RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/ACC/SAU/38/Rev.1
24 June 1999
(99-2588)
Working Party on the Accession
of the Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaOriginal:  English
ACCESSION OF THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA
Implementation of the Customs Valuation Agreement
Revision
The following Action Plan for the implementa tion of the Customs Valuation Agreement has
been received from the Ministry of Comm erce of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
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1. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is making serious efforts for implementing the Agreement on
Customs Valuation.  Details of actions already taken and of the on-going and future programmes toimplement the Agreement are given in the following paragraphs.
Actions Already Taken
2. The following actions have been taken during the last two or three years:
(i)  a Committee was established in the Customs Department in mid-1997 responsible for
preparing the groundwork for implementing th e Customs Valuation Agreement.  The
Committee consists of representatives of the related customs divisions;
(ii)  members of the Committee visited Australia, the Philippines and Singapore to
exchange views with the customs officials of those countries and to exchange ideas
on the implementation of the Agreement, including in particular the programme for
modernization and computerization of customs valuation data and procedures;
(iii)  translation into Arabic of the text of the Customs Valuation Agreement and of the
Explanatory Notes (issued by the Customs Cooperation Council) has been undertaken
and completed;
(iv)  preparation of a programme and curriculum, in Arabic, for training courses for
customs officials to acquaint them with the provisions of the Customs Valuation
Agreement and with the techniques and procedures of customs valuation.  Inparticular, the following material has been prepared:
- instructor’s portfolio;- trainees’ portfolio;WT/ACC/SAU/38/Rev.1
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- transparencies for use in training courses;
- practical exercises and case studies to be used as training material;- preliminary studies on creating an electronic database on values of imported goods.
(v)  a tentative plan was prepared to amend Article 51 of the Executive Schedule of the
Customs Law, so as to bring it in line with the Customs Valuation Agreement.
On-going Programme
3. The Committee mentioned in paragraph 2 (i) meets regularly to review progress and to ensure
timely implementation of the programme.  The fo llowing elements of the programme are being
implemented at present:
(i)  the translated Arabic version of the Customs Valuation Agreement and the
Explanatory Notes are under study by the Committee with a view to getting a very
clear idea of what the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would have to do;
(ii)  national customs valuation laws of some WTO Members, including countries in the
region, have been obtained and translated into Arabic to get an idea about how othercountries have implemented the Agreement.  These have been examined by the
Committee;
(iii)  the Committee is also studying the practical problems that developing countries are
facing in implementing the provisions of the Agreement;
(iv)  a training programme for trainers and for customs officials at the Customs
Headquarters and at different customs ports and airports is under implementation.
Details are as follows:
- some customs officials were sent to Egypt in 1998 for training as customs
trainers;
- a course was organized in May-June 1998 to train 30 customs officials as
trainers;
- about 30 intensive training courses on customs valuation were held in 1998 at
different customs ports, airports and customs stations. About 900 customs
officials were trained in these courses;
- 13 training courses will be completed in 1999, which will train about 600
customs officials.
(v)  the subject of customs valuation has been added to the special courses taught at the
Institute of Public Administration;
Future Programme
4. The following are the elements of the future programme for the implementation of the
Customs Valuation Agreement:WT/ACC/SAU/38/Rev.1
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(i)  draft regulations on customs valuation will be ready by the end of 1999.  Preliminary
draft was already sent to the WTO Secretariat;
(ii)  the legislative process will be initiated by the beginning of 2000;
(iii)  administrative guidelines and manuals will be drafted and finalized by the end of
2001;
(iv)  implementation of the Customs Valuation Agreement requires, as a necessary pre-
condition, the establishment of a computerized database on customs values. Work on
a modernized and computerized database will be completed by the end of 2001 with
all customs ports, airports and customs stations connected to the database;
(v)  a programme for modernization of customs procedures will be undertaken as from
1999 and completed by the time of implementation of the Agreement.  In theimplementation of this programme the latest international developments, and
practices and procedures of WTO member countries will be studied with a view to
devising modern and efficient procedures for customs valuation;
(vi)  Saudi Arabia will hopefully start implementing the Customs Valuation Agreement on
an experimental basis by the year 2001;
(vii)  full and final implementation of the Agreement will be made from the beginning of
2002;
(viii)  training programmes for customs staff will continue in the years 2000 and 2001.
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