RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/VAL/M/21
25 September 2001
(01-4544)
Committee on Customs Valuation
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF 24 JULY 2001
Chairman: Mr. K.J. Weerasinghe (Sri Lanka)
The agenda proposed for the meeting, circulated in WTO/AIR/1594, was adopted as follows:
I. WORK PROGRAMME ON TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR CAPACITY
BUILDING AS REGARDS THE IMPLEMENTATION AND
ADMINISTRATION OF  THE WTO AGREEMENT ON CUSTOMS
VALUATION – COMMUNICATION BY THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
(G/VAL/W/82/REV.1) ............................................................................................................. .1
II. OTHER BUSINESS.............................................................................................................. ....3
A. D ATE OF THE NEXT MEETING ......................................................................................................3
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I. WORK PROGRAMME ON TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR CAPACITY
BUILDING AS REGARDS THE IMPLEMENTATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF
THE WTO AGREEMENT ON CUSTOMS VALUATION – COMMUNICATION BY
THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (G/VAL/W/82/REV.1)
1.1 The Chairman drew Members' attention to document G/VAL/W/82/Rev.1, containing the
EC's proposal for a work programme on technical assistance.  The Chairman recalled the previous
discussion of this matter based on document G/ VAL/W/71 at the June/July 2000 meeting of the
Committee, contained in G/VAL/M/15.  At its meeting of 13 November 2000, the Committee agreed
to begin reinvigorating its work on technical assi stance, building on the work previously carried out
under the agenda item, "technical assistance".    Document G/VAL/W/82 followed on this agreement
and contained the communication from the European Communities on a draft work programme
designed to give structure to this reinvigorati on.  At the meeting on 11 April 2001 a large number of
Members supported the overall thrust of the EC  communication, while a few needed more time to
consider it.  .
1.2 The representative of the European Communities stated that the revised proposal, contained in
the document G/VAL/W/82/Rev.1, was the result of a long process of consultations following the
agreement reach last November.  As such, he considered that it was ready to be adopted by the
Committee as its Work Program.  He also stated that the proposal was backed by funding, the details
of which would be provided to the relevant Division of the Secretariat.
1.3 The representatives of Australia, Canada , Chile , Colombia , Japan , Madagascar , New Zealand ,
Philippines and the United States  supported the EC proposal.
1.4 The representative of India stated that as this proposal was written in light of Article 20.3 of
the Agreement, it was geared towards enhancing the capacity of developing countries to implementG/VAL/M/21
Page 2
and administer the Agreement.  She also noted that there had been an attempt to establish linkages
between this document and other implementation-related proposals, particularly to 'tiret 56' of the
General Council document JOB(01)112.  However, her delegation considered that "tiret 56" was
intended to serve the interests of those Members th at were already implementing the Agreement, and
therefore should have no relevance to the proposal currently before the Committee.  She further statedthat, as concerns the section of the proposal referring to increased information sharing and
coordination and cooperation with other international agencies, care should be taken such that
standing procedures were observed in communications with the WCO, observers and other
international organizations.
1.5 The representative of Canada stated that he had submitted a paper concerning Canada's
technical assistance activities to the Secretaria t for circulation to Members (G/VAL/W/37/Add.2).
His delegation welcomed the announcement by the EC of future funding for the proposal.
1.6 The representative of Japan detailed some of his Government's activities in this area at the
multilateral, regional and bilateral levels. Document G/VAL/8/Add.7 showed that out of 22 WCO
technical assistance activities, Japan was involved in seven.  At the regional level, a 4-day seminarhad been held in Okinawa during May 2001.  Participants of the seminar comprised 21 customs
officials from 9 countries.  The seminar was aimed at identifying difficulties in implementation of
customs-related WTO Agreements and sharing experiences in overcoming such difficulties through
various implementation strategies.  Japan found the Country Work Programme approach to be useful
in such programmes.  On a bilateral basis, 42 customs officers had been invited to participate in a 6week training course in which the main topic was customs valuation and post audit clearance.
1.7 The representative of the Philippines noted the importance of coordination and cooperation in
Technical Assistance. She stressed that sharing information between donors and recipients in advance
would be useful for a better planning and coordination in technical assistance activities. Shementioned that the periodic evaluation of these programme should clearly determine the results of
technical assistance activities and future needs for each country. Further, determining the costs
associated with post-implementation difficulties coul d provide useful information in planning future
technical assistance activities.
1.8 The representatives of  Chile, Colombia
, Pakistan,  Madagascar,  Malaysia  and New Zealand
supported the comments of the Indian and Philippine delegation regarding sharing information and
learning from prior experiences.
1.9 The representative of Madagascar stated that technical assistance funding should be made a
part of the regular WTO budget in order to provide for greater stability.  He also stated that technical
assistance should not stop at the stage of preparation towards implementation;  follow-up assistancewas needed, especially for LDCs.
1.10 The representative of Chile proposed that donors and international agencies should submit
relevant information on ongoing technical assistance programmes to the Secretariat before the end of
the year.  In this manner, such efforts could be coordinated on a more immediate basis; duplicationwas also less likely to occur.
1.11 The Committee took note of the statement made and adopted
 the EC's proposal contained in
document G/VAL/W/82/Rev.1.G/VAL/M/21
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II. OTHER BUSINESS
A. DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING
2.1 The Chairman informed the Committee that the next formal meeting of the Committee was
scheduled for 22 October 2001.
2.2 The meeting was adjourned.
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