G/L/1410  
 
26 October 2021  
(21-8107) Page: 1/3 
   
 
REPORT ( 2021) OF THE COMMITTEE ON CUSTOMS VALUATION  
TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS  
 
1. BACKGROUND  
1.1. 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 period from 
19 October 2020 to 25 October 2021 and addresses the work undertaken by the Committee on 
Custo ms Valuation (the Committee) in respect of the objectives of the Agr eement. These 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 customs 
purposes that precludes the use o f arbitrary o r fictitious customs values; to ensure that the basis 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 internatio nal trade of 
developing countries.  
1.2. During the period under review , the Committee held two formal meeting s. The first meeting 
took place  on 27 May 2021  (G/VAL/M/71)  and was chaired by  Mr Carlos GUEVARA (Ecuador) , who 
was elected on 27  July 2020. The second meeting took place  on 25 October 2021 (G/VAL/M/72)1 and 
was chaired by Mr Buddhi UPADHYAYA (Nepal), who was elected through written procedures on 
2 August 2021.  
1.3. Participation in the Committee is open to al l 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 organizations which until then  
had observer statu s 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.  
1.4. The Committee's rules of procedure, which were approved by the Council for Trade in Goods, 
are contained in document G/L/146.   
2. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AGREEMENT  
2.1. During the period under review, no developing country Member maintained delayed 
applicati on of the provisions of th e Agreement in accordance with its  provisions of Article 20.1. At  the 
time of circulation of this report, no Member maintained an extension of the delay period in 
accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1, Annex III  of the Agr eement .   
2.2. To date, 111 Members have notified their national legislation on customs valuation, including 
16 Members which have submitted communications indicating that their legislation notified under 
the Tokyo Round Customs Valuation Agreement remaine d valid under the WTO Customs Valuation 
Agreement (both figures count the European Union as one ). In addition, 76 Members have provided 
responses to the Checklist of Issues regarding their legislation. See document G/VAL/W/232/Rev. 14.  
 
1 To be issued.  G/L/1410  
 
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  3. ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMITTEE  
3.1. The Committee carried out the following activities at its meeting s of 27 May  and 25 October : 
(a) Review of i nformation on the implementation and administration of the CVA  
− took note of notification s of national customs legislation  submitted by Afghanistan 
(G/VAL/N/1/AFG/1 ), Benin ( G/VAL/N/1/BEN/1 ), El Salvador ( G/VAL/N/1/SLV/1 ), 
Mongolia ( G/VAL/N/1/MNG/1 ), Saint Kitts and Nevis ( G/VAL/N/1/KNA/1 ), the United 
Kingdom ( G/VAL/N/1/GBR/1 ), and Viet Nam ( G/VAL/N/1/VNM/1 ) and initiated review s; 
− took note of amendments to customs legislation  submitted by  Colombia 
(G/VAL/N/1/COL/4 ), Iceland ( G/VAL/N/1/ISL/2 ), and the Solomon Islands 
(G/VAL/N/1/SLB/Add.1);  
− took note of notification s of the checklist of issues  from Colombia ( G/VAL/N/2/COL/3 ), El 
Salvador ( G/VAL/N/2/SLV/1 ), The Gambia ( G/VAL/N/2/GMB/1/Corr.1 ), Guatemala 
(G/VAL/N/2/GTM/1 ), Israel ( G/VAL/N/2/ISR/1 ), Namibia ( G/VAL/N/2/NAM/1 ), Paraguay 
(G/VAL/N/2/PRY/1 ), Tonga ( G/VAL/N/2/TON/1 ), and the United Kingdom 
(G/VAL/N/2/GBR/1 );  
− in addition, continued its ongoing review of national customs legislations notified  by the 
following Members  not identified above : Belize; Burundi; Dominican Republic;  the 
European Union;  Guinea; Honduras; India; Kazakhstan; Kyrgyz  Republic; Malawi; Nepal; 
Niger; Nigeria; Russian Federation; Rwanda; Sri Lanka ; Togo;  Tonga; and Vanuatu ; 
− took note of document s G/VAL/W/232/Rev. 13 and G/VAL/W/232/Rev.1 4 which were 
issued by the Secretariat during the period under review  and which summariz ed the 
latest  status of notifications .  
(b) Information on the application of Decisions of t he Committee on Customs Valuation  
− took note of the Secretariat's update s of summary information on the latest status of 
notifications relate d to the Decision on the "Treatment of Interest Charges in the Customs 
Value of Imported Goods" and the Decision on "Valuation of Carrier Media Bearing 
Software for Data Processing Equipment"  as contained in document s G/VAL/W/5/Rev. 33 
and G/VAL/W/5/Rev.34 ; 
− took note of the notification s submitted by  Armenia (G/VAL/N/3/ARM/1), Colombia 
(G/VAL/N/3/COL/2), Guatemala (G/VAL/N/3/GTM/1 and G/VAL/N/3/GTM/2), Solomon 
Islands (G/VAL/N/3/SLB/1), Trinidad and Tobago (G/VAL/N/3/TTO/ 1 and 
G/VAL/N/3/TTO/2), and the United Kingdom ( G/VAL/N/3/GBR/1 and G/VAL/N/3/GBR/2) .  
 
(c) Technical Assistance  
− took note of the technical assistance carried out by the WTO  and the  information compiled 
by the Technical Committee on Customs Valuation concerning technical assistance 
activities carried out by the WCO  Secretariat , as contained in document s G/VAL/8/Add. 41 
and G/VAL/8/Add.4 2. 
 
(d) Specific Trade Concerns  
− no specific trade concerns were raised during the period under review . 
 
(e) Preshipment Inspection Agreement  
− took note of the information on the notifications which had been received on 
preshipment inspection , reflected in document s G/PSI/N/1/Rev.5  and 
G/PSI/N/1/Rev.5/Add.1 ; 
- took note of statements made under the agenda item of questions and responses 
regarding notifications submitted by China , Indonesia,  and Saint Lucia ;  
- took note of statements made in regard of the fifth triennial review of t he PSI Agreement 
(background information contained in G/VAL/W/363) and concluded the review, 
adopting the report by the Chairperson (G/L/1409 ); G/L/1410  
 
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  - took note of the latest report s by the Testing, Inspection and Certification (TIC)  Council 
concerning countries that use preshipment inspection services which was circulated in 
document s G/VAL/W/63/Rev. 26 and G/VAL/W/63/Rev.2 7.  
 
(f) Reports by The Technical Committee on Customs Valuation  
− took note of the reports by the World Customs Organization on the work of the Technical 
Committee on Customs Valuation  (TCCV) , including its 52nd and 53rd session s 
(17-19 May 2021 and 18 -20 October 2021 , respectively ).    
(g) Annual Review and Annual R eport to the Council for Trade i n Goods  
− adopted  the Annual Review of the Implementation and Operation of the Customs 
Valuation Agreement (G/VAL/78 ); 
− adopted the Annual Report to the Council for Trade in Goods.  
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