The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Committee on Customs Valuation has reviewed 63 notifications on Customs Valuation legislation of member states
and adopted a report aimed at enhancing transparency.
At its formal meeting held on 10 November at the organization’s headquarters in Geneva, the Committee reviewed notifications from customs valuation legislation of 37 members, including the first notifications received from Guyana and Indonesia, while the reviews for Cabo Verde, Mauritania, Philippines, and Senegal were concluded.
The Chair of the Committee, Ms Judith Yu-Ying Kuo (Chinese Taipei) noted that 121 member states have now notified their national legislature of customs valuation, and 94 Members had provided responses to the issues regarding implementation of the WTO’s Customs Valuation Agreement.
The Committee also adopted a draft report of WTO’s Council on Trade in Goods on the status of customs valuation notifications. The report was requested by the Chair of the Goods Council with the aim of improving the rate, quality and timeliness of customs valuation notifications. The report underlines the value of experience sharing, workshops and outreach to increase the Committee’s understanding of the challenges faced by members unable to meet their notification obligations.
An official from the World Customs Organization’s (WCO)Technical Committee on Customs Valuation shared information on a new instrument adopted at its 61st session in October. The instrument is an explanatory note on “price actually paid or payable”, which is a fundamental principal of the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement’s valuation methodology.
The official also updated the Committee on the WCO’s draft Guidelines on E-Commerce Fulfilment and its Implications for Customs, which was developed by the WCO Permanent Technical Committee. The Guidelines are aimed at helping members and stakeholders in dealing with the growing volume of small, low-value consignments ordered online and destined for consumers.
The Committee also agreed to hold one or more information sessions to understand better Pre Shipment Inspections (PSI) procedures and to hold further discussions on the Independent Entity, which is a dispute settlement mechanism under the WTO’s Agreement on Preshipment Inspection.
Preshipment inspection is the practice of employing specialized private companies to check shipment details – essentially price, quantity, quality – of goods in international trades.
