RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/VAL/W/135 
12 October 2004 
 (04-4279) 
Committee on Customs Valuation  
  
 
 
DRAFT 
 
REPORT (2004) OF THE COMM ITTEE ON CUSTOMS VALUATION 
TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS 
 
A. B
ACKGROUND  
1. The Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and 
Trade 1994 (the Agreement) entered into force on 1 Ja nuary 1995.  This report covers the year 2004.  It 
addresses the work undertaken by the Committee on Customs Valuation (the Committee) in respect of 
the objectives of the Agreement, which are: to provide greater uniformity and certainty in the 
implementation of the provisions of Article VII of the GATT 1994;  to esta blish a fair, uniform and 
neutral system for the valuation of goods for custom s purposes that precludes the use of arbitrary of 
fictitious customs values;  to ensure  that the basis for valuation of goods for customs purposes should, to 
the greatest extent possible, be the transaction valu e of the goods being valued;  and to secure additional 
benefits for the international trade of developing countries. 
 
2. During the period under consideration, the Co mmittee has held [two] formal meetings, on 8 
March (G/VAL/M/37) under the Chairmanship of  Mr Ivan Lee(Hongkong,China),  [and 25 October 
(G/VAL/M/38) under the Chairmanship of Mr. Ro bin Twyman. At the 25 October meeting, the 
Committee elected Mr Robin Twyman(Un ited Kingdom) as Chairperson for 2004-2005. ]    
 
3. Participation in the Committee is open to all WTO Members.  In additi on, Governments granted 
observer status by the WTO Gene ral Council attended Committee mee tings as observers.  At the 
April 1997 meeting, the Committee granted observer  status to those orga nizations which had had 
observer status 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. 
 
4. The Committee's rules of procedure, which we re approved by the Council for Trade in Goods, 
are contained in G/L/146.  B. I
MPLEMENTATION OF THE AGREEMENT  
5. During the period under review, no devel oping country Members maintained delayed 
application of the provisions of the Agreement in ac cordance with the provision s of Article 20.1 of the 
Agreement.  At circulation of th is report, no Member maintains an extension of the delay period in 
accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1, Annex III. Understanding has been reached in the 
Committee that the texts of the national legislation of these developing country Members will be supplied to the Committee before the developing co untry Members begin applying the provisions of the 
Agreement (G/VAL/5, para. B.2(ii)).  In addition, at  circulation of the report , four Members maintain 
reservations which have been granted under paragr aph 2, Annex III for minimum values, or under the 
Article IX waiver provisions (El Salvador , Guatemala, Senegal, and Sri Lanka).  
 G/VAL/W/135 
Page 2  
 
 6. To date, 67 Members have notified their national legi slation on customs valuation (this figure 
includes the 14 Members which have submitted comm unications indicating that their legislation notified 
under the Tokyo Round Customs Valuation Agreem ent remained valid under the WTO Customs 
Valuation Agreement and does not include the 25 indi vidual EEC Members).  56 Members have not yet 
made any notification  (See Annex).   
 
C. 
ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMITTEE  
7. At the meeting on 8 March 2004: 
 
• The Committee concluded its examination of the legi slation of Chile. It agreed to revert to the 
customs legislation of Armenia, Burkina Faso, Ch ina, Peru, Thailand and amendments to India's 
and China's legislation at the next  meeting of the Committee;   
• The  Committee took note of the information in document G/VAL/2/Rev.18 which contained a list 
of Members having invoked the special and diff erential provisions of the Customs Valuation 
Agreement.  It also took note of document  G/VAL/W/76/Add.7 which contained an updated 
inventory of notification requi rements pursuant to extension decisions and minimum value 
reservations, and the notifications that had been made under the Decisions concerning delay 
extensions and minimum value reservations; 
• The Committee noted that the delay period has no w expired for all developing countries, which 
should now all be applying the Agreement.  The delegation of Rwanda, which had an outstanding 
request for an extension of the delay period was retracted following Rwanda's application of the 
Agreement as from 1 January 2004;   
• The Committee took note of the five documents  containing the Annual Reviews, namely 
G/VAL/W/29, G/VAL/W/43, G/VA L/W/77, G/VAL/W/89, G/VAL/W /108,and G/VAL/W/124/ M, 
and agreed to  revert to th is item at the next meeting ; 
• The Committee agreed to revert to the item of I ndia's questions about certain valuation policies of 
the European Communities at its next meeting,  
• The question of holding another review of the Agreement on Preshipment Inspection remained 
undecided and it was agreed to revert to this matter at the next meeting; 
• The Committee agreed to revert to the item of  paragraph 8.3 of the D ecision on Implementation-
Related Issues and Concerns at the next meeti ng as no new developments had been made in the 
matter;   
• The Committee took note that the WTO Committee on Trade and Development had adopted the 
2004 Technical Assistance Plan (as in WT/COMTD /W/119/Rev.3. and also  noted the need to 
avoid two parallel and repetitive exercises. Howeve r Members were encouraged to continue to 
inform the Committee of the various technical assistance activities carried out by them on 
bilateral and other fronts.  
• The Committee took note of the report on the on -going work of the Technical Committee.  
 
[9. At the meeting on 25 October 2004: 
  To be completed following the meeting.]  G/VAL/W/135 
 Page 3 
 
 
 ANNEX1 
 
Notifications  
 
Members Members who have 
indicated their 
legislation remains valid 
under the WTO 
Committee 
(G/VAL/M/1) Members who have 
submitted their legislation or 
amendments under Articles 
22.1 and 22.2 of the 
Agreement Members who have 
submitted their replies to the 
Checklist of Issues 
(G/VAL/5) Members who are 
delaying application 
of the Agreement 
under Article 20.1 or 
para. 1, Annex III of 
the Agreement or 
Article IX of the 
WTO Agreement 
Albania N/A G/VAL/N/1/ALB/1   
Angola N/A    
Antigua & Barbuda N/A    
Argentina G/VAL/N/1/ARG/1 VAL/1/Add.22 + Suppl. 1-4 
+Suppl. 2/Rev.1 VAL/2/Rev.2/Add.4  
Armenia  G/VAL/N/1/ARM/1 G/VAL/N/2/ARM/1  
Australia G/VAL/N/1/AUS/1 VAL/1/Add.14 + Suppl. 1-4 
G/VAL/N/1/AUS/2 VAL/2/Rev.1/Add.12 + 
Suppl.1  
Bahrain N/A    
Bangladesh N/A    
Barbados N/A    
Belize N/A    
Benin N/A    
Bolivia N/A G/VAL/N/1/BOL/1   
Botswana  VAL/1/Add.16   
Brazil G/VAL/N/1/BRA/1 VAL/1/Add.20 + Suppl.1 
G/VAL/N/1/BRA/2 and 3 VAL/2/Rev.2/Add.3  
Brunei Darussalam N/A G/VAL/N/1/BRN/1 G/VAL/N/2/BRN/1  
Bulgaria N/A G/VAL/N/1/BGR/1 G/VAL/N/2/BGR/1  
Burkina Faso N/A G/VAL/N/1/BFA/1   
Burundi N/A    
Cambodia N/A    
Cameroon N/A    
Canada G/VAL/N/1/CAN/1 VAL/1/Add.17 + Suppl.1-3  
G/VAL/N/1/CAN/2 VAL/2/Rev.1/Add.14 
G/VAL/N/2/CAN/1  
Central African Rep. N/A    
Chad N/A    
Chile N/A    
China N/A G/VAL/N/1/CHN/1, 2,  3 
and 4  G/VAL/N/2/CHN/1  
Colombia N/A G/VAL/N/1/COL/1 G/VAL/N/2/COL/1  
Congo N/A    
Costa Rica N/A G/VAL/N/1/CRI/1 G/VAL/N/2/CRI/1  
Côte d'Ivoire N/A G/VAL/N/1/CVI/1   
Croatia N/A G/VAL/N/1/HRV/1 G/VAL/N/2/HRV/1  
Cuba N/A G/VAL/N/1/CUB/1 G/VAL/N/2/CUB/1  
Dem Rep. of Congo N/A    
Djibouti N/A    
Dominica N/A G/VAL/N/1/DMA/1   
Dominican Rep. N/A G/VAL/N/1/DOM/1   
Ecuador N/A    
Egypt N/A    
El Salvador N/A    
Estonia N/A G/VAL/N/1/EST/1 G/VAL/N/2/EST/1  
                                                      
1 Documents that begin with the code "VAL" are Tokyo Round documents.  The table reflects the 
situation as of the date of circulation of this report. G/VAL/W/135 
Page 4  
 
 Members Members who have 
indicated their 
legislation remains valid 
under the WTO 
Committee 
(G/VAL/M/1) Members who have 
submitted their legislation or 
amendments under Articles 
22.1 and 22.2 of the 
Agreement Members who have 
submitted their replies to the 
Checklist of Issues 
(G/VAL/5) Members who are 
delaying application 
of the Agreement 
under Article 20.1 or 
para. 1, Annex III of 
the Agreement or 
Article IX of the 
WTO Agreement 
European Communities G/VAL/N/1/EEC/1  VAL/1/Add.2 + Suppl.1-13 + 
Suppl.1 
G/VAL/N/1/EEC/1/Rev.1 VAL/2/Rev.1/Add.6  
Fiji N/A G/VAL/N/1/FJI/1 G/VAL/N/2/FJI/1  
Former Yugoslav 
 Rep. of Macedonia  
N/A    
Gabon N/A G/VAL/N/1/GAB/1   
Gambia N/A    
Georgia N/A G/VAL/N/1/GEO/1   
Ghana N/A    
Grenada N/A    
Guatemala N/A    
Guinea Bissau N/A    
Guinea, Rep. of N/A    
Guyana N/A    
Haiti N/A    
Honduras N/A    
Hong Kong, China G/VAL/N/1/HKG/1 VAL/1/Add.9 N/A  
Iceland N/A G/VAL/N/1/ISL/1 G/VAL/N/2/ISL/1  
India G/VAL/N/1/IND/1 VAL/1/Add.24 + Suppl.1 
G/VAL/N/1/IND/2 and 3 VAL/2/Rev.2/Add.6 
G/VAL/N/2/IND/1 + Corr.1  
Indonesia N/A G/VAL/N/1/IDN/1 G/VAL/N/2/IDN/1 + Corr.1  
Israel N/A G/VAL/N/1/ISR/1 + Corr.1 G/VAL/N/2/ISR/1  
Jamaica N/A G/VAL/N/1/JAM/1 G/VAL/N/2/JAM/1  
Japan G/VAL/N/1/JPN/1 VAL/1 /Add.7 VAL/2/Rev.1/Add.8 
G/VAL/N/2/JPN/1  
Jordan N/A G/VAL/N/1/JOR/1 G/VAL/N/2/JOR/1  
Kenya N/A G/VAL/N/1KEN/1 G/VAL/N/2/KEN/1  
Korea G/VAL/N/1/KOR/1 VAL/1/Add.19 
+ Suppl. 1-4 
+ Suppl.3/Corr.1 
G/VAL/N/1/KOR/2 VAL/2/Rev.2/Add.1  
+ Suppl.1  
Kuwait N/A    
Kyrgyz Republic N/A G/VAL/N/1/KGZ/1 G/VAL/N/2/KGZ/1  
Latvia N/A G/VAL/N/1/LVA/1 G/VAL/N/2/LVA/1  
Lesotho  VAL/1/Add.21 + Suppl.1 VAL/2/Rev.2/Add.2  
Liechtenstein N/A G/VAL/N/1/LIE/1 N/A  
Macao, China N/A G/VAL/N/1/MAC/1 N/A  
Madagascar N/A G/VAL/N/1/MDG/1   
Malawi G/VAL/N/1/MWI/1 VAL/1/Add.27   
Malaysia N/A G/VAL/N/1/ MYS/1 G/VAL/N/2/MYS/1  
Maldives N/A    
Mali N/A    
Mauritania N/A    
Mauritius N/A G/VAL/N/1/MUS/1 G/VAL/N/2/MUS/1  
Mexico  VAL/1/Add.25 + Suppl. 1-3 
+ Suppl.1/Rev.1 
G/VAL/N1/MEX/1 VAL/2/Rev.1/Add.10 
VAL/2/Rev.2/Add.8 
G/VAL/N/2/MEX/1 and 
Cor 1  
Moldova N/A G/VAL/N/1/MDA/1 G/VAL/N/2/MDA/1  
Mongolia N/A    
Morocco N/A G/VAL/N/1/MAR/1 and 2 
G/VAL/N/1/MAR/1/Rev.1 + 
Corr.1 G/VAL/N/2/MAR/1 
G/VAL/N/2/MAR/2   G/VAL/W/135 
 Page 5 
 
 
 Members Members who have 
indicated their 
legislation remains valid 
under the WTO 
Committee 
(G/VAL/M/1) Members who have 
submitted their legislation or 
amendments under Articles 
22.1 and 22.2 of the 
Agreement Members who have 
submitted their replies to the 
Checklist of Issues 
(G/VAL/5) Members who are 
delaying application 
of the Agreement 
under Article 20.1 or 
para. 1, Annex III of 
the Agreement or 
Article IX of the 
WTO Agreement 
Mozambique N/A    
Myanmar N/A    
Namibia N/A G/VAL/N/1/NAM/1   
Nepal N/A    
New Zealand G/VAL/N/1/NZL/1 VAL/1/A dd.12 + Suppl.1 VAL/2/Rev.1/Add.10  
Nicaragua N/A    
Niger N/A    
Nigeria N/A    
Norway G/VAL/N/1/NOR/1 VAL/1/Add.11 + Corr.1 
+ Suppl. 1-2 VAL/2/Rev.1/Add.7  
Oman N/A G/VAL/N/1/OMN/1 G/VAL/N/2/OMN/1  
Pakistan N/A G/VAL/N/1/PAK/1   
Panama N/A G/VAL/N/1/PA N/1 G/VAL/N/2/PAN/1  
Papua New Guinea N/A    
Paraguay N/A G/VAL/N/1/PRY/1   
Peru N/A    
Philippines N/A G/VAL/N/1/ PHL/1 G/VAL/N/2/PHL/1  
Poland N/A VAL/1/Add.28 
G/VAL/N/1/POL/1 and 2 G/VAL/N/2/POL/1  
Qatar N/A    
Romania N/A VAL/1/Add.8 + Suppl. 1-2 
G/VAL/N/1/ROM/1 and 2 VAL/2/Rev.1/Add.9  
Rwanda N/A    
St. Kitts & Nevis N/A    
St. Lucia N/A    
St. Vincent & 
Grenadines N/A    
Senegal N/A G/VAL/N/1/SEN/1   
Separate Customs 
Territory of Taiwan, 
Penghu, Kinmen and 
Matsu (Chinese 
Taipei) N/A G/VAL/N/1/TPKM/1 G/VAL/N/2/TPKM/1-2  
Sierra Leone N/A    
Singapore N/A G/VAL/N/1/SGP/1 G/VAL/N/2/SGP/1  
Solomon Islands N/A    
South Africa N/A VAL/1/Add.15 + Corr.1 
+ Suppl. 1-3 
G/VAL/N/1/ZAF VAL/2/Rev.1/Add.13  
Sri Lanka N/A    
Suriname N/A G/VAL/N/1/SUR/1   
Swaziland N/A  G/VAL/N/2/SWZ/1  
Switzerland G/VAL/N/1/CH E/1 VAL/1/Add.5 N/A  
Tanzania N/A  G/VAL/N/2/TZA/1  
Thailand N/A G/VAL/N/1/THA/1 G/VAL/N/2/THA/1  
Togo N/A    
Trinidad & Tobago N/A G/VAL/N/1/TTO/1 G/VAL/N/2/TTO/1  
Tunisia N/A G/VAL/N/1/TUN/1   
Turkey G/VAL/N/1/TUR/1 VAL/1/Add.29 
G/VAL/N/1/TUR/ 2 G/VAL/N/2/TUR/1  
Uganda N/A    
United Arab 
Emirates N/A    
United States G/VAL/N/1/USA/1 VAL/1/Add.1 + Suppl.1-5 VAL/2/Rev.1/Add.1  G/VAL/W/135 
Page 6  
 
 Members Members who have 
indicated their 
legislation remains valid 
under the WTO 
Committee 
(G/VAL/M/1) Members who have 
submitted their legislation or 
amendments under Articles 
22.1 and 22.2 of the 
Agreement Members who have 
submitted their replies to the 
Checklist of Issues 
(G/VAL/5) Members who are 
delaying application 
of the Agreement 
under Article 20.1 or 
para. 1, Annex III of 
the Agreement or 
Article IX of the 
WTO Agreement 
Uruguay N/A G/VAL/N/1/URY/1 G/VAL/N/2/URY/1  
Venezuela, The Bolivaran Rep. of N/A G/VAL/N/1/VEN/1 G/VAL/N/2/VEN/1  
Zambia N/A G/VAL/N/1/ZMB/1   
Zimbabwe G/VAL/N/1/ZWE/1 VAL/1/Add.23 VAL/2/Rev.2/Add.5  
TOTAL NOTIFIED  712 51  
 
__________ 
  
 
 
                                                     
 
2 This total number includes notifications by Members who have indicated their legislation remains valid under 
the WTO Committee (i.e. those in the first column of the table) and those made pursuant to Article 22 of the WTO 
Agreement and the D ecision on Notifications (G/VAL/5).