On 23 October 2025, the World Customs Organization (WCO) advised that at its 61st session, the Technical Committee on Customs Valuation (TCCV) had concluded its examination of a technical question submitted by Uruguay concerning the “meaning of the expression ‘price actually paid or payable’ for the goods under the transaction value method”. As a result, a new instrument, Explanatory Note (EN) 7.1, will be submitted for approval to the WCO Council at its June 2026 sessions.
The instrument examines the expression “price actually paid or payable” from a broader perspective, focusing on elements found in the World Trade Organization (WTO) Customs Valuation Agreement (CVA) and in TCCV instruments.
Under the CVA, the starting point for determining the customs value of imported goods is the “transaction value”, that is to say, the price actually paid or payable by the buyer to the seller for the imported goods. EN 7.1 clarifies how that price should be interpreted, which payments must be included, and which can be excluded.
The EN explains various elements, including forms of payment, direct and indirect payments, adjustments as outlined in Article 8 of the CVA, specific considerations based on relevant decisions of the TCCV, and applicable deductions, such as payments not related to the goods and post-importation charges.
The instrument concludes by stating that, once all necessary inclusions and adjustments are completed, and provided no disqualifying factors are present, the final customs value is established using the Transaction Value (TV) method under Article 1 of the CVA.
An illustrative conceptual framework is presented in the Annex to the instrument to support the general interpretation of the expression “price actually paid or payable” as outlined in Article 1 of the CVA, connecting each concept to the statements made in the respective paragraphs of the instrument.
Once approved by the WCO Council, the instrument will be published in the WCO Customs Valuation Compendium, which contains all the TCCV instruments, and on the WCO Trade Tools platform.