WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/VAL/8/Add.15 
7 October 2005 
 (05-4540) 
Committee on Customs Valuation    
  
INFORMATION ON TECHNICAL  ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES 
 
Addendum
 
   At its meeting of 12 May 1995, the Committe e on Customs Valuation agreed that greater 
transparency of technical assist ance activities, pursuant to Article  20.3 of the Agreement on 
Implementation of Article VII of the GATT 1994, w ould be ensured if the information documents 
prepared for the WCO Technical Committee on Custom s Valuation on such activities were also made 
available as WTO documents.  
 This document provides information on co mpleted WCO technical assistance activities 
reproduced from WCO document VT0452, of 20 September 2005.  It also includes information on technical assistance activities carried out by WCO Members reproduced from WCO document VT0454, of 20 September 2005. The present doc ument updates GATT document VAL/W/29/Rev.9, 
and WTO documents G/VAL/W/4 and G/VAL/8 and Adds.1-14.  
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INTRODUCTION 
1. Article 20.3 of the Agreement provides for the establishment of technical assistance 
programmes for developing countries.  The Article goes on to state that such technical assistance may 
include, inter alia , the training of personnel, assistance in preparing implementation measures, access 
to sources of information regarding customs valua tion methodology, and advice on the application of 
the provisions of the Agreement.  In this regard, it is recognized that for developing countries which 
are, by virtue of being Parties to the Agreement, committed to apply the Agreement at a fixed date or 
which are considering applying it in the near future , it would be a matter of urgent need to have a 
nucleus of customs officers trained in the Code .  Thus, among the various technical assistance 
programmes offered, the training of personnel acquires a degree of priority. 
 2. As provided for in Annex II of the Agre ement, the responsibilities of the Technical 
Committee include the facilitation of technical assistan ce with a view to furthering the international 
acceptance of the Agreement.  The Technical Committee at its first meeting expressed the view that 
the Customs Co-operation Council, through its Secretar iat, could provide co-ordination in developing 
a technical assistance programme in co-operation with member administrations willing to provide 
assistance and other international organizations.  The Council's Plan for the '90s has also placed 
considerable emphasis on the need  for holding seminars and training courses on the GATT Code. 
 
3. At its Eighth Session, the Technical Committee had examined document 31.808 describing 
seminars and training courses organized on customs valuation, especially on the GATT Valuation Agreement, and the activities of the Customs Co -operation Council in this area.  The Committee 
found the document useful and in this regard dire cted the Secretariat to periodically update the 
information. In successive sessions of the Comm ittee, a number of revised or supplementary 
documents were prepared which periodically update d this information.  This document contains 
information provided by the WCO Secretariat of  its most recent technical assistance activities. G/VAL/8/Add.15 
Page 2  
 
 ACTIVITIES OF THE WCO SECRETARIAT 
 
Technical Assistance / Capacity Building Programme
 
 
Recipient Members:  Bhutan  
 
Duration:  24th to 27th May 2005 
Location:  Thimphu Subject:  Application of the WTO Valuation Agreement Type:   National Seminar 
Objectives: To provide technical assistan ce in the context of the WTO Valuation 
Agreement for Member Administration.  The program focused on methods of 
valuation and procedural requirements t ogether with various mechanisms for 
valuation control 
Participants: 27 
Facilitators: One Technical Attaché from the Valuation Sub-Directorate of the WCO and 
two experts from Japanese Customs Administration 
Donor:  Japan  Recipient Members:  Malaysia
 
 
Duration:  30th May to 3rd June 2005 
Location:  Melaka Subject:  Application and maintena nce of WTO Valuation Agreement 
Type:   Regional Workshop Objectives: To upgrade the knowledge and capaci ty of the trainees in terms of the WTO 
Valuation Agreement and valuation controls.  To create greater awareness 
about valuation problems 
Participants: 27 Facilitators: Deputy Director and one Senior Technical Officer from the Valuation 
Sub-Directorate of the WCO, Head RCBO of Bangkok and two experts from Japanese Customs Administration 
Donor:  Japan 
 Recipient Members:  Peru
 
 Duration:  27
th June to 1st July 2005 
Location:  Lima 
Subject:  Implementation of WTO Agreement Type:   National Workshop Objectives: To enable better appreciation of the WTO Valuation Agreement in the 
context of problems encountered by the National Administration in the area of valuation 
Participants: 30 
Facilitators: Mr. Galeano of Argentine Customs Administration as the WCO facilitator    G/VAL/8/Add.15 
 Page 3 
 
 
 ACTIVITIES OF WCO MEMBERS 
 
Technical Assistance/Capacity building Activities  
 
UNITED STATES  
 
Bilateral Initiatives  
 
Region Country Training and/or 
assessment requested Requesting 
Organization Dates for 
Programme  Target 
Audience 
Europe Norway Post Importation Audit Government 
of Norway 10/04/04 to 
10/08/04 Management 
and Director 
level 
Europe Ukraine Post Importation Audit Department of 
Commerce 10/18/04 to 
10/22/04 Senior and 
mid level 
managers 
Asia Bahrain Post Importation Audit / 
overview of US port operations Department of 
State Government of Bahrain 06/20/05 to 
06/24/05 Senior 
managers 
 Multilateral Initiatives
 
 
Region Country Training and/or 
assessment requested Requesting 
Organization Dates for 
Programme  Target 
Audience 
Americas & 
Caribbean Andean
 
Bolivia 
Colombia Ecuador Peru Venezuela 1.  Country Assessment 
Guayaquil, Ecuador 
  2. Country Assessment Bogota, Colombia  
 
3. Country Assessment La Paz, Bolivia   
4. Country Assessment 
Caracas, Venezuela   Post – Importation 
Audit training / Port 
visit  Short-term Advisory Program Andean 
Community/ 
United States Agency for International Development  
 1. Completed  
10/4/04 
10/8/04  2. Completed 10/18/04 10/22/04 
 
3. Completed 10/25/04 10/29/04  
4. Completed 
11/01/04 11/05/04  Planned for 
Nov. 2005 
  Planned for Dec. 2005 
 1. Senior level 
valuation 
managers  2. Senior level valuation managers 
 
3. Senior level valuation managers  
4. Senior level 
valuation managers  Senior level 
and mid level 
managers  Senior level and mid level managers 
 
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