WTO Customs Valuation Committee Reviews with WCO on New Rules to include
Price to be Paid, Adopts Transparency Report
At its 10
November meeting, the WTO Committee on Customs Valuation reviewed 63
notifications from 37 members on national customs valuation laws, including
first-time submissions from Guyana and Indonesia. Reviews for Cabo Verde,
Mauritania, the Philippines, and Senegal were completed. The Committee noted
that 121 members have now notified their legislation and 94 have submitted
checklist responses. It adopted a draft report to the Council on Trade in Goods
aimed at improving the rate and quality of customs valuation notifications
through experience-sharing and outreach.
The World
Customs Organization briefed the Committee on an explanatory note on “price
actually paid or payable,” adopted at its October session, and on draft
guidelines for managing the rising volume of low-value e-commerce consignments.
The
Committee also agreed to hold information sessions on preshipment inspection
(PSI) to deepen understanding of PSI activities and discuss the PSI Independent
Entity, a dispute settlement mechanism under the PSI Agreement.
At
its formal meeting on 10 November the WTO's Committee on Customs Valuation
reviewed 63 notifications pertaining to the customs valuation legislation of
members and adopted a report aimed at enhancing transparency through improved
notifications. It also heard from the World Customs Organization on its recent
work.
World Customs Organization
(WCO)
An
official from the World Customs Organization's Technical Committee on Customs
Valuation shared information on a new instrument adopted at its 61st session in
October: 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 aim to help members and stakeholders in dealing with the growing
volume of small, low-value consignments ordered online and destined for
consumers.
Notifications
At
a formal meeting on 10 November the WTO's Committee on Customs Valuation
reviewed 63 notifications pertaining to the customs valuation legislation of 37
members, including the first notifications received from Guyana and Indonesia. Four of the member reviews - for Cabo Verde,
Mauritania, Philippines, and Senegal - were concluded at the meeting.
The
Chair of the Committee, Ms Judith Yu-Ying Kuo (Chinese Taipei) noted that 121
members had now notified their national legislation on customs valuation, and
94 Members had provided responses to the checklist of issues regarding
implementation of the WTO's Customs Valuation Agreement.
The
Committee also adopted a draft report to the WTO's Council on Trade in Goods on
the status of customs valuation notifications to the Committee. 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.
Information session on
preshipment inspection (PSI)
The
Committee also agreed to hold one or more information sessions to understand
better preshipment inspection activities and to hold further discussions on the
PSI 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 ordered
overseas.
Next meeting
The
next meeting of the Committee will take place on 8 May 2026.