Pursuing its support to the Egyptian Customs Authority (ECA), two national Workshops were organised under the United States’ Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP) in Alexandria and Port Said on 18 -19 and on 21 - 22 August 2019 respectively.  The Workshops were facilitated by experts from the WCO and the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) moderated by officials from CLDP and ECA and were funded by the USAID.

Nearly one hundred officials from the ECA participated in the Workshops.  The two-day programme consisted of refresher sessions on the principles of the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement (the Agreement) with focus on the transaction value method, Decision 6.1 of the WTO Committee on Customs Valuation and adjustments to the price actually paid or payable regarding royalty and licence fees.

Presentations during the Workshops also included the Advance Rulings System of the CBP and the WCO Revenue Package which is available in Arabic.

Group discussions, based on selected practical cases submitted by the participants, were facilitated through breakout sessions each day.  These cases highlighted the challenges faced by ECA in implementing the Agreement.

As part of the programme of assistance to the ECA agreed by the CLDP in April 2019, a further workshop will be carried out in the coming month in the areas of Customs Valuation and Trade Facilitation.