RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/VAL/W/37/Add.1
27 April 2000
(00-1698)
Committee on Customs Valuation Original:  English
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ON CUSTOMS VALUATION
CANADA
Addendum
The following communication, dated 20 April 2000, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Canada with the request that it be circulated.
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1. Since 1996, as co-sponsor with the United States, Canada has been actively involved in the
APEC Valuation Technical Assistance initiative to deliver various types of valuation training to ten
APEC economies.  The ten APEC economies involv ed were:  Brunei Darussalam, Chile, People's
Republic of China, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Republic of the Philippines, Papua NewGuinea, Singapore and Thailand.  In addition, the three new APEC member-designate economies of
Peru, Russia and Vietnam all requested the technical assistance provided under this programme.
Along with Canada and the United States, the WCO,  Australia and New Zealand were partners in this
initiative.
2. The plan approved by the APEC Secretariat was a phased approach whose objective was to
develop training packages to address common implementation issues and technical assistancerequests.  Initially a series of "focus papers" on various implementation issues were prepared and
distributed and needs analysis workshops were held in a number of the economies.  Revenue Canada
valuation officers also gave a five-day WCO valuation legislation course in Brunei Darussalam in
March of 1998 and in Thailand (together with the United States) in April 1998.
3. The development of the three individualized training modules was completed and the delivery
of the first of these modules was begun in Janu ary 1999.  Delivery of the second module, which began
in May 1999 and was completed by August 1999, was undertaken by Canada, with the participation
of New Zealand.  This second module was provided to the following economies at their request:
Brunei Darussalam, Chile, People's Republic of China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea,Peru, Republic of the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam  The delivery of the third module was
conducted by the United States.  The project itself is scheduled to be completed by June 2000.  The
three training modules are currently available to all WCO members directly from the WCO
1.
4. The Division's Chief of Valuation Policy attended the WCO Symposium in Brussels in
September 1995, in conjunction with the 1st Session of the WCO's Technical Committee on Customs
Valuation. It was attended by most of the WCO Members represented in Brussels.
                                                     
1 For further details of this project, please refer to Appendix I.G/VAL/W/37/Add.1
Page 2
5. The Division's Chief of Valuation Policy attended the Interamerican Seminar on Customs
Valuation for South and Central American countries in Viña del Mar, Chile, in April 1996.  In
addition to Canada, the following countries participated in the seminar:  Argentina, the Bahamas,
Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Gu atemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama,
Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and the United States.
6. Two officers from Chilean Customs attended a five-day Canadian Valuation legislation
training course at the Revenue Canada College, Rigaud, Quebec, in December 1996.
7. Canada participated in the WCO Seminar on Customs Valuation for Caribbean and Central
and South American countries bordering the Caribbe an, held at the Revenue Canada College Rigaud,
Quebec, in early May 1997.  The WCO, the United States and Canada were the sponsors of theseminar.  The following participated in the seminar:  Anguilla, Antigua, Aruba, The Bahamas, Belize,
Bermuda, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, El Salvador, Grenada, Haiti, Panama, St. Lucia, St. Vincent,
Turks and Caicos, Venezuela and the Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Council.
8.  Canada participated in a WCO Mission to Tanzania to provide the WTO valuation training
and implementation workshop in January 1998.
9. Canada participated in a WCO Mission to Uganda in March 1998, as part of the WTO
Seminar on Enforcement.
10. In March 2000, Canada completed delivery of valuation technical assistance consultations to
assist Barbados under the Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Council's (CCLEC) Inter-American
Development Bank project on Reform and Improved Compliance in the Customs Valuation
Environment.  The three modules, originally designed  for the APEC project, were used as the basis
for this training.G/VAL/W/37/Add.1
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APPENDIX 1
CAP 5 Project:  Adoption of the Principles of the WTO Valuation Agreement
Objective:
To facilitate the implementation and the administration of the World Trade Organization's
Valuation Agreement on standard procedures for valuing goods.  The project furthers Part 1 of the
Osaka Action Agenda by providing economic and technical cooperation that directly supports APEC's
liberalization and facilitation objectives.
Background:
• Canada and the United States were the co-ordinators for this project and, with assistance from
Australia and New Zealand, provided the technical assistance to requesting APEC members.
• There were ten recipient economies:  Brunei Darussalam, Chile, People's Republic of China,
Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Republic of the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Singapore
and Thailand.  In addition three new APEC memb ers-designate economies of Peru, Russia and
Vietnam all requested the technical assistance provided under this programme.
• The technical assistance was delivered in a phased approach and covered a wide range of issues
and activities, including legislative framework, creating the organization, clearance andverification procedures, undervaluation, and training needs.
Phase Details:
Phase I:  Gathering Information and
Confirming Needs• A brief outline of the approach to be taken
was forwarded in August 1996 to each
economy that requested assistance.
• A preliminary questionnaire was distributed
in December 1996.  The purpose of thisquestionnaire was to provide donors with
background material to prepare for
workshops and, in order to identify specific
needs, to begin to obtain information on their
organizations, etc.
Phase II:  Focus Papers on Management
Challenges• The complete series of focus papers (i.e.
implementation issues, organization
structure, legislation, etc.) were forwarded to
the economies and donor partners in
September 1997.  Copies of the focus papersare available.
Phase III:  Workshops on WTO Valuation
Agreement• Nine economies requested workshops to
assess their individual and common training
needs.  The workshops were conducted, in
the economies themselves, during Novemberand December of 1997.G/VAL/W/37/Add.1
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Part IV:  WCO Customs Valuation Training
Course• The WTO Valuation Agreement training
course, as prepared by the WCO, was
delivered to Brunei Darussalam and Thailand
in March and April 1998.
• It was suggested to other economies that they
could undertake self-delivery of the course as
part of expanding their technical expertise.
Part V:  Development of Valuation training
modules• The design and development of specific
valuation training modules to address the
common training needs of the recipient
economies was completed by the end of
1998.
• Three training modules were developed
which focus on the practical application of
the Valuation Agreement and its
implementation.
• Specifically, Module 1 has its theme the
"Complexities of the Valuation Agreement";
Module 2 deals with "Organizing the
Infrastructure of the Valuation Programme";
and, Module 3 is concerned with "PostImportation Verification".
• The three modules have been provided to the
APEC Secretariat and the WCO Secretariat.
They are available, in electronic format, to all
their members.
Part VI:  Delivery of Valuation training
modules• The delivery of Module 1 of the three
valuation training modules began in January
1999.
• Delivery of Module 2 (Canada assisted by
New Zealand) began in May 1999 and was
completed in August 1999.  The United
States is responsible for the scheduling andthe delivery of Module 3.
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