RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/ACC/AFG/6 
26 July 2010 
 
 (10-3990) 
Working Party on the  
Accession of Afghanistan Original:   English 
 
 
 
ACCESSION OF AFGHANISTAN 
 
Information on Implementation and Administration  
of the Customs Valuation Agreement  
  
 The following submission, dated 30 June 2010, is  being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.  
 
_______________ WT/ACC/AFG/6 
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  1. Questions concerning Article 1: 
(a) Sales between related persons:  (i) Are sales between related persons subject to special provisions? 
Answer:
 
Rules on customs valuation are set out in two legal instruments:  the Customs Code of Afghanistan 
and the Council of Ministers Regulation No. 38 "O n Determining the Price of Goods in Customs." 
Valuation methods are defined in the Regulation No. 38.  Article 14 of that Regulation ("Documents 
Lacking Credibility") states that trade documents in transactions between related parties are not 
acceptable [but] the customs value determination sh all be made according to the valuation methods 
defined in the Regulation.   
Related parties are defined in Article 14 as: 
- Persons who are relatives (defined as children,  spouse, parents, grandparents, or immediate 
family members of one's husband or wife); 
- Persons who are employees or trade ma nagers of the same person/entity; 
- Persons who are legal business partners; 
- Persons who are employee and employer; 
- Where a person has a right to 5 per cent or more of the shares of the buyer and seller; - One of the parties directly or indirectly controls the other or both are controlled by a third 
party; and 
- If the seller or buyer is the representative, distributor or business agent for the other. 
There are no other special provisions in the Customs Code or Regulation No. 38 concerning the 
customs valuation of goods in related-party transactions. 
 (ii) Is the fact of intercompany prices  prima facie considered as grounds for 
regarding the respective prices as being influenced? 
Answer:
 
See response to Question 1(a)(i), above.  (iii) What is the provision for giving the communication of the afore-mentioned 
grounds in writing if the importer so requests?  (Article 1.2(a)) 
Answer:
 
Article 30 of the Customs Code contains general ru les on customs decisions.  Under that Article, any 
person may request a decision from Customs concerning a particular customs transaction, and Customs is obliged to notify the applicant with a response within 30 days.  Where the decision is 
adverse to the applicant's interests, Customs must provide this decision in writing, with reasons, and 
advise the applicant of rights of appeal.   WT/ACC/AFG/6 
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   (iv) How has Article 1.2(b) been implemented? 
Answer:  
See response to Question 1(a)(i), above. 
(b) Price of lost or damaged goods: 
Are there any special provisions or practical a rrangements concerning the valuation of lost or 
damaged goods? 
Answer:  
There are no special provisions concerning the valu ation of lost or damaged goods in the Customs 
Code or Regulation No. 38.   
However, Article 148 of the Customs Code (Non O ccurrence of Debt) states that no customs debt 
shall be deemed to be incurred in respect of goo ds under customs supervision that were lost or 
destroyed due to force majeure . 
In addition, Article 160 of the Customs Code (" Remission or Refund for Defective Goods") provides 
for a refund of duty paid on imported goods under cer tain conditions where, after release by Customs, 
the goods are determined to be defective, not in accordance with contract, or "rejected by an 
authorized organ of the State." 
2. How has the provision of Article 4 to a llow the importer an option to reverse the order 
of application of Articles 5 and 6 been implemented? 
Answer:  
Article 4 of the Agreement has not been include d in the Customs Code or Regulation No. 38. 
3. How has Article 5.2 been implemented? 
Answer:  
The provisions of Article 5.2 have not been incor porated in the Customs Code or Regulation No. 38. 
4. How has Article 6.2 been implemented? 
Answer:  
The provisions of Article 5.2 have not been incor porated in the Customs Code or Regulation No. 38. 
5. Questions concerning Article 7: (a) What provisions have been made for making value determinations pursuant to 
Article 7? 
Answer:
 
Article 8 of Regulation No. 38, which sets out a "fall-back" method of valuation where the other 
methods cannot be used, allows for use of those othe r methods with adjustments.  In particular, it 
states: WT/ACC/AFG/6 
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  "If the price of goods cannot be determined based on the provisions of Articles 3 through 7 of this 
Regulation, some details related to  the goods will be ignored, such as color, quantity, period, etc., and 
the customs value will be determined on th e basis of one of the aforesaid methods." 
There are no additional provisions in the Customs Code or Regulation No. 7 implementing Article 7 
of the Agreement. 
(b) What is the provision for informing the importer of the customs value determined under 
Article 7? 
Answer:
 
See response to Question 1(a)(iii), above.   In addition, where Customs uses information for cu stoms valuation purposes that is obtained from 
sources other than the seller or buyer, Customs is  obligated by Article 17 of Regulation No. 38 to 
advise the declarant about the source of that information. 
(c) Are the prohibitions found in Article 7.2 delineated? 
Answer:
 
See response to Question 5(a), above. 6. How have the options found in Article 8.2 been handled?  In the case of f.o.b. 
application, are ex-factor y prices also accepted? 
Answer:
 
The provision in question is incorporated in Article  9 of Regulation No. 38, which provides that costs 
of transport, loading and offloading, and insurance are to be included in customs value.  
7. Where is the rate of exchange pub lished, as required by Article 9.1? 
Answer:  
Pursuant to Article 25 of the Customs Code, a custom s value must be computed in Afghan currency at 
a rate of exchange that is established by the Afghanistan Bank.  
The rate announced by the Bank on the last worki ng day of each month shall be valid from the 6th day 
of the following month until the 6th day of the next following mont h, unless there is variation of 
5 per cent or more in the official rate during the in terim period.  In that case, a new rate is provided, 
which takes effect two working days following its announcement.   
The Da Afghanistan Bank publishes the official exchange rate at http://www.centralbank.gov.af . 
8. What steps have been taken to ensure confidentiality, as required by Article 10? 
Answer:  
Article 13 of the Customs Code expressly prohibits  Customs from disclosing information about the 
valuation of specific good, the names, addresses or other details about supp liers of goods, testing  WT/ACC/AFG/6 
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  results, or information that is provided to Cust oms on a confidential basis, without the express 
permission of the person who provided the informa tion and without legal authority to do so.   
9. Questions concerning Article 11: 
(a) What rights of appeal are open to the importer or any other person? 
Answer:  
Rights of appeal against Customs decisions are de fined in Article 18 of the Customs Code.  That 
article provides that any "interested party" may re quest a review of a disputed customs decision 
through any competent regional customs authority to  the General Directorate of Customs, within 
10 days from the day of notification of the decision by Customs.   
The General Directorate of Customs must issue a decision within 20 days on the outcome of the 
review, unless the delay in making the decision is due to an omission by the applicant.  In the event 
the General Director of Customs does not issue a decision within this time period, the law provides 
that the request shall be presumed to have b een decided in favor of the applicant.   
If the applicant objects to the decision of the Gene ral Directorate, Article 18 of the Customs Code 
provides that the applicant may submit an appeal to the Customs Arbitration Administration.  This is a 
three-person panel established under the Ministry of Finance comprised of a legal expert, an 
economist, and a customs and commercial affairs expert .  Such appeals must be filed within 15 days 
of receipt of Customs decision, and a security of 2 per cent of the contested amount must be provided as a condition of the appeal. 
Pursuant to Article 13 of the Council of Minist ers Regulation "On Customs Arbitration", a written 
decision by the Customs Arbitration Panel shall be issued within 30 days to the appellant and other 
parties to the case.  As provided in Article 14 of th at Regulation, the appellant has the right to submit 
an appeal to the relevant commercial court within 15  days of the issuance of the arbitration decision.  
However, the regulation provides that decisions of th e Customs Arbitration Panel shall be final in the 
following cases: 
- The amount of customs debt in disp ute is 50,000 Afghanis (Af) or less; 
- The issue addressed concerns smuggling and administrative penalties have been assessed 
under the Customs Code; and 
- The appellant fails to make an appeal to th e relevant commercial court within the required 
15 day period. 
(b) How is he to be informed of his right to further appeal? 
Answer:
 
Right of further appeal are defined in the Cust oms Code (see response to Question 9(a), above).  WT/ACC/AFG/6 
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  10. Provide information on the publication, as required by Article 12, of: 
(a) (i) the relevant national laws; 
 (ii) the regulations concerning the application of the Agreement; 
 (iii) the judicial decision and administrative rulings of general application relating to 
the Agreement; 
 (iv) general or specific laws being referred to in the rules of implementation or 
application. 
Answer:
 
Laws and regulations are published in the offici al gazette of  the Ministry of Justice at 
www.moj.gov.af, and also in the hard copy version of the official gazette.  As for judicial decisions 
and administrative rulings, these are not published. 
(b) Is the publication of further rules antici pated?  Which topics would they cover? 
Answer:  
Afghanistan anticipates that changes to the Custom s Code and/or Regulati on No. 38 will be required 
for purposes of closer conformity to the valuation methods and other obligations of the Agreement. 
Afghanistan also anticipates the issuance of rule s to implement the Interpretative Notes of the 
Agreement, the Decision on Software Valuation, and the Decision on Treatment of Interest Charges. 
11. Questions concerning Article 13: 
(a) How is the obligation of Article 13 (last sentence) being dealt with in the respective 
legislation? 
Answer:  
The Article 13 obligation has not yet been incorporated in national legislation.   
(b) Have additional explanations been laid down? 
Answer:  
Please see response to previous question.  
12. Questions concerning Article 16: 
(a) Does the respective national legislation contain a provision requiring customs 
authorities to give an explanation in writing as to how the customs value was determined? 
Answer:
 
Please see the response to Question 1(a)(i), above.  WT/ACC/AFG/6 
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  (b) Are there any further regulations concerning an above-mentioned request? 
Answer:  
There is no such provision adopted concerning above mentioned request. 
13. How have the Interpretative Not es of the Agreement been included? 
Answer:  
Please see response to Question 10(b). 
14. How have the provisions of the Decision of 26 April 1984 on the Treatment of Interest 
Charges in the Customs Value of Imported  Goods (Val/6/Rev.1) been implemented? 
Answer:  
Please see response to Question 10(b). 15. For those countries applying paragraph 2 of the Decision of 24 September 1984 on the 
Valuation of Carrier Media Bearing Software for Data Processing Equipment (Val/8), 
how have the provisions of this paragraph been implemented? 
Answer:
 
Please see response to Question 10(b). - For all questions listed above, an indication of the reference is requested. 
Customs Code of Afghanistan. 
Council of Ministers Regulation No. 38 "On De termining the Price of Goods in Customs". 
Council of Ministers Regulation "On Customs Arbitration".  
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