WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/C/W/384
7 June 2002
(02-3160)
Council for Trade in Goods Original:  English
COMMUNICATION FROM TH E UNITED STATES ON ARTICLE X OF GATT 1994
The following communication, dated 5 June 2002, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of the United States.
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With this submission, the United States welcomes the new phase of work within the WTO on
Trade Facilitation, as the Council for Trade in Goods proceeds in meeting its mandate under the Doha
Declaration to “review and as appropriate, clarify and improve relevant aspects of Articles V, VIIIand X of the GATT 1994 and identify the trade facilitation needs and priorities of Members, in
particular developing and least-developed countries.”  The United States intends to provide further
submissions, as discussions advance.
Within the past decade, dynamic changes have been brought to how trade transactions are
conducted–  almost as a force of nature–  and have contributed greatly to what has become a just-in-
time global economy.  Product cycles have been shortened as never before, and industrial sourcing
patterns can now change between a morning and the afternoon.  Small enterprises can increasingly
use nimbleness as a quality for the effective entrance into markets previously unreachable except to
the largest corporations.
At the core of this transformation in how business can be conducted is the revolutionary
change in how information moves.  One result of this  is that each Member faces the need to ensure a
regulatory infrastructure that is compatible and effective in today’s fast-paced economy.  In an
examination aimed to ‘improve’ or ‘clarify’ Article X of GATT 1994, it is important to recall that
transparency is at the core of providing certainty and uniformity of treatment.  Transparency is the
starting point for ensuring the efficiency, and, ultimately, the stability of a rules-based environmentfor goods crossing the border.  The United States makes this initial submission to give a brief
overview of mechanisms it utilizes in ensuring transparency, along with citing related WTO
provisions and noting the potential for practical application of technical assistance to operationalize
these mechanisms.G/C/W/384
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1.  “Laws, regulations, judicial decisions andadministrative rulings of general application,made effective by any contracting party ,
pertaining to the classification or valuation
of products for customs purposes, or to rates
of duty, taxes or other charges, or to
requirements, restrictions or prohibitions onimports or exports or on the transfer of
payments therefor, or affecting their sale,
distribution, transportation, insurance,
warehousing inspection, exhibition,
processing, mixing or other use , shall be
published promptly in such a manner as to
enable governments and traders to become
acquainted with them.
Agreements affecting international trade
policy which are in force between the
government or a governmental agency of
any contracting party and the government or
governmental agency of any other
contracting party shall also be published.
The provisions of this paragraph shall not
require any contracting party to discloseconfidential information which would
impede law enforcement or otherwise be
contrary to the public interest or would
prejudice the legitimate commercial interests
of particular enterprises, public or private.”- Official publication is
accomplished through theFederal Register.
-  Laws, Regulations, judicial
decisions and administrative
rulings are also available viaInternet at:
www.customs.ustreas.gov
- Publication of regulations
making effective changes torequirements and other
matters pertaining to imports
is accomplished under
established specified time
frames.
- Advance binding rulings are
issued to private sector traders
upon request.  Subject areas
include, but are not limited to:
tariff classification, valuation,
admissibility, rules of origin,and duty drawback.  Rulings
are publicly available.Article 2(g) of Agreement on Rules
of Origin:   “their laws, regulations,
judicial decisions and administrative
rulings of general application
relating to rules of origin are
published as if they were subject to,
and in accordance with, theprovisions of paragraph 1 of Article
X of GATT 1994.”
Article 12 of Agreement on Customs
Valuation:  “Laws, regulations,judicial decisions and administrative
rulings of general application giving
effect to this Agreement shall be
published in conformity with Article
X of GATT 1994 by the country ofimportation concerned.”
Article 2(h) of Agreement on Rules
of Origin:  “Upon the request of an
exporter, importer or any person
with a justifiable cause, assessments
of the origin they would accord to agood are issued as soon as possible
but no later than 150 days* after a
request for such an assessment
provided that all necessary elements
have been submitted. Requests forU.S. provides
technical assistance ondeveloping Internet
web sites to enhance
transparency of
requirements and
other procedures.
U.S. provides
technical assistance on
development ofadvance rulings
program.G/C/W/384
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Activity
such assessments shall be accepted
before trade in the good concerned
begins and may be accepted at any
later point in time.  Such assessments
shall remain  valid for three years
provided that the facts and
conditions, including the rules of
origin, under which they have been
made remain comparable. Providedthat the parties concerned are
informed in advance, such
assessments will no longer be valid
when a decision contrary to the
assessment is made in a review asreferred to in subparagraph (j). Such
assessments shall be made publicly
available subject to the provisions of
subparagraph (k);”
Article 16 of the Agreement on
Customs Valuation:  Upon written
request, the importer shall have the
right to an explanation in writing
from the customs administration of
the country of importation as to how
the customs value of the importer’sgoods was determined.
2.  “No measure of general application takenby any contracting party effecting an
advance in a rate of duty or other charge on
imports under an established and uniformRegulations and other
determinations of general
application resulting in
changes in requirementsArticle 2(i) of the Agreement on
Rules of Origin:
“...when introducing changes to theirU.S. provides
technical assistance on
developing or
improvingG/C/W/384
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practice, or imposing a new or more
burdensome requirement, restriction or
prohibition on imports, or on the transfer of
payments therefor, shall be enforced beforesuch measure has been officially published.”pertaining to importations are
published in advance of their
implementation.  Procedures
are also utilized to providesinterested persons the
opportunity to submit
comments for review and
consideration prior to the
adoption of such changes.rules of origin or new rules of origin,
they shall not apply such changes
retroactively as defined in, and
without prejudice to, their laws orregulations”administrative
regulatory procedures.
3.        (a) Each contracting party shall
administer in a uniform, impartial and
reasonable manner all its laws, regulations,
decisions and rulings of the kind described
in paragraph 1 of this Article.
           (b) Each contracting party shall
maintain, or institute as soon as practicable,
judicial, arbitral or administrative tribunals
or procedures for the purpose, inter alia, of
the prompt review and correction of
administrative action relating to customsmatters. Such tribunals or procedures shall
be independent of the agencies entrusted
with administrative enforcement and their
decisions shall be implemented by, and shall
govern the practice of, such agencies unlessan appeal is lodged with a court or tribunal
of superior jurisdiction within the time
prescribed for appeals to be lodged by
importers; Provided that the central
administration of such agency may takeAn administrative appeal or
procedure is available relating
to customs matters, with
specific time frames under
which decision making takes
place.  Matters may also be
appealed to the United StatesCourt of International Trade, a
judicial tribunal.Article 2(j) of the Agreement on
Rules of Origin:
”...any administrative action which
they take in relation to the
determination of origin is reviewable
promptly by judicial, arbitral oradministrative tribunals or
procedures, independent of the
authority issuing the determination,
which can effect the modification or
reversal of the determination;”
Article 11 of the Agreement on
Customs Valuation:  1. The
legislation of each Member shall
provide in regard to a determinationof customs value for the right of
appeal, without penalty, by the
importer or any other person liable
for the payment of the duty.
2. An initial right of appealU.S. provides
technical assistance on
developing or
improving
administrative
regulatory procedures.G/C/W/384
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steps to obtain a review of the matter in
another proceeding if there is good cause to
believe that the decision is inconsistent with
established principles of law or the actualfacts.
           (c) The provisions of sub-paragraph
(b) of this paragraph shall not require the
elimination or substitution of procedures inforce in the territory of a contracting party
on the date of this Agreement which in fact
provide for an objective and impartial review
of administrative action even though such
procedures are not fully or formallyindependent of the agencies entrusted with
administrative enforcement. Any contracting
party employing such procedures shall, upon
request, furnish the CONTRACTING
PARTIES with full information thereon inorder that they may determine whether such
procedures conform to the requirements of
this sub-paragraph.without penalty may be to an
authority within the customs
administration or to an
independent body, but thelegislation of each Member shall
provide for the right of appeal
without penalty to a judicial
authority.
3. Notice of the decision on appeal
shall be given to the appellant and
the reasons for such decision shall
be provided in writing. The
appellant shall also be informed ofany rights of further appeal.
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