Between 26 and 30 November 2018, the WCO conducted a Workshop on Customs Valuation and Transfer Pricing for the Royal Thai Customs Department in Bangkok, Thailand.

The mission was made possible with the generous financial support of the Japan Customs Cooperation Fund.

19 Thai Customs officials, primarily from Valuation specialist teams and post-clearance audit teams, participated in the Workshop.  The programme consisted of refresher sessions on the methodology of the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement and included in-depth presentations and discussions on a number of key technical valuation topics such as royalty and licence fees and software-related valuation issues.

The central part of the programme was devoted to the interaction between Customs Valuation and Transfer Pricing.  The Customs interest is in the examination of related party transactions where there are doubts that the declared import price is influenced by the relationship.  In the case of multi-national enterprise (MNE) transactions, information developed by the MNE for transfer pricing purposes may be useful and relevant to Customs.  Practical examples were presented and discussed (based on case studies developed by the Technical Committee on Customs Valuation).

Also included in the programme were presentations and discussions on the WCO’s Revenue Package programme, focusing on the practical challenges of implementing the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement in developing countries and how to identify and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the Customs valuation infrastructure.  Additionally, a number of local practical cases were presented by the participants and discussed by the group.

An Expert Trainer on Customs Valuation from China Customs co-facilitated the Workshop with the lead expert from the WCO and shared the China Customs experience of implementing its valuation control system.

The WCO Guide to Customs Valuation and Transfer Pricing (updated in 2018) is recommended reading on this topic.  Available here.