WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/VAL/8/Add.12 
16 February 2004 
 
 (04-0613) 
Committee on Customs Valuation  
  
 
INFORMATION ON TECHNICAL  ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES 
 
Addendum
 
  
 At its meeting of 12 May 1995, the Committee on Customs Valuation agreed that greater 
transparency of technical assistance activities, pursuant to Article  20.3 of the Agreement on 
Implementation of Article VII of the GATT 1994, w ould be ensured if the information documents 
prepared for the WCO Technical Committee on Custom s Valuation on such activities were also made 
available as WTO documents. 
 
 This document provides information on completed WCO technical assistance activities reproduced from WCO document VT0340, of 12 September 2003.  It also includes information on technical assistance activities carried out by WCO Members reproduced from WCO document VT0353, of 12 September 2003. The present docum ent updates GATT document VAL/W/29/Rev.9, 
and WTO documents G/VAL/W/4 and G/VAL/8 and Adds.1-11. 
 
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INTRODUCTION 
1. Article 20.3 of the Agreement provides fo r the establishment of technical assistance 
programmes for developing countries.  The Article goes on to state that such technical assistance may 
include, inter alia , the training of personnel, assistance in preparing implementation measures, access 
to sources of information regarding customs valua tion methodology, and advice on the application of 
the provisions of the Agreement.  In this regard , it is recognized that for developing countries which 
are, by virtue of being Parties to the Agreement, committed to apply the Agreement at a fixed date or 
which are considering applying it in the near future , it would be a matter of urgent need to have a 
nucleus of customs officers trained in the Code.  Thus, among the various technical assistance 
programmes offered, the training of personnel acquires a degree of priority.  2. As provided for in Annex II of the Agreement, the responsibilities of the Technical Committee include the facilitation of technical assistan ce with a view to furthering the international 
acceptance of the Agreement.  The Technical Committ ee at its first meeting expressed the view that 
the Customs Co-operation Council, through its Secretar iat, could provide co-ordination in developing 
a technical assistance programme in co-operation with member administrations willing to provide 
assistance and other international organizations.  The Council's Plan for the '90s has also placed 
considerable emphasis on the need  for holding seminars and training courses on the GATT Code. 
 
3. At its Eighth Session, the Technical Co mmittee had examined document 31.808 describing 
seminars and training courses organized on custom s valuation, especially on the GATT Valuation 
Agreement, and the activities of the Customs Co- operation Council in this area.  The Committee 
found the document useful and in this regard dir ected the Secretariat to periodically update the 
information. In successive sessions of the Comm ittee, a number of revised or supplementary G/VAL/8/Add.12 
Page 2  
 
 documents were prepared which periodically update d this information.  This document contains 
information provided by the WCO Secretariat of  its most recent technical assistance activities. 
 
ACTIVITIES OF THE WCO SECRETARIAT 
 
Recipient Member  Cambodia Duration :  19 – 23 May 2003 
Location :  Phnom Penh 
Subject :  Implementation of the WTO Valuation Agreement  
Type :  National workshop 
Objectives :  To further develop unde rstanding of the Agreement and provide assistance 
with future implementation.   
Participants :  32 officials, mostly senior and middle-rank managers,k from the 
Headquarters and regional offices of the Customs and Excise Department. 
Facilitator :  OneTechnical Officer from the Valuation Sub-Directorate 
Donor: Japan 
  
Recipient Member  Brunei Darussalam, Camb odia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the 
Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam 
Duration :  16-20 June 2003 
Location :  Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam 
Subject :  The WTO Valuation Agreement and commercial fraud 
Type :  Regional ASEAN Workshop  
Objectives :  To provide an interactive forum fo r the exchange of valuation and 
commercial fraud instruction and experiences and to learn from those 
experiences.  To also assist the participating administrations to work 
efficiently with more diverse impor t transactions and understand how to 
develop an effective supporting risk ma nagement programme.  To extend the 
level of understanding of the participants  in regard to the identification and 
detection of commercial fraud and its subsequent management.   
Participants :  23 participants, with the majority being at the senior level in their 
administrations.  These included senior valuation managers, post clearance 
auditors, and investigation officers.  Some more juionr officers attended from 
the host administration's preventative section. 
Facilitators : One Senior Technical Officer from the Valuation Sub-Directorate and two 
officers from the Japanese Customs Administration 
Donor : Japan 
 
Recipient Member  Pakistan 
Duration :  22-26 September 2003 
Location :  Karachi 
Subject :  Application and maintenance of the WTO Valuation Agreement  
Type :  National workshop 
Objectives :  To conduct an operational overview of valuation management and deal with 
local valuation concerns, also focus on post clearance audit and risk assessment from the valuation perspective.     
Participants :  25 officials with valuation related functional responsibilities.   
Facilitator :  
One Technical Officer from the Valuat ion Sub-Directorate and two experts 
from Japan Customs Administration 
Donor: Japan 
 
  G/VAL/8/Add.12 
 Page 3 
 
 
 ACTIVITIES OF WCO MEMBERS 
 
France  
 1. "The French administration has carried out  the following Customs valuation activities: 
 
- Training activity in Guinea at the end of December 2002;  - Technical assistance activities in Senegal, in February and April 2003, as part of the 
WCO/USAID programme; 
 
- Regional seminar – WTO/Commonwealth Secret ariat/Mauritius Customs Service – held in 
Mauritius in March 2003; 
 - Seminar on Customs valuation control me thodology held in Chile in May 2003." 
 
Indonesia
 
  2. "The Indonesian Administration hereby provid es its report on its technical assistance/capacity 
building activities.  
3. Training 
 - The Customs Administration annually prep ares training modules on Valuation and Post 
Clearance Audit.  On going training cour ses are conducted at the Customs Academy by 
officers trained in these fields. 
 
- Occasionally external trainers/expert s are also engaged as resource persons. 
 - Findings of local auditing concluded and good case studies both from local and foreign 
sources are used as materials for discussion and teaching during these training sessions. 
 
4. Seminars/Overseas Courses/Attachment Program 
 - Many officers from the Valuation and Post  Clearance Audit division have attended WTO 
Seminars and various courses on Valuation and Post Clearance Audit.  Materials and knowledge obtained from these seminars /courses are used in training sessions. 
 
- Recently, certain selected officers from the Cent ral and Regional offices were sent to attend 
attachment program in Japan and Korea on Valuation and Post Clearance Audit. 
 5. Customs Valuation Dialogues  
- Customs Valuation Dialogues on the unde rstanding and implementation of the WTO 
Valuation Agreement with "critical industries" ar e held.  All parties involved, i.e., Importers 
of "High Risk Goods", Association/Bodies re presenting the particular industry, Freight 
Forwarders/Shipping Agents handling the importa tion and Customs Consultants, are invited. 
Materials and information gathered from these di alogue sessions are studies and used in Risk 
Management and in the preparation of training material. 
 G/VAL/8/Add.12 
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 6. Valuation Database 
 - To date, three major Regional offices are fully  computerized and connected on line to the 
central office.  Other regional offices are still in  the process of computerization.  Meanwhile 
these regional offices are using stand-alone system  to capture valuation data items contained 
in Customs and Valuation declarations. 
 7. Manpower  - To Customs Administration has taken various measures to create a pool of officers who will 
be experts on the WTO Valuation Agreement. 
 - Efforts are being made to increase the number of staff having technical expertise on the WTO 
Valuation Agreement especially in the Post Clearance Audit unit in all regional offices". 
 
United States
 
 
 Training and/or Assessment 
Requested Dates of Training 
(proposed) Target 
Audience 
 
Africa     
Lesotho 1. Workshop on post clearance 
audit 1. Completed 
 7/28-8/2/03 20 participants 
Tanzania 1. Organizing the infrastructure of 
the Valuation Program (middle 
and senior managers workshop) 
2. Valuation seminar for the 
business community 
3. Complexities of the Agreement 
(valuation workshop for customs officials) 
4. Workshop on post clearance 
audit 1. Completed 
 6/16-20-/03 
 
2. Completed  6/23-27/03 3. Completed  6/26/03  
4. Completed 
 7/21-7/25/03 20 participants 
 
 
20 participants  20 participants   
 
Kenya 1. Train-the Customs Valuation 
Trainers 
2. Organizing the infrastructure of 
the valuation program (middle and senior managers workshop) 
3. Valuation seminar for the 
business community 
4. Complexities of the Agreement 
(valuation workshop for customs officials) 
5. Workshop on post clearance 
audit To be determined 20 participants 
 20 participants   
25 participants 
 20 participants   
20 participants 
 
Asia     
Nepal Valuation Assessment for 
implementing WTO Valuation Agreement 1. Completed 
 11/15–11/22/02   G/VAL/8/Add.12 
 Page 5 
 
 
  Training and/or Assessment 
Requested Dates of Training 
(proposed) Target 
Audience 
 
Europe     
Ukraine 
 1. Complexities of the Agreement 
(valuation workshop for customs officials) 
2. Organizing the infrastructure of 
the valuation program (middle and senior managers workshop) 1. Completed 
     12/2 – 12/6/02  
2. To be determined 
     2003 30 participants 
  
20 participants 
Americas & Caribbean  
St. Vincent & 
the Grenadines 1. Organizing the infrastructure of 
the valuation program (middle and senior managers workshop) 
2. Complexities of the Agreement 
(valuation workshop for 
customs officials) 
3. Workshop on post clearance 
audit 1.  Completed 
  6/23-6/27/03  2.  To be determined 
  2003 
 3.  To be determined   2003 20 participants 
St. Kitts  1. Organizing the infrastructure of 
the valuation program (middle and senior managers workshop) 
2. Complexities of the Agreement 
(valuation workshop for customs officials) 
3. Workshop on post clearance 
audit 1.  Completed 
  6/30-7/3/03  
2.  To be determined 
  2003  3.  To be determined   2003 20 participants 
 
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