At the request of the Dominican Republic, the WCO held a virtual Workshop on Customs valuation for the South America, North America, Central America and the Caribbean (AMS) region from 13 to 17June 2022.  46 officials from 23 Customs administrations of the AMS region participated in the Workshop.  

In his opening speech, Mr. Werner Ovalle Ramírez, Director General of Guatemala Customs and Vice-Chair for the AMS region, thanked the WCO for organizing this Workshop for the AMS region.  He emphasized the importance of such workshops which, despite the pandemic, allow Customs administrations to strengthen the capacities of Customs officers in technical areas such as Customs valuation.    

Mr. Konstantinos KAIOPOULOS, Director at the WCO Tariff and Trade Affairs Directorate, welcomed and encouraged participants to actively participate in the Workshop.  He thanked Member administrations in AMS region for their contribution in the area of Customs valuation and looked to train more Spanish-speaking expert trainers for the AMS region.

The Workshop was co-facilitated by a WCO expert and Mr. Guzman MANES, WCO accredited expert trainer on Customs Valuation from Uruguay Customs administration.  A wide range of valuation technical topics were addressed including transaction value, related party transactions, adjustments, alternative valuation methods, as well as relevant instruments adopted by the Technical Committee on Customs Valuation.

The participants also learned about the WCO Guidelines on Customs Valuation Control, Uruguay’s valuation control programme and its practices and experience in dealing with undervaluation.

This capacity building initiative undertaken by the WCO was well appreciated by the participants.