RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/VAL/W/28
3 November 1998
(98-4264)
Committee on Customs Valuation
DRAFT REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON CUSTOMS VALUATION
TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS
A. BACKGROUND
1. The Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade 1994 (the Agreement) entered into force on 1 January 1995.  This report covers the year 1998.  It
addresses the work undertaken by the Committee on Customs Valuation (the Committee) in respect of
the objectives of the Agreement, which are:  to  provide greater uniformity and certainty in the
implementation of the provisions of Article VII of  the GATT 1994;  to establish a fair, uniform and
neutral system for the valuation of goods for cust oms purposes that precludes the use of arbitrary of
fictitious customs values;  to ensure that the basi s for valuation of goods for customs purposes should, to
the greatest extent possible, be the transaction value of the goods being valued;  and to secure additional
benefits for the international trade of developing countries.
2. During the period under consideration, the Committee has held three formal meetings, on
8 May 1998 (G/VAL/M/7), on 26, 30 June and on 2 July 1998 (G/VAL/M/8), [and 13 November 1998
(G/VAL/M/9 - to be issued)].  The Committee elect ed Mr. Mohamed Bentaja (Morocco) as Chairperson
and Ms. Julia Nielson (Australia) as Vice-Chairperson for 1998.
3. Participation in the Committee is open to all WTO Members.  In addition, Governments granted
observer status by the WTO General Council attended Committee meetings as observers.  At the
April 1997 meeting, the Committee granted observer status to those organization which had had
observer status on an ad hoc  basis, namely UNCTAD and the WCO, as well as to the ACP and the
IADB.   The Committee took note of the fact that the World Bank and the IMF had observer status by
virtue of the Agreements between  these organizations and the WTO.
4. The Committee's rules of procedure, which were approved by the Council for Trade in Goods,
are contained in G/L/146.
B. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AGREEMENT
5. The Committee examined the national legislations  of [ten] Members, [eight] of which had been
submitted during the period under consideration.  Th e Committee concluded its examination of the
legislations of Canada, [Cyprus,] India, [Iceland, Israel, Morocco, Panama,] Singapore, and Slovenia.
With respect to the Mexican legislation, the Committ ee took note of the various points raised and the
explanations furnished, and agreed to continue the examination.
6. In conformity with Article 20.1 of the Agr eement, [53] developing country Members have
invoked delayed application of the provisions of the Agreement.  Understanding has been reached in the
Committee that the texts of the national legisla tion of these developing country Members will be
supplied to the Committee before the developing count ry Members begin applying the provisions of the
Agreement (G/VAL/5, para. B 2(ii)).G/VAL/W/28
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7. To date [16] Members have submitted communica tions indicating that their legislation notified
under the Tokyo Round Customs Valuation Agreement remained valid under the WTO Customs
Valuation Agreement;  in addition [17] Members have notified either their comp lete national legislation
on customs valuation or amendments thereto;  [29]  Members have not yet made any notification  (See
Annex).  The Chairman of the Committee has repeat edly expressed concern that a number of Members
have not yet complied with the notification require ments, and urged those Members who have not yet
done so to submit their notifications without further delay.
8. [Two] Members have notified the date of their application of paragraph 2 of the Decision of the
Committee on Customs Valuation on Valuation of Carr ier-Media Bearing Software for Data Processing
Equipment (See Annex).
9. The Committee took note of the report on the wo rk of the Sixth (27 April - 1 May 199) and
[Seventh (5-9 October 1998)] Session[s] of the Technical Committee of the WCO.
10. At the May meeting, the Chairman reported on two informal meetings which had been held on
technical assistance.  The Committee reviewed res ponses to its request for information which were
subsequently circulated in G/VAL/W/24.  The WTO Secretariat briefed the Committee on the progress
and plans for its Technical Assistance Programm e on Customs Valuation which would operate on a
request basis.  Also at this meeting, the Secretaria t circulated an inventory of the technical assistance
activities related to implementation of the Customs Valuation Agreement by country (G/VAL/W/25).  It
was agreed that Members would continue to res pond to the request for information which could help
Members to design bilateral and regional technical assistance activities as well as feed into the WTO
Secretariat Programme.  It was also agreed that the new Chairman would hold informal consultations to
review additional responses to the request, to hear progress on the Secretariat Programme, and to discuss
any Members' particular situation and/or new proposals on how the Committee could further pursue its
mandate under Article 20.3 of the Agreement.
11. At the 26, 30 June and 2 July meeting, the Committee discussed the terms and conditions of
Morocco's reservation concerning minimum values under paragraph 2, Annex III.  The formal meeting
was suspended over the course of the three days a llowing for informal consultations in the interim
periods.  The Committee ultimately agreed on the terms and conditions as stated in the Decision of the
Committee contained in G/VAL/M/8, paragraph 18.
[To be completed after the meeting in November]G/VAL/W/28
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ANNEX
(i) Members who have indicated that their le gislation remains valid under the WTO Customs
Valuation Agreement in accordance with  the decision taken by the Committee
(G/VAL/M/1) (16)
Australia (G/VAL/N/1/AUS/1) New Zealand (G/VAL/N/1/NZL/1)
Argentina (G/VAL/N/1/ARG/1 ) Norway (G/VAL/N/1/NOR/1)
Brazil (G/VAL/N/1/BRZ/1) Romania (G/VAL/N/1/ROM/1)
Hong Kong (G/VAL/N/1/HKG/1) Slo vak Republic (G/VAL/N/1/SVK/1)
Hungary (G/VAL/N/1/HUN/1) Switzerland (G/VAL/N/1/CHE/1)
Japan (G/VAL/N/1/JPN/1) Turkey (G/VAL/N/1/TUR/1)Korea (G/VAL/N/1/KOR/1) Unite d States (G/VAL/N/1/USA/1)
Malawi (G/VAL/N/1/MWI/1) Zimbabwe (G/VAL/N/1/ZWE/1)
(ii) Members who have submitted their legislations  or amendments in accordance with Articles 22.1
and 22.2 of the Agreement (17)
Bulgaria (G/VAL/N/1/BLG/1) Li echtenstein (G/VAL/N/1/LIE/1)
Canada (G/VAL/N/1/CAN/1 and 2) Macau (G/VAL/N/1/MAC/1)
Cyprus (G/VAL/N/1/CYP/2) Mex ico (VAL/1/Add.25/Suppl.1/Rev.1,
Czech Republic (G/VAL/N/1 /CZE/1) Suppl.2, and Suppl.3)
European Communities Morocco (G/VAL/N/1/MAR)
(G/VAL/N/1/EEC/1/Rev.1) Panama (G/VAL/N/1/PAN/1)
Fiji (G/VAL/N/1/FJI/1) Slovenia (G/VAL/N/1/SVN/1)
Iceland (G/VAL/N/1/ISL/1) Singapore (G/VAL/N/1/SGP/1)
India (G/VAL/N/1/IND/2) South Africa (G/VAL/N/1/ZAF)Israel (G/VAL/N/1/ISR/1)
(iii) Members who are delaying application of the provisions of the Agreement in accordance with
Article 20.1 of the Agreement (53)
Bahrain (WT/Let/149) Ecuador (WT/Let/72)
Bangladesh (WT/Let/1/Rev.1) Egypt (WT/Let/19)
Benin (WT/Let/242) El Salvador (WT/Let/1/Rev.2)
Bolivia (WT/Let/48) Gabon (WT/Let/1/Rev.1)
Brunei Darussalam (WT/Let/36) Ghana (WT/Let/1/Rev.1)
Burkina Faso (WT/Let/19) Guatemala (WT/Let/24)Burundi (WT/Let/24) Guyana (WT/Let/226)
Cameroon (WT/Let/41) Haiti (WT/Let/231)
Central African Republic (WT/Le t/19) Honduras (WT/Let/1/Rev.1)
Chad (WT/Let/237) Indone sia (WT/Let/1/Rev.1)
Chile (WT/Let/1/Rev.1) Jamaica (WT/Let/1/Rev.2)Colombia (WT/Let/1/Rev.2) Kenya (WT/Let/1/Rev.1)
Costa Rica (WT/Let/1/Rev.1) Kuwait (WT/Let/72)
Côte d'Ivoire (WT/Let/1/Rev.1) Madagascar (WT/Let/85)
Cuba (WT/Let/19) Malaysia (WT/Let/1/Rev.1)
Djibouti (WT/Let/108) Mali (WT/Let/78)Dominican Republic (WT/Let/1/Rev.1) Malta (WT/Let/1/Rev.1)G/VAL/W/28
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Mauritania (WT/Let/82) Senegal (WT/Let/1/Rev.1)
Mauritius (WT/Let/1/Rev.2) Sri Lanka (WT/Let/1/Rev.1)
Myanmar (WT/Let/1/Rev.1) Thailand (WT/Let/1/Rev.1)
Nicaragua (WT/Let/29) Togo (WT/Let/19)
Nigeria (WT/Let/106) Tunisia (WT/Let/1/Rev.2)Pakistan (WT/Let/1/Rev.1) Uganda (WT/Let/108)
Paraguay (WT/Let/1/Rev.1) United Arab Emirates (WT/Let/72)
Peru (Decision in WT/L/38) Uruguay (WT/Let/1/Rev.1)
Philippines (WT/Let/1/Rev.1) Venezuela (WT/Let/1/Rev.1)
Zambia (WT/Let/28)
(iv) Members who have made no notifications (29)
Angola Nige r
Antigua & Barbuda Papua New Guinea
Barbados PolandBelize Qatar
Botswana Rwanda
Dominica Saint Kitts & Nevis
Gambia Saint Lucia
Grenada Saint Vincent & GrenadinesGuinea Bissau Sierra Leone
Guinea, Rep. of Solomon Islands
Lesotho Suriname
Maldives Swaziland
Mongolia Tanzania
Mozambique Trinidad & Tobago
Namibia
(v) Members who have notified that they apply paragraph 2 of the decision of the Committee on
Customs Valuation on Valuation of Carrier Me dia Bearing Software for Data Processing
Equipment
Panama (G/VAL/N/3/PAN/1)
Slovenia (G/VAL/N/3/SVN/1)
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