. /.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/C/W/246
24 January 2001
(01-0370)
Council for Trade in Goods Original:  English
REQUEST BY PAKISTAN FOR A WAIVER UNDER ARTICLE IX OF THE WTO
AGREEMENT FOR MINIMUM VALUES  UNDER THE AGREEMENT ON
IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE VII OF GATT 1994
The following communication, dated 18 January 2001, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Pakistan.
_______________
The Government of Pakistan under the terms of Paragraph-2 of Annex-III under the
Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of GATT 1994 made a reservation concerning the
retention of officially established minimum values.
During the course of the transition period of the Agreement, Pakistan has been able to adopt
the GATT Code of Valuation. However, Pakistan still faces certain practical problems in application
of the Agreement. In particular, Pakistan faces serious problems due to lack of a well-developed
database on prices to be used for the purpose of risk assessment and profiling. This leads to
apprehension that Pakistan could incur substantial revenue losses due to under valuation of certain
commodities.
Since the GATT Code of Valuation has adopted a new approach towards Valuation,
officials of the Pakistan Customs are facing certain specific problems in the determination of customs
value, inter alia  due to the following reasons :
i) Group under invoicing;
ii) Indirect imports i.e. from trading houses, particularly where shipment is not made
from the country of origin;
iii) Miscellaneous goods (not elsewhere specified);
iv) Declarations of value substantially lower th an the assessed prices of identical/similar
goods in the past without any justification;
v) Imports made by unsafe importers;vi) Fraudulent invoicing;vii) Goods imported from centrally planned economies;viii) Extraordinary discounts,   and
ix) Imports by sole distributors, sole agents and sole concessionaires.
Under the circumstances mentioned above, the Go vernment of Pakistan wishes to continue to
use minimum values for the purpose of valuation for a period of three years on transitional basis.
The minimum values will apply only to the products identified in Annex-I.G/C/W/246
Page 2
ANNEX – I
Sr. No.DescriptionHS Code
1. Dried milk 04.01 & 04.02
2. Tea 09.02
3. Sugar 17.01
4. Carbon black 28.03
5. Caustic soda 28.15
6. Calcium Carbide 2849.1000
7. Sorbitol 29.05 & 38.24
8. Dyes Chapter 32
9. Cosmetics 33.04 & 33.05
10. Soap 34.01
11. Pesticides/insecticides Chapter 38
12. Plastics Chapter 39
13. Urea Farmaldehyde 39.09
14. Tyres and Tubes 40.11
15. Paper & Paper Board Chapter 48
16. Yarn & Fabric (made up) Section XI
17. Ceramic tiles 69.08
18. Glassware 70.13
19. Iron & Steel sheets
(Secondary quality)7208 to 72.12
20. Hardware items Chapter 83
21. Second Hand Machinery Chapter 84 & 85
22. Auto filters 8421.2310 & 8421.3110
23. Electronic (TV, Radio, Tape, etc.) Chapter 85
24. Welding Electrodes 85.45
25. Vehicles 8701 to 8705
26. Auto parts 8708 & 8714 etc.
27. Ship for breaking 8908
28. Light fittings 94.05
29. Toys 9501 to 9503
30. Consumer goods Respective headings
31. Spices and Karyana items Respective headings
__________