The first World Trade Organization (WTO) workshop on customs valuation notifications concluded in Geneva on May 24, 2024. Under WTO rules, members are required to notify developments in national laws and regulations on customs valuation and a checklist of issues regarding their legislation. They must also notify the implementation of the Decision on Interest Charges and the Decision on the Valuation of Carrier Media Bearing Software.
Opening the workshop, Committee Chair Omar Cisse explained that this capacity-building activity aims to support members in fulfilling their outstanding notifications. “This workshop was organised in response to the need to improve the level of WTO members' notifications regarding the Customs Valuation Agreement,” he said. “A total of 142 members out of 164 have notified their national customs legislation and 109 have provided responses to the checklist of issues. That is a two-thirds completion rate. After this workshop, participants should be able to complete their outstanding notifications as quickly as possible,” he added.
Featuring experts from the WTO Market Access Division and the World Customs Organization, the workshop sought to enhance participants' expertise on the principles and provisions of the Customs Valuation Agreement. Special attention was paid to preparing for submitting customs valuation notifications. Participants also benefited from Colombia, The Gambia, and the United Kingdom's experiences in their recent notification processes.
Latifa Bzioueche, Senior Customs Inspector from Tunisia who participated in the course, said: “I now have a very clear idea of how to prepare and submit notifications under the Customs Valuation Agreement. In Tunisia, we are already very much in line with the spirit of the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement and all our regulations are based on its requirements. I will now be able to hit the ground running and work with my managers and government to make relevant notifications.”
Another course participant, Olivier Libii Libii, Principal Inspector of Customs from Cameroon, stated: “From this workshop, we have gained the necessary skills to now prepare and present to our decision-makers what is expected of Cameroon in terms of our pending notifications. We will work on doing so as soon as possible to comply with our obligations as a WTO member.”
Participants also attended a meeting of the Committee on Customs Valuation on May 23 where members reviewed 28 notifications of customs valuation legislation, concluding four reviews.
At this meeting, changes were implemented by the WTO Secretariat to improve committee functioning including using eAgenda and circulating a draft manual describing main aspects of committee work. Members continued with reviewing Pre-Shipment Inspection Agreement triennially which is expected for conclusion this year according to chair notes.
The notification portal can be accessed here.
A handbook on notification requirements under agreement is available here.
More information about customs valuation can be found here.