G/L/1472  
G/VAL/W/385  
 
14 December 2022  
(22-9320) Page: 1/8 
Council for Trade in Goods  
Committee on Customs Valuation    
 
 
REPORT ON THE CURRENT FUNCTIONING OF THE  
COMMITTEE ON CUSTOMS VALUATION  
REPORT OF THE CHAIRPERSON  
The following report is being submitted by the Chairperson of the Committee on Customs Valuation, 
Mr Frank RITTNER, Chairperson of the Committee on Customs Valuation (CCV). It answers a request 
of the Chairperson of the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG) and shall facilitate the work on potential 
reform efforts undertaken by the CTG and its subsidiary bodies.1 The report was prepared with the 
assistance of the Secretariat under the lead of the responsible division and, with respect to its 
structure and scope of the considerations, coordinated with other of subsidiary bodies of the CTG. It 
had been shared with the delegations one week before  its submission to the Chairperson of the CTG 
by the Chairperson of the C CV under his responsibility.  
 
The aim of this report is to present a factual basis for future discussion s to be held by the Committee 
on possible reforms in respect of the functioning  of the committee. This report does not intend to 
forestall any kind of assessment or judgement of any past and possible future actions taken (or not) 
respectively to prejudice any views to be given by the members in the further process.  
However,  delegatio ns are free to use this report as an occasion to start their own reflections in 
anticipation of informal discussion in the Committee in the beginning of next year, most likely by 
the end of January 2023.  
 
1  PAST DECISIONS DETERMING THE CURRENT WORK OF THE CO MMITTEE  
1.1.  Past decisions adopted  by the Committee on Customs Valuation  (CCV or Committee ) at its 
meeting of 12 May 1995 concerning the interpretation and administration of the Agreement have 
determined the current work of the Committee , in particular , the Decisions on : (i) Notification and 
circulation of national legislation in accordance with Article  22 of the Agreement; (ii) Checklist of 
issues; and (iii) Information on technical assistance.  
1.2.  At its meeting in October 2012 , the CCV agreed that the status of the mandatory notifications  
should  be merged into a separate document  to be distributed before each formal committee 
meeting .2 This new annex to the agenda of each formal meeting provides an overview of Members' 
notifications, with r espect of national legislation on customs valuation and replies to the checklist of 
issues . The information was previously summarized as annexes to the Annual Review of the 
Agreement and Report to the Council for Trade in Goods  only at the end of each year . 
1.3.  At its meeting in May 2019,  the Chair proposed that the next  Chairperson would hold 
consultations with relevant delegations on two related issues:  how to receive all outstanding 
responses before the next formal Committee meeting ; and to work with Members  that have yet to 
notify their national legislations, in an effort to identify appropriate assistance to expedite the 
process.3 
1.4.  The Chairpersons since then carried out consultations between the formal meetings and also 
led discussions on how to improve its functioning and operation during the meetings.  
 
1 JOB/CTG/18 . 
2 G/VAL/M/54, paragraphs 8.3 and 8.4.  
3 G/VAL/M/68 . G/L/1472 • G/VAL/W/385  
 
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  1.5.  At its meeting of May 2021,  the Committee agreed to a new document series for th e circulation 
of questions and responses regarding notified legislation .4 This document series dealt with  Member 
questions concerning notified  legislation under the Agreement on Customs Valuation ( CVA) and was 
identified through symbol G/VAL/Q. A second series G/PSI/Q was established for the circulation of 
questions and responses regarding the Preshipment Inspection Agreement (PSI).  
2  CURRENT STATUS OF COMMITTEE PRACTICES  
2.1  Assistance to delegates  
2.1.  The Secre tariat regularly provides bilateral assistance upon request (via email, in person or by 
virtual  meetings) to Members  in the processing of their notifications and their requests for technical 
assistance activities.  There  has been no request for a  systematic  training programme for 
Geneva -based delegates  concerning the CCV until today . 
2.2  Organization of Committee work  
2.2.1   Digital tools used for Committee work  
2.2.  The CCV makes use of the general WTO -wide digital tools, such as e-registration  and the 
"e-subscription " option in Documents online . E-registration allows Members to indicate their contact 
information as well as the different Committees that are covered by each delegate. The Secretariat 
and other delegations can use  the information provided in this system to identify delegates covering 
the CCV and to e -mail communications and other documents. The  E-subscription function in 
Documents Online allows delegates to indicate the Committees and other bodies that they follow 
and to receive daily alerts by e -mail every time that a new document has been issued, including 
those by the CTG.  
2.3.  In the Committee meeting of 25 October 2021, the C CV discussed inviting the Secretariat to 
make a presentation at the next meeting on e -Agenda . At the 17 May 2022 meeting, the Secretary 
to the Committee on Market Access (CMA) provided a presentation on the manner in which e -Agenda 
had been used in the context of the CMA's work. At its meeting on 4 November 2022, the Secretariat 
made a presentati on of an e -Agenda prototype for the CCV. The Committee agreed at that meeting 
that it would continue exploring the use of the e -Agenda in a manner that allows  Members to test 
its features and give their views on the features. For its formal meeting in May 2023, the Committee 
intends to run a trial use of e-Agenda for the first time. Afterwards, Members will have the 
opportunity to decide on whether to adopt e -Agenda for all of its meetings,  taking into account 
experiences and feedback received.  
2.2.2   Planning and  organization of meetings  
2.4.  The CVA mandates that  the Committee shall meet at least once a year  and in practise , it holds 
two formal meetings, regularly in May and in October/ November. To the extent possible, these 
formal meetings are organized in coordinati on with the meetings of other subsidiary bodies of the 
Council for Trade in Goods, plus in coordination with the meeting of the WCO Technical Committee 
on Customs Valuation ( TCCV ). The T TCV was established under Article 18.2 of the Customs Valuation 
Agreem ent and meets under the auspices of the World Customs Organization (WCO ). At each formal 
meeting of the Committee, the tentative date of the next formal meeting is announced to Members 
or, if not yet possible, the date is subsequently circulated through a written communication.  
2.5.  The Committee holds informal meetings as required. Since 2019, only one informal meeting 
has been held. It took place  on 4 June (in virtual mode) in order for the Chair  to seek guidance from 
Members on how the Committee wanted to proceed with its work in the short to medium  term in 
light of the postponement of the May meeting of the Committee  and the ongoing pandemic . In this 
case, the convening communication was sent nine days prior to the meeting.  
 
4 G/VAL/M/71 . G/L/1472 • G/VAL/W/385  
 
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  2.2.3   Formal meetings  
2.2.3.1   Communication be fore meetings  
2.6.  The practice is for the Secretariat to send to Members a convening notice four weeks prior to 
a formal meeting opening the agenda and providing the closing date for Members to add items, 
which is two days before the final agenda is circulated . 
2.2.3.2   Number of meetings  
2.7.  The Committee was established in 19 95. Since 2019, seven formal meetings, one informal 
meeting and one experience sharing workshop have taken place. In 2020, due to the COVID -19 
pandemic, an informal meeting took place in June followed  by a formal Committee in October. Since 
then, meetings can be joined virtually via an online -platform providing interpretation in the 
WTO-languages.  
Table 1: Overview of formal and informal meetings  
Year  Formal meeting  
(number and duration)  Informal meetings  
(number and duration ) Other (e.g. workshops, 
symposia, etc.)  
2019  23 May (0.5 days)  
25 October (0.5 days)  - 4 February (0.5 days)  
Experience -Sharing Workshop on 
Implementation of the Customs 
Valuation Agreement and 
Ensuring that the TFA supports 
implementation of the CVA 
including Technical Assistance 
and Capacity Building  
2020  19 October (0.5 days)  04 June (0.5 days)  17 November (2 hours)  
Webinar to commemorate the 
25th Anniversary of the Customs 
Valuation Agreement  
2021  27 May (0.5 days)  
25 October (0.5 days)  - - 
2022  17 May (0.5 days)  
04 November (0.5 days)  - - 
 
2.2.3.3   Preparation of Airgrams and Agendas  
2.8.  There is no procedural rule in terms of the preparation of airgrams. However, i n 2021 and 
2022, the Secretariat began circulating a draft version of the Airgram in two steps:  
• First, the Secretariat issues a draft Airgram that is circulated  approximately 25 to 30 days 
before the date of the meeting  through the WTO/AIR/VAL/ document series. This draft 
Airgram includes the standing agenda items and all other known information  as of that 
date of circulation , and indicates the date in which the agenda will close  as well as any 
other specific issues to c onsider for the preparation of the meeting . 
• Second, o nce Members have submitted their documents and requested the inclusion of 
agenda items, a revised version of the Airgram is issued at least 10 days before the date 
of the meeting  (WTO/AIR/VAL/XXX/Rev.1) . G/L/1472 • G/VAL/W/385  
 
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  Table 2: Preparation of Airgrams and Agendas  
Year  Date of formal meeting  Date of circulation of Airgram  No. of days before the 
meeting  
2019  23 May (0.5 days)  
25 October (0.5 days)  10 May (Airgram)  
15 October (Airgram)  13 days  
10 days  
 
2020  19 October (0.5 days)  8 October (Airgram)  12 days  
2021  27 May (0.5 days)  
 
25 October (0.5 days)  28 April (Draft Airgram)  
17 May (Final Airgram)  
27 September (Draft Airgram)  
15 October (Final Airgram)  30 days  
10 days  
29 days  
10 days  
2022  17 May (0.5 days)  
 
04 November (0.5 days)  6 April (Draft Airgram)  
6 May (Final Airgram)  
4 October (Draft Airgram)  
25 October (Final Airgram)  42 days  
12 days  
31 days  
10 days  
 
2.9.  The agenda of the Committee is composed of a number of  standing items with regard to the 
Agreement on Customs Valuation:   
i. Report on the work of the Technical Committee On Customs Valuation by the WCO 
Secretariat;  
ii. Notifications of national legislation;  
iii. Written questions and replies;  
iv. Updates on the status of t he application of Decisions of the Committee  on Customs 
Valuation;  
v. Technical Assistance;  
vi. Specific Trade Concerns (when relevant); and  
vii. Other business.  
 
2.10.  Additional agenda items are added as required. Specifically, agenda item "Election of the 
Chairperson"  is added at the spring meeting, and agenda items "Draft annual report to the CTG " 
and "Draft annual review  of the Committee on Customs Valuation” are added at the autumn meeting. 
Every three years, at the autumn meeting of the Committee, the Secretariat inserts an item for the 
Committee to conduct its triennial review of the PSI Agreement according to Article 6 of the CVA 
during the following year.  
2.11.  The Committee on Customs Valuation also oversees the Agreement on Preshipment. The 
standing items covering the PSI Agreement are as follows:  
i. PSI notifications;  
ii. Written questions and replies; and  
iii. Information on PSI pr ogrammes as reported by TIC (International association 
representing independent testing, inspection and certification companies).  
 
2.2.3.4   Distribution of documents prior to meetings  
2.12.  The distribution of formal documents, notifications and written questions and re plies are 
circulated in the order in which they are received by the WTO Central Registry of Notifications (CRN), 
following verification by the responsible division of the Secretariat.  
2.13.  The circulation of draft annual and biennial reports is done closely af ter the closure of the 
agenda of the last meeting of the year. Members' submissions (notifications, written questions, or 
replies) received by the WTO Central Registry after the closing of the agenda for the meeting shall G/L/1472 • G/VAL/W/385  
 
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  be taken  note of at the meeting. T hey are supposed to be inserted in the agenda of the next meeting 
and reviewed at that meeting.  
2.14.  All documents relevant to a meeting are added to the “Documents for Meetings” on the WTO 
webpage . Presentations  or other documents received in advance can be  circulated as room 
documents under the RD/ VAL document series . Delegates subscribed to the Committee on Customs  
Valuation  under the "e -subscriptions" option of Documents Online are alerted via e -mail on all new 
relevant documents issued.  CVA documents can al so be searched for on Documents Online without 
a subscription.  
2.2.3.5   Conduct of the meeting  
2.15.  The conduct of the meeting s follows the proposed agenda, unless Members request for short -
term changes directly before or at the beginning of the meeting. During the meet ing all delegations 
have the opportunity to speak to the  matters of the agenda. Time restrictions have not yet been 
used so far. The meeting  time has been around half day .  
2.16.  The number of delegations present in the room had increased for the 4 November 2022 
meeting. However, a number of delegations still make use of the possibility of a virtual participation, 
in addition or alternatively  to having their delegate present in the room for the meeting . From the 
IT-side, the usage of the vi rtual tool is stable  and reliable. The Chairs alter the sequence of speakers 
to give present and online participants equal opportunity to take the floor .  
2.2.3.6   Communication after meetings  
2.17.  The Chairperson send s a follow -up communication to the members after the  meetings , if 
appropriate . In addition, t he external relations division of the Secretariat may prepare  a news item 
of the regular meetings  and provide  a list of key issues discussed  on the WTO website.  
2.2.3.7   Preparation of the minutes  
2.18.  There is no procedural rul e to follow regarding the circulation of minutes. In practise, t he 
Secretariat prepares minutes after every formal meeting, which capture all information shared at 
the formal meeting, especially reports by the Chairperson, Members' statements, reactions to  these 
statements and decisions taken by the  Committee. In the period 2019 -2022, the minutes were 
circulated three  months before the next meeting. The average length of the minutes has been 17 
pages. Apart from the minutes and in addition to the informatio n already available online, t he WTO 
Secretariat also provides information to delegates  on request . 
Table 3: Preparation of the Minutes  
Year  Last date of the formal 
meeting  Date of circulation of the 
minutes  No. of 
pages  No. of days  
2019  23 May (0.5 days)  
25 October (0.5 days)  10 September  
17 Jun 2020  17 
18 110 
2365 
2020  19 October (0.5 days)  4 Jan 2021  19 77 
2021  27 May (0.5 days)  
25 October (0.5 days)  12 July  
20 December  24 
21 46 
56 
2022  17 May (0.5 days)  
4 November (0.5 days)  7 July  
- 23 
- 51 
- 
 
 
5 This longer period reflects a  shortage of resources  to service the Committee . G/L/1472 • G/VAL/W/385  
 
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  2.19.  The minutes of a formal meeting of the Committee also contain information on informal 
meeting(s) held since the previous formal meeting. This is generally done by means of a summary 
of the informal meeting prepared under the responsibility of the Chair person and read at the formal 
meeting. The Chairperson also reports to the formal meeting on any consultations that they have 
held. 
2.20.  The minutes of the CCV are prepared as follows:  
• A list of speakers is drawn -up during  the meeting, and subsequently verified . The verified 
list of speakers is inserted into an initial frame or template document . 
• Written statements received by the Secretariat as well as the statements made by the 
Chairperson are inserted into the minutes. In case the delegations do not submit their 
statements, the Secretariat proceeds to type the statements from the recording.  
• Written statements received by the Secretariat in French or Spanish are sent for 
translation into English . 
• Once a first dra ft includes all statements, the complete draft is edited and reviewed . The 
text is also formatted and checked for consistent WTO style and general readability . 
• Once approved  by the Chair and the Director , the English version of the minutes are 
circulated t o Members . 
• The minutes are then circulated to Members for their review and possible edits. The final 
version is subsequently  circulated. Following the issuance of minutes, i n case of error, or 
upon request of a Member, a corrigendum may be circulated. From  2019 to 2021 no 
member made use of that option.  In case no comments are made by the Members, the 
English language version is then translated into French and Spanish language versions.  
2.21.  Once the minutes are circulated, and pursuant to Paragraph 2(c) of the WTO's Procedures for 
Circulation and Derestriction of WTO Documents (WT/L/452), they remain restricted in documents 
online (DOL) for 45 days.  
2.2.4   Informal meetings  
2.22.  Informal meetings are convened through a communication that is sent to the official e -mail 
addresses of all Members ,6 as well as the delegates that are identified as covering the Committee in 
the e-registration system.  
2.23.  The convening email contains information on the meeting date, time, location, purpose, and 
the proposed agenda.  
2.24.  In the period 2019 -2022, only one informal meeting was convened on 4 June 2020  and the 
convening notice was circulated nine days prior to the meeting.  
2.3  Substantive work  
2.3.1   Notifications  
2.25.  The Committee receives several notifications on a yearly basis, both under the CV A and the 
PSI Agreement. The Committee receives notifications of new or modified legislations and 
notifications of responses to questions in the Checklist of Issues,  notifications under the Decision on 
the Treatment of Interest Payment and the Decision on the Treatment of Carrier Media.  
2.26.  Information on notification compliance is regularly shared with Members at the formal 
meetings of the Committee taking place twice a year under the agenda item "Information on 
implementation and administration of the agreem ent pertaining to the notification of national 
 
6 The list of official e -mail addresses is maintained by the Council and Trade Negotiations Division.  G/L/1472 • G/VAL/W/385  
 
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  legislation ". The Secretariat regularly produces a report with this information with detailed 
information on the notifications received.  
2.27.  Following the bilateral outreach first started by the Chairperson in 201 9 and continued by 
subsequent Chairpersons, there has been a steady increase in the number of submissions . The 
impetus for the outreach was from the Workshop held in 2019 . 
2.3.2   Thematic sessions  
2.28.  The last thematic session was a workshop held on 14 February 2019,  which was entitled 
"Experience -Sharing Workshop on Implementation of the Customs Valuation Agreement and 
Ensuring that the Trade Facilitation Agreement supports implementation of the CVA including 
Technical Assistance and Capacity Building". The objective  the Workshop was to have an exchange 
among Members of their administrations' experiences in implementing the CVA . It also directly led 
to an increase in the number of notifications of national customs legislations.  
2.29.  On 17 November 2020 , the Chair of the CCV, Mr Carlos Guevara (Ecuador), hosted a two -
hour virtual seminar  commemorati ng the 25 th Anniversary of the CVA . The seminar was comprised 
of two sessions. The first session  "Experience with the CVA over the past 25 years" featured speakers 
who focused on their experiences with certain aspects of the CVA. The second session "Looking 
ahead at the future of the CVA"  consisted of speakers reflecting on their perspectives on the CVA 
going forward. Each session was followed by reactions and discussion among part icipating Members.  
2.3.3   Reports by the Secretariat  
2.30.  The WTO Secretariat regularly updates three substantial reports for the Committee:  
i. Information on the application of the Decision on the treatment of interest charges in 
the value of imported goods and on the valuation of carrier media bearing software for 
data processing equipment, which is circulated under the G/VAL/W/5/ document 
series ; 
ii. List of Preshipment Inspection programmes notified to the WTO, which is circulated in 
the G/VAL/W/63/ document series ; and  
iii. Status of notifications of national legislation on customs valuation and response to the 
checklist of issues, which is circulated under the G/VAL/W/232/ document series.  
 
2.31.  The WTO Secretariat documents the activities of the Committee in two ann ual reports 
pursuant to Art. 23 of the CVA:  
i. a report to the CTG for the autumn meeting of the Committee, which are circulated to 
the Committee for approval ; and  
ii. a review of the CVA which as well is approved by the Members.  
 
2.32.  For the most part, the annual re view repeats the content of the annual report  with rather 
different descriptions. Both the report and the review have  retained their format s unchanged for 
many years.  
2.3.4   Participation by external stakeholders  
2.33.  There are 24 observer governments and six observer  international organizations to the 
Committee on Customs Valuation . 
2.34.  The WCO Secretariat participates in all formal meetings of the CCV and provides reports on 
the latest developments  in the TCCV. The  WTO Secretariat , in turn,  regularly participates in the 
TCCV meetings and provides updates on the work of the CCV . 
2.35.  At agreed by  the C CV in 1999,  the Secretariat prepare s, in advance of regular meetings of 
the Committee, a document indicating the situation with regard to countries using preshipment 
inspection (PSI) regimes. It presents information which is compiled exceptionally by the Testing, 
Inspection and Certification Council ( TIC Council , previously the International Federation of Inspection G/L/1472 • G/VAL/W/385  
 
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  Agencies - IFIA) in response to a request by the WTO.  The information is circulated under the 
G/VAL/W/63 document series.  
2.36.  The CCV does not interact with other types of external stakeholders . 
2.37.  In addition,  the WCO Secretariat regularly submits a report on the technic al 
assistance/capacity building activities undertaken by the WCO Secretariat in the area of customs 
valuation, which is circulated under the G/VAL/8 document series.  
2.3.5   Work with other Committees or WTO bodies  
2.38.  The CCV does not interact with other Committees or WTO bodies on a standardized basis . 
However, some delegates covering this Committee are the same ones covering the Trade Facilitation 
Committee and occasionally highlight the link between both agreements.  
 
__________