. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/VAL/W/199 
11 November 2010 
 (10-6032) 
Committee on Customs Valuation Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 22 OF THE CUSTOMS  
VALUATION AGREEMENT 
 
Questions from Norway to Ukraine
 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 10 November 2010, is circulated at the request of the delegation of Norway.  
_______________ 
 
 
Questions from Norway regarding Ukraine’s legislation, notified in G/VAL/N/1/UKR/1
. 
 
 Abstract from the Customs Code, 11 July 2002, No. 92-IV “The customs Code of Ukraine” 
(section XI, with changes and amendments):  
The general rule on customs valuation, as set out in Article 1.1. of the Agreement on the implementation of Article VII of the Gene ral Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (the 
"Customs Valuation Agreement"), is that "The  customs value of imported goods shall be the 
transaction value , ...".   
 
 Article 1 describes at the same time, exhaustiv ely, the situations in which one may use other 
valuation methods.  The subsidiary valuation methods are set out in Articles 2 through 7, which apply 
in ascending order.  The customs authorities have to substantiate the need  to depart from the 
transaction value in Article 1.  Furthermore, customs authorities have to substantiate the need to move 
from the method in Article 2 to Article 3, from Article 3 to Article 4 and so forth. 
  Article 266 of the Customs Code of Ukraine appears to give precedence to the transaction 
value as further described in Article 267.  However, in practice, there seems to be wide-spread use of 
"reference prices" (also termed "indicative prices"), whose level, application and relationship to the 
Customs Code of Ukraine as well as the Customs Va luation Agreement is unclear.  Norway notes in 
this respect that basing customs valuation on "min imum import prices" (minimum customs values) is 
prohibited by the Customs Valuation Agreement Articl e 7 as well as article 273(6) of the Customs 
Code of Ukraine.    
 In this respect Norway has the following questions: 
 
a) What is the legal basis for the reference price system as applied by Ukraine?  Please refer both 
to the Customs Code of Ukraine as well as to the Customs Valuation Agreement. 
 
b) Please provide a detailed description of the reference price system, including a detailed 
description of how the reference prices are calculate d.  Describe how often they are amended.   
 G/VAL/W/199 
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  c) Norway has received numerous reports of the a pplication of differentiated reference prices 
(indicative prices) for fish, and different leve ls of reference prices for the same goods in 
different customs offices. 
 
 Can Ukraine describe what measures it has taken or  will take to ensure that where it is legally 
permissible to apply a reference price any such reference price is applied uniformly all across 
Ukraine and equally to all importers? 
 d) How does Ukraine ensure that any reference pri ce (indicative price) is known to the importers 
in advance of importation?  In particular, where are such prices published as required by 
Article 12 of the Customs Valuation Agreement? 
 e) Article 267 provides that "The method of definition of the customs value at the price of the 
contract concerning the goods imported (cos t of operation), is used in case when:" 
  This language is slightly different from the la nguage of Article 1.1 of the Customs Valuation 
Agreement, where it is stated that "The customs value of imported goods shall be the 
transaction value (...) provided:" 
  Does Ukraine agree that transacti on value shall be accepted in all
 cases, except where the 
specific conditions of sub-paragraphs (a) – (d) of paragraph 1 of Article 1 of the Customs 
Valuation Agreement are fulfilled? 
 
 
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