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 12 December 2024 to 10 November 2025 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 two formal meetings. The first meeting took place on 9 May 2025 (_G/VAL/M/79) and was chaired by Mr Sergio PRIETO LÓPEZ (Spain), who was elected on 31 May 2024. The second meeting took place on 10 November 2025 (_G/VAL/M/80)[1] and was chaired by Ms Judith Yu-ying KUO (Chinese Taipei) who was elected on 2 June 2025.

1.3.  Participation in the Committee is open to all WTO Members. In addition, Governments granted observer status by the WTO General Council attend 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.