WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/VAL/W/195 
27 September 2010 
 (10-4914) 
Committee on Customs Valuation Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 22 OF THE CUSTOMS  
VALUATION AGREEMENT 
 
Responses from Cambodia to the United States
  
 
 
 The following communication, dated 15 September 2010, is circulated at the request of the delegation of Cambodia.  
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Question 1:  Article 18 of the Customs Law makes two re ferences to complying "with the provisions 
of Article 51 and Article 53 of this Law."  However, since these provisions are not included in the 
document, it is unclear what the reference pert ains to.  We request that Cambodia provide both 
provisions to the Committee.   
Answer:   We wish to clarify that Provision of Arti cle 18 of LOC in fact makes two references to 
complying "with the provisions of Article 51 and Artic le 52 of this Law" (not refer to Articles 51 and 
53).  The provisions of these two Articles are attached.  Question 2:   Additionally, we would request an explana tion regarding the intent or meaning of the 
provision contained in paragraphs (a) and (b) of  Article 18 of the Customs Law, which reads: "When 
an audit, investigation, inspection or examination undertaken under this Article finds any fraudulent 
activity, a notice may be issued for the goods under investigation within a period no longer than 
10 years from the original date of regist ration of the customs declaration."  Is this a penalty 
provision?   
 
Answer:   Explanation and clarification regarding the provisions of 5
th sub-paragraph (a) and sub-
paragraph (b) of Article 18 which reads:  " When an audit, investigation, inspection or examination 
undertaken under this Article finds  any fraudulent activity, a notice may be issued for the goods under 
investigation within a period no longer than 10 years fr om the original date of registration of the 
customs declaration ";   
 
• Intention :  the intention is to secure the balance between trade facilitation and compliance.  
The customs facilitation in the process of pre-rel eased verification of customs value, origin 
and tariff classification of goods may result in possible fraudulent activities, which then requires an appropriate Post Clearance Aud it (PCA) measure as stated in these sub-
paragraphs. 
 
• Meaning
:  Customs authority has the right to conduct audit operation on traders' documents 
within the period of 3 years after the date of registration of customs declarations.  In the case where fraudulence is detected or found within the 3-year period mentioned above, then the 
investigation on the same case (same trader  and same goods) may be  extended to cover 
documents within the period of 10 years  from th e date of registration of customs declaration. G/VAL/W/195 
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• Is this a penalty provision
?:  Please take a look at other provisions of the LOC as following: 
 
- Sub-paragraph of Article 18 of the LOC: 
 
  - 6th sub-paragraph (a):  "All additional duties, taxes, fees, and penalties owed as a 
 consequence of the notice shall be paid to customs." 
  - 7th Sub-paragraph (a):  "Any refund of duti es and taxes and any other fees overpaid by 
 any person, importer, of his agent as a consequence of the notice shall be refunded by  customs."   
  - Paragraph (c) regarding the "Voluntary D eclaration of additional duties and taxes":  a 
 person, importer of his agent may make a voluntary declaration to customs of 
 additional duties taxes or fees owing in r espect of imported goods, without penalties or 
 fines if such a declaration is made to custom s within one year of the date of registration 
 of the original customs declaration. 
 
- Article 72 (1
st paragraph):  "Any person who imports  or exports goods, or attempts to 
import or export in contravention of the la ws or regulations shall be considered as 
committing a customs offence." 
  The provision mentioned above may be consider ed as the clarification to the question. 
 
Question 3:   With regards to the Prakas on Customs Valu ation of Imported Goods , we have concerns 
regarding the wording of the definitions of "ide ntical goods" and "similar goods."  Specifically, we 
are concerned about provision (c) of both definitions.    (a) We believe that the phrase "on behalf of" shoul d be deleted from this provision.  Article 15 of 
the WTO Valuation Agreement allows for goods produced by a different person to be taken 
into account only when there are no identical goods or similar goods produced by the same 
person as the goods being valued.  However, including the phrase "on behalf of the person 
who" allows for someone other than the pe rson who produced the goods being valued to 
produce the goods considered to be identical or similar.    
 
(b) Additionally, we are concerned that the curre nt definition does not allow for the consideration 
of goods produced by a person not related to the producer of the goods being valued in 
situations where no identical or similar goods are produced by the same person as the good 
being valued.  Can Cambodia please indicate if Ar ticle 15.2(e) is included elsewhere in its 
legislation? 
 
Answer:  GDCE would like to appreciate the concerns on the wordings of the definition of "identical 
goods" and "similar goods".  Please reflect that the Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of 
GATT 1994, including the Interpretative Notes, is the in tegral part attached as annex of the Prakas 
387 dated 22 May 2008 on Customs Valuation on Im ported Goods, in accordance with the provision 
of Article 32 of this Prakas.  Therefore, the Arti cle 15.2(e) of the Agreement is contained in this 
annex.   GDCE may consider the possibility to remove th e phrase "on behalf of the person..." in order 
to be consistent with the Agreement.  
Question 4:   We would also appreciate an explanation on  the meaning of Prakas 31(e) and the reason 
that the phrase "unless the goods were imported in to Cambodia" was added to the provision.  
  G/VAL/W/195 
 Page 3 
 
 
  Answer:  
 
• Meaning of the Praka 31(e):   The price of goods for export to a country other than Cambodia 
shall not be considered as the basis for dete rmination of customs value.  If goods were 
imported into Cambodia, the price of these goods may be considered as the basis of a customs 
value determination. 
 
• Reason :  The simple reason for this addition is to make it simpler and clearer to understand 
locally. 
 Question 5:   We are very concerned about the language  contained in Prakas 32, which would appear 
to allow for different valuation treatment of cer tain goods which Customs considers as sensitive or 
high risk goods.  This Prakas seems to allow the Customs and Excise Department to decide which 
goods to refrain from applying the new valuation ru les to, provided the Ministry of Economy and 
Finance agrees.  We request an explanation of th is provision and under what circumstances it would 
be utilized.  
Answer:    Praka 32 pf the MEF's Prakas on Customs Valuation of Imported Goods: 
 
• GDCE understands the concern about this Praka.  In fact, this Praka is a transitional provision 
only, allowing customs to have some flexibility in the transitional period of the implementation of the Agreement.  Any possi ble delay on the implementation of the new 
valuation rules on few sensitive or high-risk goods  is intended merely to secure our national 
economic stability through the promotion of go od governance, especially in the environment 
that the customs PCA capability and the trad ers' compliance level are still low in the 
meantime. 
 
• The circumstance under which this tran sitional provision would be utilized: 
 
- Currently, the main sensitive goods is petroleum product.  The sensitivity focuses on the sharp 
fluctuation of the petroleum product price.  Any change related to this goods may cause 
social, economic, and/or political sensitivity.  We  are on the way to consider possible options 
to implement the Agreement on these products b ased on the international good practice in the 
region. 
 
- The main high-risk goods, in this context,  focuses on used goods which may be banned from 
import in the future, based on environmental concern. 
 
• Therefore, we would highly appreciate your understanding on our difficulties and challenges 
in this circumstance.  However, we would like to reconfirm our commitments towards the full 
implementation of the Agreement. 
 
Question 6:  Finally, we encourage Cambodia to also s ubmit its responses to the Checklist of Issues.  
 Answer:   Finally, we are ready to submit our respon ses to any possible contact point, including the 
Checklist of Issues.  
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  ANNEX I 
 
Law on Customs
 
  
 Article 51
: 
  All persons engaged or involve d in the commercial or institutio nal import or export of goods 
must keep accurate documents, books, records, a nd other information, including information in 
electronic format, pertaining to import and export. 
 
 Included in the first paragraph of this Ar ticle are importers, expor ters, customs brokers, 
operators of customs temporary storage fac ilities and customs bonded warehouses, transportation 
operators and other concerned parties.  
 The documents, books, records and other information referred to in the first paragraph of this 
Article shall be kept for a period of ten ( 10) years at business premises in Cambodia. 
  Article 52
: 
  At the request of Customs, persons referred to in  the first paragraph of Article 51 of this Law 
are obliged to make available for examination,  documents, books, records and other information 
concerning imports and exports.   Where the persons referred to in the first pa ragraph of this Article are not present, their 
representatives are obliged to make available the documents, books, records and other information. 
 
  
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