WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/VAL/47
11 September 2002
(02-4756)
Committee on Customs Valuation
PROGRAMME FOR THE
SEMINAR ON TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ON CUSTOMS VALUATION
6-7 NOVEMBER 2002
Wednesday, 6 November
Morning
9:30 - 9:50 Registration
10:00 - 10:15 Welcoming remarks by the Director-General of the WTO
Introductory remarks by the Chairman of the Committee on Customs Valuation
Session I: CHALLENGES TO IMPLEMENTING THE AGREEMENT ON CUSTOMS
VALUATION
Moderator: TBC
10:15 – 11:45 Presentations by panellists of ab out 15 minutes each on the following issues:
(Panellists TBC)
Issues for technical assistance donors and providers to incorporate in their
presentations:
- Are there economic/infrastructural/political factors that indicate challenges
in the implementation of the Customs Valuation Agreement in developingcountries?
Examples might include:
- over-emphasis of customs revenue in national income/fear of loss of this
revenue
-  informal trade-  lack of financial, human and technological resources
-  political instability and high-turn over of customs officers
-  political will to make the changes necessary to implem ent the Agreement
-  use of preshipment inspection services
- Can technical assistance on customs valuation, short-term or long-term, seek
to address these factors?  If so, how?  If not, what other means are available
to address these difficulties in order to facilitate implementation by
developing countries?
Issues for recipients to include in their presentations:
- Please provide examples of any difficulties identified in the process of
implementation of the Agre ement on Customs Valuation?
- Has technical assistance contributed to dealing with these difficulties?  If so,
how and to what extent?  If not, how were the solutions found?G/VAL/47
Page 2
11:45 – 12:00 Coffee Break
12:00 – 1:00 Panel discussion based on questions and comments from the Moderator and
seminar participants
 1:00 – 3:00 Lunch
Afternoon
Session II: DEFINING/DEVELOPING CAPACITY-BUILDING IN THE AREA OF
CUSTOMS VALUATION
Moderator: TBC
3:00 - 4:45 Presentations by panellists of 15 - 20 minutes each on the following issues:
(Panellists TBC)
Issues for technical assistance donors and providers to incorporate into their
presentations:
- What type of core capacity/capacity-building is necessary in order to
implement the Customs Valuation Agr eement and address areas such as risk
analysis, post-importer audit and administrative know-how?  How are these
needs assessed for the purposes of providing technical assistance on customsvaluation?
- Is there any prioritisation of needs when planning technical assistance
activities?  How does this translate into providing short-term versus
long-term technical assistance?
- Is follow-up of the capacity-building elements possible/feasible for short-term
technical assistance missions on customs valuation?  If so, how is it
incorporated into the technical assistance you provide?  If not, how can
capacity provided be maintained and built-upon after conclusion of the
technical assistance mission?  How can this process be improved?
- Do you use performance indicators?  If so, please elaborate on this.
Issues for technical assistance recipients to  incorporate into their presentations:
- What type of capacity-building is necessary in order to implement the
Customs Valuation Agreement and how do you assess your capacity-building
needs in this area?  Have these needs evolved during the post-implementation
phase?
- How do you work with donors to ensure that the needs identified are
addressed in the assistance they provide to you?
- How do you do ensure follow-up of the capacity-building component of
assistance provided on customs valuation?  Do you request that a follow-up
component be included in the technical assistance provided?
- Are short-term technical assistance missions worthwhile in helping to
implement the Agreement on Customs Va luation, and how realistic is it to
talk about capacity-building in this context?G/VAL/47
Page 3
Issues for both technical assistance recip ients and providers to incorporate into
their presentations:
- What kind of technical assistance is best suited to developing competence in
specific technical skills (risk analysi s, administrative kn ow how, post import
audit).
4:45 - 5:00 Coffee break
5:00 – 6:00 Panel discussion based on questions and comments from the Moderator
and from seminar participants
Thursday, 7 November
morning
Session I: CAPACITY BUILDING IN PRACTICE: EXPERIENCES AND
CHALLENGES MET
Moderator: TBC
10:00 – 11:30 Presentations by panellists of ab out 15 minutes each on the following issues:
(Panellists TBC)
Issues for donors, providers and recip ients to incorporate into their
presentations:
- What type of technical assistance/project/funding has worked in terms of
meeting the challenges identified earlier and in building capacity?  What hasnot worked?  Please provide concrete examples.
- Share views on why it worked or not worked, what would you do differently,
and lessons learned.
11:30 - 11:45 Coffee Break
11:45 - 1:00 Panel discussion based on questions and comments from the Moderator and
from seminar participants.
1:00 - 3:00 Lunch
Session II: PROMOTING COOPERATION, COORDINATION AND SCHEDULING IN
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE/CAPACITY BUILDING
Moderator: TBC
3:00 – 4:30 Presentations by panellists of ab out 15 minutes each on the following issues:
(Panellists TBC)
Issues for donors and providers to incorporate into their presentations:
- What procedures/policies/practices do you use to promote cooperation,
coordination and scheduling of technical assistance on customs valuation
among other donors and providers (for example, regular exchange of
information on technical assistance activities in this area)?G/VAL/47
Page 4
- How can the notion of "demand-driven" technical assistance be reconciled
with efforts to coordinate assistance among donor organizations and
governments?  Do the mandates and constituencies of the various donor
organizations and governments drive the provision of technical assistance,
and, if so, does this hamper coordination and cooperation efforts?
- Have the work programmes developed in the context of WTO Committee
extension Decisions helped to promote coordination among donors?
- What role can the Committee on Customs Valuation play in improving
coordination and cooperation, and in ensuring that appropriate follow-up is
undertaken?
Issues for recipients to incorp orate into their presentations:
- Do you make efforts to ensure coordination, cooperation and scheduling of
activities among the donors that provide technical assistance to you?
- Are you aware of the particular areas of expertise or mandates of the
organizations that provide technical assistance in this area?  Do you work
with them and donor governments to en sure that your technical assistance
needs are allocated among the most efficient/suitable providers of theparticular area of need?
- From your perspective, how can coordination, cooperation and scheduling of
technical assistance in this area among various donors and providers be
improved ?
4:30 – 4:45 Coffee Break
4:45 - 5:30 Panel discussion based on questions and comments from the Moderator and
from seminar participants.
5:30 – 5:45 Pause for Chairman to finalize concluding remarks5:45 - 6:00 Concluding remarks by the Chairman of the Committee on Customs Valuation
__________