Ian Forrester

The Agreement on Customs Valuation

Customs officials assess the amount of duties to be levied on imported products in light of the economic origin of the products, their nature or classification and, normally, their value.1 Origin for preferential purposes is governed by fairly stringent criteria.2 Classification offers some limited opportunity for the exercise of discretion.3 Valuation is the most plastic of the three determinations and the one most prone to fraud, administrative arbitrariness and prolonged error.