REPORT (2020) OF THE COMMITTEE ON CUSTOMS
VALUATION
TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS
1. Background
1.1. The
Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade 1994 (the Agreement) entered into force on 1 January 1995. This
report covers the period from 26 October 2019 to 19 October 2020 and
addresses the work undertaken by the Committee on Customs Valuation (the
Committee) in respect of the objectives of the Agreement. These are: to provide
greater uniformity and certainty in the implementation of the provisions of
Article VII of the GATT 1994; to establish a fair, uniform and neutral system
for the valuation of goods for customs purposes that precludes the use of
arbitrary or fictitious customs values; to ensure that the basis for valuation
of goods for customs purposes should, to the greatest extent possible, be the
transaction value of the goods being valued; and to secure additional benefits
for the international trade of developing countries.
1.2. During the period under review, the Committee held one informal meeting on 4 June
2020 to discuss continuation
of the work of the Committee during the short to medium term period in
light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Committee agreed to postpone the meeting scheduled for 9 July 2020
until the Autumn of 2020 and to continue its work through written procedures
until then. The Committee thus held one formal meeting on 19 October 2020 (G/VAL/M/70)[1],
chaired by Mr Carlos
GUEVARA (Ecuador) who was elected on 27 July 2020.
1.3. Participation
in the Committee is open to all WTO Members. In addition, Governments granted
observer status by the WTO General Council attended Committee meetings as
observers. At the April 1997 meeting, the Committee granted observer
status to those organizations which until then had observer status on an ad hoc basis, namely UNCTAD and the WCO, as well as to the
ACP and the IADB. The Committee took note of the fact that the World Bank and
the IMF had observer status by virtue of the Agreements between these
organizations and the WTO.
1.4. The
Committee's rules of procedure, which were approved by the Council for Trade in
Goods, are contained in document G/L/146.