From 21 to 25 November, the WCO conducted a workshop for the Thai Customs Department in Bangkok on Customs valuation and transfer pricing. The programme commenced with a refresher on the key principles of the WTO Valuation Agreement and presentations on recent decisions of the Technical Committee on Customs Valuation, focusing on issues relevant to multi-national enterprises, such as royalties and licence fees. Around 70 officials from the Thai Customs department and 20 from the Thai Tax department participated in the event.

At the opening ceremony, the Director-General of Customs, Mr. K. Sombatsiri welcomed participants from both the Customs and Tax departments and encouraged all present to enrich their knowledge during the event. The main topic for the workshop was the relationship between Customs valuation and transfer pricing. A session was delivered by representatives of the Thai Tax department on the topic of transfer pricing which was helpful in enhancing the knowledge of the Customs participants. The WCO facilitators gave details of relevant cases developed by the Technical Committee on Customs Valuation (TCCV) where transfer pricing information is consulted by Customs during the examination of related party transactions to determine whether the declared price has been influenced by the relationship between the buyer and seller.

On the final day, representatives of PriceWaterhouseCoopers gave presentations on the business perspective of this issue which was well received by the participants.

The workshop was kindly funded by the Customs Cooperation Fund of China; the first such event funded by China for Thai Customs.

The TCCV has established the principle that information derived from transfer pricing documentation may be useful to Customs when examining related party transactions and published the first case study based on this approach earlier this year. The WCO has published a Guide to Customs Valuation and Transfer Pricing which provides technical information and sets out good practices for Customs, Tax and business in this area.

The initiative by Thai Customs to invite representatives from the Thai Tax department to this event provides a good example of closer cooperation between Tax and Customs, as advocated in the WCO Guidelines for Strengthening Cooperation and Exchange of Information between Customs and Tax Authorities at the National Level.