G/VAL/Q/VNM/7  
 
9 November 2022  
(22-8387) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Customs Valuation  Original: English  
 
 
NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE 22 OF AGREEMENT ON IMPLEMENTATION  
OF ARTICLE VII OF THE GENERAL AGREEMENT  
ON TARIFFS AND TRADE 1994  
QUESTIONS FROM CANADA TO VIET NAM REGARDING DOCUMENT G/VAL/N/2/VNM/1  
VIET NAM 
The following communication, dated 3 November  2022, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Canada.  
 
_______________  
 
 
Regarding response to q uestion 5(c)  of the Checklist of Issues  
Background   
Article 7.2 of the Customs Valuation Agreement (CVA) outlines the prohibited valuation methods 
and reads as follows:  
"2. No customs value shall be determined under the provisions of this Article on the basis of:  
(a) the selling price in the country of importation of goods produced in such country;  
(b) a system which provides for the acceptance for customs purposes of the higher of two 
alternative values;  
(c) the price of goods on the domestic market of the country of exportation;  
(d) the cost of production other than computed values which h ave been determined for identical or 
similar goods in accordance with the provisions of Article 6;  
(e) the price of the goods for export to a country other than the country of importation;  
(f) minimum customs values; or  
(g) arbitrary or fictitious values. " 
On the other hand , Vietnam 's response to question 5. (c) states that Vietnam 's legislation reads as 
follows:  
"When determining the customs value by this method, the declarant and the customs authority 
must not use the following values to determine the cus toms value:  
− The selling price on the domestic market of Viet Nam of the same goods manufactured in 
Viet Nam;  
− The selling price of goods in the domestic market of the exporting country;  
− The selling price of goods for export to another country other th an Viet Nam;  G/VAL/Q/VNM/7  
 
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  − Cost of goods production, except for the case where the cost of production of imported goods is 
used to determine the calculated value in the calculated value method;  
− Reference prices in the List of imported goods subject to customs value risks; (emphasis added ) 
− The value declared by the customs declarant when there are no goods trading activities to 
import goods into Viet Nam ; (emphasis added ) 
− Use the higher of the two alternative values as the customs value. "  
Question  
What specifically is meant by the fifth and sixth points in the list, namely: "Reference prices in the 
List of imported goods subject to customs value risks " and "The value declared by the customs 
declarant when there are no goods trading activities to imp ort goods into Viet Nam "? In what way 
can these be likened to articles 7.2.(f) and (g) of the Customs Valuation Agreement, namely: "(f) 
minimum customs values " and "(g) arbitrary or fictitious values "?  
Furthermore, the fifth point implies that there is a "list of imported goods subject to customs value 
risks" and that "reference prices " are not permitted to be used for determining the customs value 
of those goods. Consequently, are there instances where Viet Nam does use reference prices to 
determine the c ustoms value (e.g. goods not found on that list), and if so how and under what 
circumstances?  
Regarding q uestion 12(a)  of the Checklist of Issues  
In response to this question the following is stated: "… when the customs authority determines the 
customs value, the customs valuation shall be based on …, the customs value database, the … ". In 
what way does the customs authority of Viet Nam use customs value databases in determining the 
customs value?  
 
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