G/VAL/W/240  
22 November 2013  
(13-6421)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Customs Valuation  Original: English/French/Spanish  
 
  PROPOSAL FOR RECTIFICATION OF TH E SPANISH AND ENGLISH VERSIONS  
OF ARTICLE 8.1(B)(IV) OF THE WTO AGREEMENT  
ON CUSTOMS VALUATION 
The following communication, dated 12 November 2013, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Uruguay.  
_______________ 
  1  BACKGROUND 
1.1 On 8 May 2013, the Director of Tariff and Trade Affairs of the World Customs Organization 
(WCO) advised that, at its 36
th Session, held in Brussels from 15 to 19 April 2013 
(see document G/VAL/W/225), the Technical Committee on Customs Valuation had examined 
the question, raised by Uruguay, of "consistency of interpretation and application 
of Article 8.1(b)(iv) of the Customs Valuation Ag reement of the WTO", in its official language 
versions. This Article reads as follow s in the three official languages: 
French Article 8 
1. Pour déterminer la valeur en douane par appl ication des dispositions de l'article premier, on 
ajoutera au prix effectivement payé ou à payer pour les marchandises importées: 
 (b) la valeur, imputée de façon appr opriée, des produits et  services ci-après lorsqu'ils sont fournis 
directement ou indirectement par l'acheteur, sans frais ou à coût réduit, et utilisés lors de la production et de la vente pour  l'exportation des marchandises importées, dans la mesure où 
cette valeur n'a pas été incluse dans le  prix effectivement payé ou à payer: 
 
(iv) travaux d'ingénierie, d'étude, d'art et de design, plans et croquis, exécutés ailleurs que 
dans le pays d'importation et nécessaires pour la production des marchandises 
importées; 
English Article 8 
1. In determining the customs value under the provisions of Article 1, there shall be added to the 
price actually paid or payable for the imported goods: 
 (b) the value, apportioned as a ppropriate, of the following g oods and services where supplied 
directly or indirectly by the bu yer free of charge or at reduced cost for use in connection with 
the production and sale for export of the import ed goods, to the extent that such value has 
not been included in the pric e actually paid or payable: 
 
(iv) engineering, development,  artwork, design work, and pl ans and sketches undertaken 
elsewhere than in the country of importation and necessary for the production of the imported goods; 
Spanish Artículo 8 
1 .  P a r a  d e t e r m i n a r  e l  v a l o r  e n  a d u a n a  d e  c o n f o r m i d a d  c o n  l o  d i s p u e s t o  e n  e l  a r t í c u l o  1 ,  s e  añadirán al precio realmente pagado o por pagar por las mercancías importadas: 
 (b) el valor, debidamente repartido, de los si guientes bienes y servicios, siempre que el 
comprador, de manera directa o indirecta, lo s haya suministrado gratuitamente o a precios 
reducidos para que se ut ilicen en la producción y venta para la exportación de las mercancías 
importadas y en la medida en que dicho valor no esté incluido en el precio realmente pagado o 
por pagar: 
 
(iv) ingeniería, creación y perfeccionamiento, tr abajos artísticos, diseño s, y planos y croquis 
realizados fuera del país de importación y necesarios para la producción de las mercancías importadas; G/VAL/W/240 
- 2 - 
  1.2 It is important to note the existence of a similar precedent, since the Committee previously 
agreed to remedy a linguistic problem in the Spanish version, by means of a Procès-Verbal of Rectification which led to the term "entretenimiento" being replaced with the term "mantenimiento" in paragraph 3(a) of the Interpretative Note to Article 1 of the Agreement.
1 
2  PROBLEM IDENTIFIED 
2.1 The Technical Committee found that the English and Spanish versions of the Agreement 
were different from the French version, in which there is no conjunction and a comma is placed 
between the words "croquis" (sketches) and "exécu tés" (undertaken) ("… croquis, exécutés …"). 
This apparently innocuous situation at first glance could, in practice, lead to major divergences of interpretation and application of this provision of the Agreement, because in the Spanish and English versions, the last two requirements  ("undertaken elsewhere than in the country 
of importation and necessary for the production of the imported goods") could be interpreted 
as applying solely to "plans and sketches" and not to the five elements listed in the provision. The wording of the French version of the Article does not allow such an interpretation. 
2.2 During the technical discussion of the matter, all delegates present at the 
Technical Committee meeting agreed that the Fren ch version more aptly reflected the correct 
interpretation of this Article. Indeed, it shows that the requirements "undertaken elsewhere than 
in the country of importation and necessary for the production of the imported goods" apply to the 
five service categories listed (i.e. (1) engineering; (2) development; (3) artwork; (4) design work; and (5) plans and sketches) and not only to the last category. 
2.3 It is important to emphasize that a number  of delegates attending the meeting pointed out 
that, in their national legislation implementing the Customs Valuation Agreement, the wording 
of this subparagraph had already been amended in order to avoid a potential problem of interpretation. Thus, the Technical Committee una nimously decided to refer the matter to the 
WTO Committee on Customs Valuation in order for th e latter to take whatever action it deemed 
appropriate to remedy this problem in the English and Spanish versions.  
3  SPECIFIC PROPOSAL 
3.1 At the meeting of the Committee on Customs Valuation of 27 September 2013, 
Uruguay proposed a re-wording of the Spanish and English versions, so as to avoid possible misinterpretations of the rule. The proposed changes are once again being submitted to the 
WTO Committee on Customs Valuation. 
3.2 To this end, and with a view to adjusting th e legal wording of the Agreement in the simplest 
possible manner, Uruguay proposes to rectify, by means of a Procès-Verbal of Rectification, 
the English and Spanish versions of the te xt of Article 8.1(b)(iv), as follows: 
French iv) travaux d'ingénier ie, d'étude, d'art et de design, plans et croquis, exécutés ailleurs que dans 
le pays d'importation et nécessaires pour la production des marc handises importées; 
 Note: There would be no change to the French version. 
Spanish "iv) ingeniería, creación y perfecc ionamiento, trabajos artísticos, diseños, y planos y croquis , 
realizados fuera del país de importación y necesarios para la producción de las mercaderías 
importadas" 
 Note: The proposal is to remove a conjunct ion ("y") and add a comma between the words 
"croquis" and "realizados". 
English "iv) engi neering, development, artwork, design work, and plans and sketches , undertaken 
elsewhere than in the country of importation and necessary for the production of the 
imported goods" 
 Note: The proposal is to remove a conjunct ion ("and") and add a comma between the words 
"sketches" and "undertaken". 
__________ 
                                               
1 For further information regarding this amendm ent, see the following documents: G/VAL/M/3 
(paragraphs 1.7-1.17), G/VAL/M/4 (paragraphs 1.7 and 8.1), G/VAL/M/5 (paragraphs 7.1-7.3), G/VAL/W/15, 
G/VAL/W/17, WT/Let/142 and WT/Let/147.