Customs Valuation

This guide to the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement is based on the authors' experiences of teaching its finer points to customs officials and policy-makers around the world. Covering the methods of valuation and the provisions on enforcement, implementation and dispute settlement, the authors give practical examples, explain interpretative decisions of national and international customs bodies, and analyse the history of its negotiation. Written as a learning tool, it helps both new and experienced policy-makers, customs officials, importers and exporters to gain a deeper understanding of the Agreement's function and aims.

Rev. ed. of : A businessman's guide to the GATT customs valuation code. 1980.

This book analyzes how today's system of international trade law and international economic relations has evolved over the last six decades. Focusing on the major innovations that came with the inception of the World Trade Organization (WTO) with its various agreements in 1994, it also provides in-depth commentary on the intense debate over important matters that remain unsettled. Topics covered include the WTO dispute settlement mechanism; the General Agreement on Trade in Services (OATS); the Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMS); intellectual property rights – the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS); areas still covered by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1947; the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) concept; special provisions relating to agriculture and textiles; sanitary and phytosanitary measures; technical barriers to trade; pre-shipment inspection; and import licensing procedures. The book would be an excellent resource for scholars as well as practitioners working in the field of international arbitration and trade laws.

Global Trade Law Series, Volume 58 Customs valuation is a key element in the corpus of international trade law. Despite the facts that the /WTO Valuation Agreement 1994 remains unchanged in all material respects and that it has been adopted by virtually every trading nation on the planet, there are fissures in the system preventing consensus on many contentious questions. This extremely knowledgeable analysis by a world-renowned specialist lawyer in the field—by concentrating on diverging views on the nature of the central feature of the Agreement, the definition of the price actually paid or payable (PAPP)—provides the most extensive study available of the origins and architecture of the Valuation Agreement and its intersection with transfer pricing norms. Among much else, the author fully explains differing views on such questions as the following: criteria governing royalties and license fees; acceptability of the First Sale for Export doctrine; role of transport charges in valuing dutiable assists; status of interest payments on deferred payments; valuation of carrier media bearing software for data processing equipment; inclusion or exclusion of transport charges in the PAPP; status of the WTO’s moratorium on electronic transmissions; status of payments of money for tools and other materials used in producing the imported goods; and status of international instruments of traffic. The author expertly assesses interpretations of the Valuation Agreement as presented in the instruments of the World Customs Organization and in the administrative and judicial fora of the United States, Canada, and the European Union. This matchless book takes a giant step toward “real-world” consensus on the daunting questions of custom valuation. Customs and international tax professionals, as well as academic scholars, will come away from its in-depth coverage with an enhanced ability to discern the logic inherent in the Valuation Agreement, a greater awareness of current trends and their origins in authoritative customs valuation bodies, and improved confidence when approaching customs valuation questions.

This book describes the institutional system the basic principles and the vast variety of rules of the World Trade Organization. It aims at clarifying the structure and the general concepts, in order to enable the reader to get a better understanding of the issues at stake in many of the discussions and controversies on world trade.

This book discusses the intricate role of transfer pricing and customs value in international business environment. It examines the relationship between valuation for transfer pricing purposes and valuation for customs, and the significance of the relationship for multinational enterprises, tax authorities and customs administrations. The book begins by reviewing relevant international standards such as the OECD Guidelines and the GATT/WTO Customs Valuation Agreement. This is followed by a discussion of related issues such as VAT and administrative matters. Country chapters provide an overview of the applicable legislation and valuation methods, and case studies allow direct comparison between the practices of the different countries. The book concludes by summarizing the existing relationship between transfer pricing valuations and customs valuations, and by suggesting possible solutions towards a more integrated approach.