On 10 November 2025, the World Trade Organization (WTO) announced that at its formal meeting of the Committee on Customs Valuation, it had reviewed notifications related to the customs valuation legislation of its members and adopted a report aimed at enhancing transparency through improved notifications. It also received updates from the World Customs Organization (WCO) on its recent activities.
Notifications
At its formal meeting, it reviewed 63 notifications pertaining to the customs valuation legislation of 37 members, including the first notifications received from Guyana and Indonesia. Four of the member reviews - for Cabo Verde, Mauritania, the Philippines, and Senegal - were concluded at the meeting.
The chair of the committee noted that 121 members had now notified their national legislation on customs valuation, and 94 members had provided responses to the checklist of issues regarding implementation of the WTO’s Customs Valuation Agreement.
The committee also adopted a draft report to the WTO’s Council on Trade in Goods on the status of customs valuation notifications to the committee. The chair of the Goods Council requested the report with the aim of improving the rate, quality, and timeliness of customs valuation notifications. The report underlines the value of experience sharing, workshops, and outreach in increasing the committee’s understanding of the challenges faced by members who are unable to meet their notification obligations.
World Customs Organization (WCO)
An official from the WCO’s Technical Committee on Customs Valuation shared information on a new instrument adopted at its 61st session in October: an explanatory note on “price actually paid or payable”, which is a fundamental principle of the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement’s valuation methodology.
The official also updated the committee on the WCO’s draft guidelines on E-Commerce Fulfilment and its implications for Customs, which the WCO Permanent Technical Committee developed. The guidelines aim to help members and stakeholders in dealing with the growing volume of small, low-value online consignments destined for consumers.
Information session on Pre-Shipment inspection (PSI)
The committee also agreed to hold one or more information sessions to gain a better understanding of Pre-shipment Inspection (PSI) activities and to conduct further discussions on the PSI Independent Entity, which serves as a dispute settlement mechanism under the WTO’s agreement on PSI.
https://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/psi_e.htm
PSI is the practice of employing specialised private companies to verify shipment details, including price, quantity, and quality, of goods ordered overseas.
Next meeting
The next meeting of the committee will take place on 08 May 2026.
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