./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/VAL/W/70
16 June 2000
(00-2426)
Committee on Customs Valuation
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES
Note by the Secretariat
This document presents a stocktaking of the Committee's work on technical assistance since
the Committee received a proposal for an increased role in such activities in May 1997.  Relevantdocuments which have been prepared by the Secretariat and circulated by Members are in bold.
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1. In May 1997, a proposal by the United States was circulated (G/VAL/W/18)  on an increased
role for the Committee in technical assistance activities.  This prompted three informal meetings of theCommittee, held on 4 June, 11 July and 26 September 1997.  These meetings focused on improving
awareness and understanding of the activities already ca rried out or being carried out by international
organizations and Members either bilaterally or re gionally.  They additionally allowed an airing of
views regarding related structural, procedural  and substantive issues.  Subsequently, it  was agreed at the
October 1997 meeting that the Committee would discuss,  in a systematic and formal manner, technical
assistance with a view to contributing towards streamlining and tailoring technical assistance to theparticular needs of each developing country.  Such discussions would ensue in the formal meetings of
the Committee as well as in informal meetings held as and when appropriate in the interim.  TheCommittee also agreed at this meeting that the Chairman would circulate a 'request for information',
(G/VAL/11)  to which Members could respond, on a voluntary basis, to any or all of the questions
posed on their particular situation regarding implementation of the WTO Agreement on Customs
Valuation.
2. At the May 1998 meeting, the Committee reviewed responses to its request for information
which were subsequently circulated in G/VAL/W/24/Rev.1 .  In addition, the WTO Secretariat briefed
the Committee on its recently established Technical Assistance Programme on Customs Valuation.Subsequent reports from the Secretariat on this programme are contained in the minutes of the
Committee's meetings (G/VAL/M/9, G/VAL/M/10, G/VAL/M/12, G/ VAL/M/13, and G/VAL/M/14
(to be issued) ).  It was also agreed that Members w ould continue to respond to the request for
information which could help Members to design b ilateral and regional technical assistance activities as
well as feed into the WTO Secretariat Programme.  It was also agreed that the new Chairman would
hold informal consultations to review additional responses to the request, to hear progress on the
Secretariat Programme, and to discuss any Member s' particular situation and/or new proposals on how
the Committee could further pursue its mandate under Article 20.3 of the Agreement.
3. At the November 1998 meeting, the Committ ee took note of an I nventory of Technical
Assistance Activities prepared by the Secretariat (G/VAL/W/25) .  It also agreed that the Secretariat
would prepare a checklist of the priority activities for technical assistance to assist Members in
identifying gaps in activities aimed at implementation of the Agreement (G/VAL/W/30) .  It also held
an extensive debate on a proposal for sending a letter to other international organizations working ontechnical assistance in the customs area informing them of the Committee's work and enclosing copiesG/VAL/W/70
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of the documents G/VAL/11 and G/VAL/W/24/Rev.1 and G/VAL/W/25.  This was ultimately agreed
at an informal meeting and reported by th e Chairman at the April 1999 meeting.  Mr. Hoda, Deputy
Director-General of the WTO, had sent a letter to the African Development Bank, the AsianDevelopment Bank, the European Bank for Cons truction and Development, the Inter-American
Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, UNCTAD, the World Bank and the World
Customs Organization drawing the attention of these organizations to the Committee's activities with
regard to technical assistance in customs matters and, in particular, to encourage them to take into
account, in their activities, the needs expressed by developing country members in their responses to
the Chairman's request for information.
4. During the period between the April and November 1999 meetings, the Chairman held an
informal meeting among international organizations  working in the customs area to try to identify
areas of convergence and explore ways of working together.  At the April 2000 meeting, following a
presentation from the Inter-American Development Bank on their activities (G/VAL/W/64) ,
Members stated that they would like the Committee to learn more about the activities of otherorganizations and explore ways of further cooperating in technical assistance activities in the customs
area.
5. Finally, some Members have submitted communications on their bilateral assistance
activities.  These are contained in documents  G/VAL/W/36, G/VAL/W/37 and Add.1,
G/VAL/W/48 and G/VAL/W/49 .
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