WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/L/655 
2 August 2006 
 (06-3732) 
  
  
 
SENEGAL  - WAIVER ON MINIMUM VALUES IN REGARD TO THE  
AGREEMENT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE VII OF  
THE GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS AND TRADE 1994 
 
Decision of 28 July 2006
∗ 
 
 The General Council, 
  Taking into account  Senegal's request, contained in G/C/W/524, for a waiver from the 
Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 
(Customs Valuation Agreement) in order to tempor arily maintain minimum values in respect of the 
goods identified in Annex; and   Noting  that: 
          
-  Senegal was a contracting party to the WTO Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of 
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (Customs Valuation Agreement) and 
invoked paragraph 1, Article 20 of that Ag reement on 1 January 1995 and was therefore 
scheduled originally to apply the provisions of the Agreement on 1 January 2000; 
 -  on 20 December 2000 the Customs Valuation Committee agreed to Senegal's request under 
paragraph 1 of Annex III of the Customs Va luation Agreement for an extension of its 
transition period until 30 June 2001
1; 
 - on 17 May 2004 the General Council agreed to Senegal’s request for a waiver from the 
Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of  the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 
1994 (Customs Valuation Agreement) in order to  temporarily maintain minimum values in 
respect of a certain number of goods until 30 June 2005 
2; 
 -  Senegal's long-standing commitment and consid erable efforts in reforming and modernizing 
its customs administration; 
 
-  the considerable efforts made by Senegal to  apply the provisions of the Customs Valuation 
Agreement and the technical assistance Senega l has received in support of implementing and 
applying the Customs Valuation Agreement; 
 -  in all other regards Senegal has implemente d fully the Customs Valuation Agreement since 1 
July 2001; 
 
                                                     
 
∗ Secretariat note:  Adopted in accordance with th e Decision-Making Procedur es under Articles IX and 
XII of the WTO Agreement agreed by the Gene ral Council in November 1995 (WT/L/93). 
1 G/VAL/39 
2 WT/L/571 WT/L/655 
Page 2  
 
  -  Senegal has already implemen ted and applied Paragraph 2 of the Decision on the Valuation of 
Carrier Media Bearing Software for Data Processing Equipment
3;   
-  the Government of Senegal's commitment to limit the use of preshipment inspection services 
in the area of customs valuation to post-entr y risk assessment procedures, and to establish a 
government mechanism to promptly address an y problems exporters from other countries 
might encounter with preshipment inspection services;  
 - Senegal's request to continue to maintain minimum values on certain goods as set out in 
G/C/W/524 and its intention to make this a rese rvation on a strictly limited and transitional 
basis;  and 
 
- this would be a single and last request to maintain minimum values; 
 
 Having regard  to the Guiding Principles to be followed in considering applications for 
waivers adopted on 1 November 1956
4, the Understanding in Respect to Waivers of Obligations under 
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994, and paragraphs 3 and 4 of Article IX of the 
Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization. 
 
 Acting  pursuant to the provisions of paragraph 3 of Article IX of the WTO Agreement, 
 
 Decides , in view of the exceptional circumstances set out above, that: 
 
1. Senegal may continue to use officially- established minimum values for the valuation for 
customs purposes until 30 June 2007 for the goods listed in Annex, subject to the terms and 
conditions set out hereunder; 
 
2. Senegal will report to the Committee on Customs Valuation by 30 September 2006 and 
31 March 2007 on the status of its implementati on of officially-established minimum values 
for the products identified above; 
 3. Senegal will not apply minimum values to any other goods not explicitly mentioned in 
Annex; 
 
4. Senegal will publish an d make publicly available, in accord ance with Article X of the General 
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994, the data  sources, methodologies, basis, criteria and 
other relevant information fo r determining the minimum values for the products listed in 
Annex; and 
 
5. Senegal will notify the Committee on Customs Va luation of any amendments or changes to 
the above-mentioned basis, criteria and othe r relevant information 60 days before 
implementing such changes, and will not appl y such changes to importations entering its 
customs territory prior to the completion of this 60-day notification period. 
 
                                                     
 
3 G/VAL/5 
4 L/532.  WT/L/655 
 Page 3 
 
 
  ANNEX 
  
170410 
 
170490 
 190230 ex190530 (top-quality biscuits) ex190590 (plain biscuits) 
 
240220  ex481810 (toilet paper) 481820 
ex482020 (32-page exercise books) 
ex482020 (48-page exercise books) ex482020 (96-100-page exercise books) ex482020 (192-200-page exercise books) ex482020 (practical work exercise books)  
630710 
ex7323 (kitchen or other household articles and parts thereof, of iron and steel)  761519 ex8506 (simple R6 batteries) 
ex8506 (simple R20 batteries) 
 871110  871200  
__________