered whether, during the Tokyo Round, there was some technical justification
for including these provisions.  She thought it w ould help Members to know whether there were any
documents that might help interpret and understand why the Agreement contained these proposals, so
that guidance could be given to authorities about the changes proposed.  She also asked whether the
World Customs Organization had provided explanations or actions to take when faced with thesesituations in customs authorities.  This was particularly relevant to tiret 59 because, as explained by
India, there were cases where the lowest value would be taken and then this provision would be used
to engage in customs fraud or illicit acts.
21. The representative of India supported Colombia’s request for at least reference to the
documents that may have led up to or may be a part of the negotiating history.  She noted that in the
course of implementation over the last 20 years, other factors had changed such as customsprocedures and customs classifications.  Trade patterns had changed which were factors to be kept in
mind when looking at implementation of the Customs Valuation Agreement.   In relation to tiret 59,
Colombia pointed out one aspect of her delegation’s  submission which was that even if the customs
authorities believed that there had been some misu se of the provisions and rejected the transaction
value, Articles 2.3 and 3.3, as the case may be, should be used.  But traders were proving to be moreclever than the customs authorities because they knew that if the transaction value was rejected, under
the provisions of Articles 2.3 and 3.3, customs was bound to accept the lowest value.  Thus, they
would import small pilot consignments at a very low value in the period of reference, or a cartel of
traders would have already done so at a low value.  Even in such a situation, the reference prices that
the WCO might provide would be of no use because the provisions of Articles 2.3 and 3.3 mandatedcustoms to nonetheless accept the lowest value regardless of what the reference price was.  Therefore,
the technical data became irrelevant.  She concluded that traders knew which way customs was going
to rule and created situations which would allow them to access the loopholes in the Agreement.G/VAL/M/25
Page 7
22. The Committee agreed that the Secretariat would prepare a brief negotiating history on its
own responsibility.  The Secretariat could also identify any documents references to be given as
related to the particular areas to prepare for the March meeting and the meetings that would follow.
23. The representative of Tunisia requested that the document appear in the three official
languages before the month of March in view of the technical character of the tirets in question.24. The Committee took note of all statements made.  The Chairman
 noted that sub-item 2 of
item A dealt with paragraph 8.3 of document WT/MIN(01)/17.  He recalled that this was the earlier
tiret 56 and was the subject of discussions in formal and informal meetings last year.  These resulted
in his report to the General Council which led to the Decision at the Ministerial meeting.  Having
recognised the legitimacy of the concerns expressed by customs administrations of several importing
Members, the Committee on Customs Valuation was directed to identify and assess means to dealwith such concerns including exchange of informa tion on export values and to report to the General
Council by end of 2002 at the latest.  There were specific tasks which needed to be addressed by this
Committee, and he considered that the issue needed further reflection in order to identify the issues
and also assess the practical means available.
25. He added that Members agreed on the two elements which are contained in paragraph 8.3
only after long and technical discussions.  On e element was the cooperation and assistance in
exchange of information on the export value, set out in the first part of the paragraph.  This aspect was
relatively new and how it would work would have to be seen.  In parallel, a number of countries had
also attached importance to the second part of the paragraph which called for identifying practicalmeans to address the underlying concerns of some customs administrations.  Implicit in the
discussions that were held were suggestions on what would constitute practical means to address these
concerns.  One was technical assistance and cooperation in capacity building to set up mechanisms for
valuation that would contain the conduct of fraud itself.  The Committee would come back to this
matter at subsequent meetings.
B. T
ECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
26. The Chairman requested this item to be on the agenda of today’s meeting because he believed
that the Committee needed to have an exchange of views on how it would like to proceed with the
mandate contained in the work programme adopted last July in G/VAL/W/82/Rev.1.  The mostpressing matter had to do with the symposium on technical assistance on customs valuation foreseen
for last year, but which could now be taken up this year.  He considered it useful to discuss how
Members envisaged this symposium, its purpose and objectives.  One of the primary objectives could
be to have a frank and open exchange between donors and recipients of technical assistance on
customs valuation.  The aim of such an exchange would be to determine where the gaps were in
fulfilling Members’ needs through a better understanding of what was being offered and what was
currently needed. This information could come from Members as well as from organisations workingin the field.  He hoped that what might come out of the symposium would be indications of where co-
ordination could be improved, duplication avoided, and resources be more efficiently utilised.
27. The representative of the Philippines drew Members’ attention to her delegation’s submission
concerning the technical assistance needs of the Philippines for the effective implementation of the
Customs Valuation Agreement contained in document G/VAL/W/92, issued on 14 December 2001.
Since this document had been circulated, her customs authorities were eagerly awaiting any responses
to the technical assistance needs. For example, one type of assistance sought was in the development
of communication linkages among customs authorities.  A sub-item in the submission sought
information on the exchange of information on import and export of goods related to the value of thegoods.  She thought that there might be a linkage between this type of assistance sought by herG/VAL/M/25
Page 8
customs administration and the agenda item dealing with paragraph 8.3.  Concerning the symposium,
she highlighted her delegation’s submission and was open to ideas from other delegations.
28. The representative of the European Communities considered that the symposium should allow
a better exchange of views between the recipients and the beneficiaries of technical assistance,
including delegations that could give information on their experiences.  Her delegation thought that asymposium between now and the end of the year would be excellent to ensure better co-ordination in
the provision of assistance.  She requested the Secretariat to invite other international organizations to
this symposium, in particular, the WTO should be in contact with the World Customs Organization to
determine if they would be interested in doing a joint symposium or participating actively in a WTO
symposium.
29. The representative of Mauritania underlined the importance of technical assistance generally
and in particular regarding this symposium.  There was a link between technical assistance and the use
of transitional periods which should be used to prepare countries which had requested and obtained an
extension so that when the period is finished, they have the means to be able to apply the Agreement.
His delegation also believed that co-operation such as mentioned by the EC between the WTO and the
WCO was of great importance because it was an obvious interaction between the terms of referenceof these two bodies.  The WCO dealt with technical questions and the WTO with the rules of the
Agreements.  There was thus a close link which should be underlined in furthering co-ordination and
joint activities.
30. The representative of Senegal drew attention to the need for countries like his to learn from
the symposium what technical assistance was being offered, both by international organizations as
well as by other developed and even developing countries.  Many countries had undertaken reforms in
order to apply the Agreement but in a much more  general framework such as modernising their
central administration.  Often technical assistance was guided by what was requested by the
beneficiaries.  It was important therefore to evaluate what had been done by other countries.  Hisdelegation believed that this symposium could be an occasion to make visible technical assistance as
well learn from other countries, even developing countries, which were at a much more advanced
stage in the implementation of the Agreement.
31. The representative of India shared the views expressed regarding the importance attached to
providing technical assistance or capacity building in this technical and important area.  She stressed
that the co-operation, co-ordination or interaction of other international organizations that was being
requested of the Secretariat should be fully mindful  of the current procedures for dealing with other
international organizations.
32. The representative of the Philippines used the opportunity to express her delegation’s
appreciation for the on-the-job training provided by  the Customs Bureau of India in November last
year.  The Philippine delegate to this seminar considered it a very useful programme.
33. The representative of Malaysia sought some clarification on this particular symposium.  It
was mentioned that it would be a 2-day symposium.  She asked if there would be an exchange of
views between donors and recipients and whether there would be a structured agenda.  Her delegationwondered how the donors and recipients would exch ange views unless there were specific topics,
particularly in the areas of assistance that were of importance under the Customs Valuation
Agreement.  She also asked whether the results of this symposium would feed into the technical
assistance plan of the WTO?  Since the WTO technical assistance plan for 2002 had been finalised,
perhaps the results of this symposium w ould then feed into the plan for 2003.
34. The Chairman noted that there was still much to decide regarding the symposium.  He
suggested holding the symposium in autumn, requesting the Secretariat to look into possible dates asG/VAL/M/25
Page 9
well as prepare a draft agenda for circulation  before the next meeting of the Committee.  One theme
of the symposium would be to share national experiences both as donors or recipients as well as in
implementation of the Agreement.  Countries which had benefited from technical assistance, and
countries which had specific needs could highlight their perspectives which would be taken into
account.  Donors could also share their experiences.  In addition, we could add the perspectives of
international organizations and regional organizations providing technical assistance, such as theInter-American Bank, and examine how all these bodies interact.  He considered that as the technical
assistance for this year had already been allotted by specific subject areas, it would be difficult to
include the symposium results into this year’s programme.  It could be built into next year’s technical
assistance programme.  Finally, he added that in the discussions in the Committee on Trade and
Development, a suggestion had been made "supported by a large number of delegations that….WTO
Bodies with technical assistance activities could put technical assistance as a standing item in the
agendas for their meetings throughout the year…”  Further, the ComTD requested that technicalassistance and capacity-building activities be placed on the agenda of each Committee and Council as
a standing item. This would allow each WTO Body to monitor these activities on a permanent basis
and would provide the Secretariat with the necessary inputs on a timely basis for the preparation of
the interim report in December 2002 and the further report to the Fifth Ministerial Conference.
Therefore, he proposed that technical assistance remain as a standing item on the agenda for eachmeeting of this year.
35. The Committee took note of all the statements.  It agreed
 on the Chairman’s suggestions for
proceeding with the symposium and his proposal to maintain technical assistance as a standing agenda
item of the Committee’s work.
C. ELECTION OF OFFICERS
36. The Chairman stated his understanding that Ambassador Hovorka was still consulting on a
slate of names for the sub-committees of the Council for Trade in Goods.  Therefore, he proposed that
the Committee revert to this item at its next formal meeting.
37. The Committee so agreed.
D. OTHER BUSINESS
38. The Chairman noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be on 27-28 March 2002
to take up implementation issues as contained in item A of the agenda for this meeting and technical
assistance.
39. The meeting was adjourned.
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