. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/VAL/W/63/Rev.4 
2 February 2004  
 
(04-0365) 
Committee on Customs Valuation  
  
PRESHIPMENT INSPECTION 
 
Note from the Secretariat
1 
 
Revision  
  At its meeting of 12 and 25 November a nd 17 December 1999, the Committee on Customs 
Valuation agreed that the Secretariat would prepare,  in advance of regular meetings of the Committee, 
a document indicating the situation with regard to countries using preshipment inspection (PSI) 
regimes.  This document is the fifth of this seri es.  It presents the information that is compiled 
exceptionally for the WTO by the Internati onal Federation of Inspection Agencies (IFIA) 
Pre-Shipment Inspection Committee in response to a request by the WTO.   The table below presents 
the information as at 21 January 2004. 
_______________ 
 
 
COUNTRY TYPE MANDATED IFIA PSI 
MEMBERS SPLIT 
Angola Customs BIVAC - 
Bangladesh Customs BIVAC, BSI-, 
Inspectorate, Intertek Geographical 
Benin Customs BIVAC - 
Bolivia2 Customs BSI-Inspectorate, SGS Importers Choice 
Burkina Faso Customs SGS - 
Burundi Forex/Customs SGS, Baltic Control Importers Choice 
Cambodia Customs SGS - 
Cameroon Customs SGS - 
Central African Rep. Customs BIVAC - 
Chad Customs BIVAC  
Comoros Customs Cotecna - 
Congo Customs BIVAC - 
Côte d'Ivoire Customs BIVAC, Cotecna Customs Regime3 
Dem. Rep. of Congo Forex/Customs SGS - 
Ecuador Customs BIVAC, Cotecna, Intertek, 
SGS Importers Choice 
Ethiopia Forex/Customs SGS - 
Ghana4 Customs BIVAC, Cotecna & others5 Air & land-
freight/sea-freight 
                                                      
1 This document has been prepared under the Secret ariat's own responsibility and without prejudice to 
the positions of Members and to their rights and obligations under the WTO 
2 Only covers certain products as per listing published by the Government. 
3 "Customs regime" means verification by BIVAC for goods entered into direct consumption;  Cotecna 
for goods entered for customs suspense regimes 
 4 PSI consists of valuation and classification by BIVAC and Cotecna.  Physical inspection is carried 
out on arrival in Ghana by GSBV (for air and landfreight) or GSL (for seafreight) which are local joint ventures 
with BIVAC and COTE CNA respectively. 
5 "Others" means non Members of the IFIA PSI Committee also operating for Ghana, India, Indonesia 
and Iran. G/VAL/W/63/Rev.4 
Page 2  
 
COUNTRY TYPE MANDATED IFIA PSI 
MEMBERS SPLIT 
Guinea Customs SGS - 
Haiti Customs SGS  
India6 Quality/Quantity BIVAC, BSI-Inspectorate, 
SGS & others Importers Choice 
Indonesia7 Quality/Quantity/ 
Classification Open to any surveyor 
licensed to operate in 
country of supply Importers/exporters 
choice 
Indonesia8 Quality/Quantity/ 
Classification SGS  
Iran Quality/Quantity BIVAC, BSI-Inspectorate, 
Cotecna, Intertek, OMIC, 
OMIC, SGS, & others Importers Choice 
Iran9 Customs BIVAC, BSI-Inspectorate, 
Intertek, OMIC, SGS - 
Kenya Customs BIVAC, Cotecna Geographical 
Liberia Customs BIVAC - 
Madagascar Customs SGS - 
Malawi Forex/Customs Intertek - 
Mauritania Customs SGS - 
Mali Forex/Customs Cotecna  
Mexico10 Customs BIVAC, Intertek, SGS Importers Choice 
Mozambique Customs Intertek - 
Niger Customs Cotecna - 
Nigeria Forex/Customs Cotecna,  Intertek, SGS Geographical 
Peru  Customs BIVAC, Cotecna, SGS Importers Choice 
Rwanda Customs Intertek - 
Senegal Customs Cotecna  
Sierra Leone Customs BIVAC - 
Tanzania Customs Cotecna - 
Togo Customs Cotecna - 
Uzbekistan Forex/Customs Control Union Intl, 
Intertek, OMIC, SGS Importers/exporters 
choice 
Venezuela Customs BIVAC, Cotecna, Interek, 
SGS Importers choice 
Zanzibar11 Forex SGS - 
 
 
__________ 
 
 
                                                      
6 Only covers secondary steel. 
7 Only covers waste and used equipment. 
8 Only covers nitrocellulose, steel, and textiles. 
9Voluntary programme at importers' discretion (for trade facilitation): may be undertaken 
simultaneously with the quality/quantity programme. 
10 Only covers goods of certain categories and or igins published in Article 10 of the "Agreement on 
Automatic Imported Advice" are subject to  PSI if their unit value is inferior to estimated prices published by the 
Government. 
11 Only covers certain imports at the discretion of the Government.