. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/VAL/W/189 
3 March 2010 
 (10-1168) 
Committee on Customs Valuation Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 22 OF THE CUSTOMS  
VALUATION AGREEMENT 
 
 
Egypt's answers to the United States ques tions in the Customs Valuation Committee
 
 
  The following communication, dated 15 February  2010, is circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Egypt.  
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 1. How are the Interpretative No tes made available to customs officials?  That is, what 
document does an official look to, or reference, in order to apply the Interpretative Notes? 
 
 The Customs Authority is committed to applyi ng the interpretative notes according to Article 
14 of the Customs Valuation Agreement (which states that the notes at Annex I  to this Agreement is 
an integral part of it and the Articles of this Agre ement are to be read and applied in conjunction with 
their respective notes.  Annexes II and III also form an  integral part of this Agreement).  According to 
this, most of the interpretative notes of the Custom s Valuation Agreement have been integrated and 
stated in Chapter 4 of the Ministerial Decree No. 10 for year 2006.  It is also worth mentioning that 
these interpretative notes have been published in the Customs bulletin number 329 for the year 1999 
and the Customs booklet for the same which incl udes the Customs Valuation Agreement.  These 
documents are considered the working tools of the Customs' employees.  2. Article 4 of the Agreement states that “at the request of the importer, the order of application 
of Articles 5 and 6 shall be reversed.”  However,  Article 24 of Egypt’s Ministerial Decree No.10 
states that the order of application shall be re versed, “provided that the Customs Directorate 
approves.”  Can Egypt please explain how, when, a nd at whose request and approval the application 
of Articles 5 and 6 can be reversed?  
 Article 24 of the Ministerial Decree No. 10 for year 2006 which corresponds to Article 4 of 
the Customs Valuation Agreement which states that if the customs value of the imported goods cannot 
be determined under the provisions of Articles 1, 2 and 3, then "at the request of the importer, the 
order of application of Articl es 5 and 6 shall be reversed." 
 
 However, according to Article 24 of the Ministerial Decree No. 10 for year 2006, in case the 
importer requests to reverse the order of the appl ication of Articles 5 and 6, he should gain the 
approval of the relevant Customs Directorate (man ager of the customs site) which examines this 
request and approves it if appropriate.  According to Article 33 of the Ministerial Decision, the 
importer shall have the right to have a written e xplanation from the Customs, as to how the customs 
value of the commodity subject to  valuation has been determined. 
 G/VAL/W/189 
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   It is worth mentioning that the requirement of the approval of the Customs Directorate to 
reverse the order of Articles 5 and 6 in the Agreement is one of the rights of Egypt under the Agreement.  Egypt, as a developing country, has e xpressed its reservation on Article 4 of the Customs 
Valuation Agreement (refer to WT/Let/19 dated 15 June 1995), according to pa ragraph 3 in Annex 3 
which states that  
 
"Developing countries which consider that the reversal of the sequential order at the 
request of the importer provided for in Artic le 4 of the Agreement may give rise to 
real difficulties for them may wish to make a reservation to Article 4 in the following terms: 
‘The Government of ... reserves the right to  provide that the relevant provision of 
Article 4 of the Agreement shall apply only when the customs authorities agree to request to reserve the order of Articles 5 and 6.’ If developing countries make such a 
reservation, the other Members shall consent to it under Article 21 of this Agreement." 
3. Could Egypt please confirm that importers can appeal all customs valuation decisions to the 
judiciary, and that they can do so without being subject to a penalty?    The Ministerial Decree No. 10 for year 200 6 for issuing the Executive Regulation for the 
Customs Law No. 66 for year 1963 and its amendments  gave the importer the right to appeal all 
customs valuation decisions to the judiciary in conformity with the provisions of Articles of the 
Customs Valuation Agreement and Article 10 of GATT 1994 as follows: 
 
a. Article 31 which states that goods may be releas ed at the importer's request after submission 
of a financial guarantee equal to the amount of customs taxes and other duties and taxes, if 
determination of value as a basis for the tax ta kes time to submit documents or explanations 
for the purposes of valuation. 
 b. Article 33 which states that upon written request , submitted to the manager of the Customs 
post, the importer shall have the right to have an explanation in writing from Customs, as to 
how the customs value of the commodity s ubject to valuation has been determined. 
 
c. Article 34 stating that an importer or whoever he  legally authorizes has the right to file an 
appeal against the decision of the Customs Valuation Committee of the Customs post to the 
relevant post manager, general di rector or head of central directorate before restoring to 
arbitration. 
 
d. Articles 57 and 58 of the Customs Law No. 66 fo r year 1963 and its amendments gave the 
right to the importer to resort to Customs arb itration.  The Customs Arbitration Committee is 
headed by a judge from the Ministry of Justi ce in case of initial arbitration and a Judicial 
Counsellor in case of higher arbitration.  Th e Customs Arbitration Committee includes the 
importer and his representative, and an arbitr ation, unlike judicial courts, guarantees the 
importer quick dispute settlement as well as justice in its final decision. 
 
e. The importer can also resort to the judicial aut hority directly and its decision will be final and 
obligatory for both the importer and the Customs without imposing any penalties.  This decision cannot be appealed except in cases pr ovided for in the law No. 27 for year 1994 
referred to in paragraph 5 of Article 57 of the Customs Law No. 66 for year 1963. 
 
 
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