RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/VAL/W/30
10 December 1998
(98-4964)
Committee on Customs Valuation Original:  English
PRIORITY ACTIVITIES TO PREPARE FOR IMPLEMTATION OF THE
AGREEMENT ON CUSTOMS VALUATION
Article 20.3:  Technical Assistance Activities
Note by the Secretariat
1. This note is designed to list the activities th at Members may need to consider in preparing for
implementation of the Agreement on Customs Valuation.  It was prepared on the basis of WTO
document G/VAL/W/24, Responses to the Request for Information, as well as a World Customs
Organization (WCO) document, "Implementation of the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement".
2. Activities are grouped into three broad categories:  Knowledge, Physical Infrastructure, and
Management Systems.  While some attempt at logically grouping activities into three categories has
been made, it is clear that some activities may overlap into two or more categories and some may be
better suited to other categories.  In addition, the categories that follow shall not necessarily be read ina sequential order;  the type of activities that will be required in each Member will vary depending on
the existing situation.  Some Members may have valuation systems that are relatively close to the
WTO system, while others may have to develop entirely new systems with conceptually new
techniques and practices.  Therefore, the grouping and ordering of activities will have to be read in a
flexible manner and is specific to each Member.
3. This note should be read and used as a tool to identify future areas of technical assistance
needed.  To facilitate provision of technical assistance, Members concerned are encouraged to work,
either individually or with the Secretariat to complete  this document by filling out, as appropriate, the
respective columns set out below.  It should then be sent to the Secretariat for circulation to the
Committee.
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Key Priority Areas No
Assistance
NeededAssistance
Being
Received(by whom)Assistance
Needed
General
i. development of an overall implementation
strategy that identifies, presents plans for and carriesout the tasks necessary for implementation in a
timeframe which establishes deadlines to monitor
progress (the WCO recommends that a task force be
established (within customs or ideally across ministries
or government agencies) to provide the organizationalstructure for developing and carrying out this
implementation strategy )G/VAL/W/30
Page 2
ii. allocation of funds (i.e. a budget) and officers'
work-time for the carrying out of the implementation
strategy
iii. identification of appropriate technicalassistance and potential funding sources for
implementation activities(WCO, WTO, World Bank,
the IMF, UNCTAD, other bilateral or regional sources,etc.)
CATEGORY I: KNOWLEDGE
  A. Legislative issues
i. Members should draft legislation incorporating
the Agreement and Interpretative Notes into their
customs legislation; The instruments of the WCOTechnical Committee (Decisions, Explanatory Notes,
Commentaries) should be also implemented either by
regulation or administrative practice
ii the national legislation should include all thealternative methods of valuation, as described in the
Agreement, and the more general requirements such as
incorporating the Ministerial Decision on the truth oraccuracy of the declared value and Valuation
Committee Decision 3.1 on the treatment of interest
charges.
iii an assessment should be made of how theAgreement will be interpreted according to national
requirements, for example whether the Member
assesses value on the basis of FOB or CIF systems;how to apply Valuation Committee Decision 4.1
relating the treatment of carrier media bearing
software; and what is meant by the term "members of
the same family” in Article 15.4 , etc.
iv the legislation should include provision for therights and obligations of importers and customs as laid
out in Articles 9 through 17 of the Agreement andlisted below under Catego ry III, paragraph iii:
exchange of currency,
confidentiality of information,
right of appeal,
withdrawal of goods pending final
determination of value,
right to written explanation, andrights of customs to satisfy themselves of the
truth and accuracy of importers' statements_________
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v other aspects which might be included are
declaration and clearance procedures, responsibilities
of the importer in making a declaration, audit or
verification powers and procedures, record keeping
requirements of importers, and penalty provisions orother disincentives for false declarationsG/VAL/W/30
Page 3
vi. development of administrative procedures to
implement the Agreement either simultaneously or
before the legislation is drafted so as to ensure
coherence between the administrative procedures to
implement the Agreement and the legislative andregulatory framework
vii. establishment of a timetable for adopting,ratifying, signing, etc of the legislation within the
administrative, judicial and executive governmental
structures in order to meet the deadline for
implementation and the notification obligations under
the Agreement (i.e., Article 22, the Checklist of Issues,
the Decision on interest charges and on computer
software, and the reservation under paragraph 2,Annex III)
  B. Training of trainers
i. formation of a team of individuals who will beable to conduct training programs within the country to
train both officials at the central offices and those in
the field
ii. establishment of a schedule of trainingprograms for officials and other government officialswho may be involved in valuation work with clear
guidelines on whether to conduct seminar type
training, on-the-job training or a combination
iii training should cover the WTO Agreement (itsprovisions and  interpretative notes), WCO Decisions,
Commentaries, and Explanatory Notes), national laws,
regulations and administrative procedures, and general
aspects of international trade
iv. this training should also include practical casesin which the provisions of the Agreement, particularly
the adjustments in Article 8 of the Agreement, are putinto practice and in which the experience of other
countries using the WTO system is discussed
v. preparation of training materials i.e., thosepublished by the WCO or materials based on the WCO
approach
vi. training should also involve training inclearance and verification procedures to combat fraud,
false declarations, and enhance enforcement of
national laws and regulations
a. use can be made of the WCO Customs
Valuation Control Handbook which provides
advice to assist customs administrations to
develop control procedures for administeringthe Agreement, on how to arrange its
declaration and verification procedures, on
whether or not to use valuation declarations,
on adoption of clearance procedures that_________
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focuses less on individual importations and
more on importer performance over a series of
importations and on adoption of risk
management principles
b. training should also include guidelines
on how to use a price database (profiles) in
accordance with the provisions of the
Agreement, i.e. not as a means to
automatically reject the transaction value_________ _________ _________
CATEGORY II: PHYSICAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
i. the organisational structure of the customsadministration will have to be considered for possible
reorganization under the new system, which willdepend to a large extent on the size, geography and
budget of the customs administration
ii. Some of the issues to be decided include:
a. the division of responsibility between
customs officer (i.e. local, regional, and
central);
b. the allocation of responsibilities to the
various levels of customs personnel;
c. the use of specialist staff for the
verification process;
d. the level of staffing;  and
e. the skills and aptitudes of staff
responsible for customs valuation_________
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iii. some Members may consider it desirable to
establish automated systems for customs proceduressuch as computerization and electronic links between
customs offices that deal with valuation, for accessing
and communicating information (i.e. replacing
documentation), and for building price databases for
use in targeting and risk assessment procedures
CATEGORY III: MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS
i. it will be necessary to determine what type ofdocumentation customs will use to receive import
declarations, i.e. whether they will require a simpledeclaration of value and subsequent information only
on demand, or a more detailed declaration form which
requests information on the adjustments and conditions
for the transaction value at the outset, i.e. when makingG/VAL/W/30
Page 5
the declaration
ii. decisions will have to be made on issues such
as:
the type of control procedures for
administering the Agreement;
how to arrange declaration and verificationprocedures;
whether or not to use separate valuation
declarations;
adoption of clearance procedures that focuses
less on individual importations and more on
importer performance over a series of
importations; andon adoption of risk management principles_________
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iii decisions will have to be made on how to
incorporate the following rights and obligations
provisions of the Agreement (Articles 9-17) into the
administrative arrangements  of the customs
authorities:
exchange of currency,confidentiality of information,
right of appeal,
withdrawal of goods pending final
determination of value,
right to written explanation, andrights of customs to satisfy themselves of the
truth and accuracy of importers' statements_________
__________________
___________________________
__________________
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iv. approximately 12 months before
implementation, a public information campaign (public
seminars, official publications and materials,
publication of all relevant laws and regulations) should
be designed in order to inform and educate the privatesector, customs brokers, and other government
officials of the WTO system of valuation;  this is an
important aspect of an implementation strategy to
ensure effective application, enforcement,
transparency, and efficiency in the transition
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