Download Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa

WTO Seminar on Technical Assistance in
Customs Valuation
Developing capacity building in the area
of customs valuation
- a perspective from the Commonwealth
Secretariat
Presented by
Angela Strachan
Chief Programme Officer
Special Advisory Services Division
Commonwealth Secretariat
Trade and Commonwealth States

The Commonwealth:
– 54 countries
– 30% of the world ’s population
– 32 small states
– 14 LDCs
– 23% of world trade
– 40% of WTO membership
Trade and Commonwealth States
WORK PROGRAMME IN TRADE
 Goals:
 To assist developing countries to protect their interests and
benefit from trade, investment and new information
technology
 To provide practical assistance that supports their efforts to
achieve the Millennium Development Goals
 To promote international attention to and provide support for
the special needs of small states
Trade and Commonwealth States
 Assistance to:
Develop and implement trade policy capacity
Promote regional integration
Expand enterprise development
Implement emerging priority areas for the
Commonwealth
ACV Implementation concerns

Economic, political and infrastructural challenges:
 High turnover of customs personnel in some
administrations
 Fear of loss of Customs revenue since imported
duties and related taxes still represent a
significant % of total revenue in most countries
 Political instability
 Informal trade
 Presence of PSI companies
 Insufficient political will
Trade Capacity Building
Customs Valuation
– CFTC/WTO sponsored Training programmes to better understand Article
V11 of the GATT and to better implement spirit of the Agreement (ACV)

Accomplishments to date
2000 and 2001
 ACV training programme done for 33 countries from Africa,
Asia,Pacific and the Caribbean
2002
 34 customs officials from English speaking Africa will take part in 2
week training course in South Africa (11-22, Nov)
2003
 French instructed Course designed for Francophone African
countries (possible venue- Mauritius)
– Training programmes are unique: combination of lectures, case
studies,group work and on-the-job training
– Plus Handbook on Frequently Asked Questions on Customs Valuation
Customs Valuation Training
beneficiary countries 2000 - 2002
Barbados, Dominica, Guyana,
Jamaica,Kiribati,Tonga,Tuvalu,
Solomon Islands,Vanuatu,
Samoa,Maldives, Tanzania
Malaysia, Bangladesh, Sri
Lanka, Ghana,Nigeria,
Maldives, Brunei Darussalam,
Fiji, Papua New Guinea
Sierra Leone, The Gambia,
Mozambique, Botswana
+
Philippines,Laos, Bhutan,
Mongolia, Nepal *
(N.B. Non-Commonwealth funded
by WTO)
Mauritius, Zambia, Uganda, Kenya,
Swaziland,Lesotho,Namibia
Malawi, Seychelles,Zimbabwe
Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Egypt,
Zimbabwe
Project Partners:
WTO, WCO,
plus Host country
Revenue Authority/Customs
Administration
-India (2000, 2001)
-South Africa (2002)
ACV Implementation concerns
High levels of tariff encourage undervaluation
and other valuation fraud
 Commonwealth developing countries rely heavily
on revenue from customs duties

Avg. 30 -60 percent of Govt. Revenue
 More time required to develop infrastructure including:
– legislation
– human resources
– administrative procedures
ACV Implementation concerns

Core capacity building needs:
– Design and adopt model customs legislation
– Establish Valuation Divisions
– Design and deliver public education programmes
– Develop training material incl.procedures manuals
– Acquire or update computer systems
– Develop declaration forms
– Develop valuation databases
– Develop and implement appeals mechanisms
ACV Implementation concerns
Computed value method presents some difficulty because
of inability to get:
 Information :
– On cost of production in developed countries
– Other elements of cost

Other Issues such as:
- Distance from manufacturing locations
– Confidentiality regarding commercial costing
– Insufficient confidence in levels/type of mutual assistance
provided by customs administrations in developed countries
ACV Technical Assistance
Best Practices

Modality for training programmes
– practical courses required
Target group for training need to be senior
officials
 Sustainability of assistance is an issue
 South -south assistance is desirable in many
cases

ACV technical assistance needs to
enhance WTO compliance






In depth training on the ACV
Attachments to suitable administrations of comparable size
and effective competence based on applying the Agreement
Assistance to develop the machinery for appeals as
provided for in legislation
Introduction of computerisation and databases in Valuation
Divisions - essential to facilitate administration of the
identical value method, similar value method and
deductive value method
Assistance with developing and administering an ACV
implementation plan and work programme
Assistance with developing funding briefs for donors
Notes for Consideration
Problems universal but solutions local - so each country
encouraged to develop recommendations to solve its
own constraints
 Further CFTC technical assistance possible
particularly where other donors have an interest.
