Customs valuation is one of the central issues of customs administration. By varying methods of customs valuation the amount of levied customs payments can be substantially changed.

Growth of international trade called for the establishment of unified methodology of customs valuation and technical norms, regulating customs formalities. The effort of the world community efforts in this course led to regulation of customs valuation rules in the article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1947), and afterward to adoption of the Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (also known as Customs Valuation Code). Thus, recognizing and following these rules is one of the mandatory conditions for the country’s accession to the WTO.

Lack of transparency and clear-cut norms in national legislation, regulating methodology of customs valuation adversely affects efficiency of export-import operations of foreign trade participants and ultimately, foreign trade turnover trends.

In this respect, precise regulation of customs valuation system and its methods and ensuring their conformity with international standards and norms has to become the major task of the currently elaborated draft Customs Code in new revision.

In the framework of activities, aimed at elaboration of the draft Customs Code in new revision, the joint project of United Nations Development Programme and State Customs Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan ("Improving the System of Customs Administration in the Republic of Uzbekistan") organized a meeting of Expert Council on customs reform to discuss customs valuation and customs payments issues covered in the draft Customs Code in new revision. The event was held on July 13, 2007 in the conference room of Grand Orzu Hotel.

The objective of the Expert Council meeting was to continue constructive policy dialogue among the Government, private sector and other involved parties on discussion of the clauses of the draft document regulating issues of customs valuation and customs payments, analysis of conformity of each customs valuation method with the international standards. The discussion allowed to point out issues that hinder realization of effective foreign trade activity in .

Among the issues discussed during the event were such issues as criteria for using transaction value method and reasons for not using this method in the process of determination of customs value, components included in the transaction value, adjustment procedures of customs value of goods during and after customs clearance, validity of using «reserve» method of customs valuation, issues of indication limitation period (3 years) not only regarding claims for reimbursement of excessively paid customs expenses, but also regarding payment of customs expenses, customs payments’ privileges; and others that have importance for the development of foreign economic relations of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

At the close of the meeting participants agreed to additionally consider discussed remarks and suggestions and submit them for consideration to the Working Group on elaboration of the draft Customs Code in new revision.

The meeting of the Expert Council was organized within the framework of joint project of UNDP and the Government "Improving the System of Customs Administration in the Republic of Uzbekistan ".