On May 12, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) announced that the committee on customs valuation had discussed a proposal by Uruguay to update a 30-year-old decision that has allowed members to value, for customs purposes, software and data on the basis of the cost of the carrier media (such as magnetic tapes, compact discs (CDs) and digital video discs (DVDs) in which they are transported from one country to the other.

Uruguay proposed updating the 1984 decision on the valuation of carrier media bearing software for data-processing equipment, which allowed WTO members, for customs purposes, to value software according to the cost of its carrier media (CD-ROM or magnetic tapes). Uruguay indicated that, under the current decision, customs authorities may value software in a CD-ROM at $5, while the same software imported using a USB key could be valued at $1 000. It said the decision must be extended to USB keys or flash drives (memory sticks) because of their growing popularity as carrier media for software.
Argentina and Mexico supported Uruguay’s proposal. The US, Canada, the European Union (EU), Japan and the Philippines were open to the proposal and are reviewing the issue. The People’s Republic of China had no objection to the proposal but noted that the decision excluded songs and movies from this kind of valuation. It also asked for data on the trade volumes involved.

The chairperson requested the WTO secretariat to prepare a study on the trade volumes involved, in line with China’s request.

Uruguay also proposed the rectification of the Spanish and English versions of Article 8:(1)(b)(iv) of the agreement on customs valuation, which, it said, had a different meaning to the French version. The issue had already been discussed last year by the World Customs Organisation’s technical committee on customs valuation. The committee agreed on the existence of the linguistic divergence and that it could be corrected as proposed by Uruguay. After giving delegations a month to consult capi- tals, the director-general will be requested to issue the proposal to members for rectification.

The committee reviewed notifications of national legislation on customs valuation from the following members: Bahrain, Belize, Cape Verde, China, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the Gambia, Japan, Laos, Lesotho, Macao China, Mali, Moldova, Nicaragua, Nigeria, the Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia, Uruguay and Ukraine. It agreed to conclude the review of China, Japan, Macao, China and Laos.

The committee discussed a proposal by Australia, Canada, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), the EU and the US to hold, in October, an infor- mal seminar on the possible misuse of data- bases to set reference or minimum prices. A number of members supported the proposal but also made suggestions on the format and content of the seminar. Since some dele- gations required more time to consult with their capital, a formal meeting will be held June 2015 on this issue.
India requested that the item on implementation-related issues concerning customs coope- ration remain on the agenda of the committee. It was supported by Argentina and Ecuador. The US, the EU, Canada, Australia and the Philippines supported the removal of this item as they said the matter had been successfully dealt with in Bali with the agreement on trade facilitation.

At the end of the meeting, the committee elected, by acclamation, Joanna KY Cheung (Hong Kong, China) as the new chairperson.

Technical Barriers to Trade
On May 16, the WTO informed of the publication of a new booklet on the WTO’s technical barriers to trade (TBT) agreement, which highlights the role of the agreement and the work of the TBT committee in helping governments address regulations and standards that affect trade in goods. The booklet provides a brief overview of the background, purpose and scope of the TBT agreement. It describes the types of measures covered, sets out key disciplines and principles and describes the mandate, role and work of the TBT committee. The work of the TBT committee, which oversees the implementation of the TBT agreement, helps promote much-needed sharing of information – or transparency – and predictability in the development of regulations and standards. Trade officials, regulators and representatives of standards bodies regularly partici- pate in meetings of the committee to help improve coherence in government policies and to balance more open trade with the pursuit of legitimate public policy objectives. The TBT booklet is part of the WTO agreement series, which aims to improve understanding of WTO agreements.

Footwear Rebate Created
On May 23, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) informed of the creation of Rebate Item 312.01/6001.92/01.06 for the for full rebate of the customs duty on other pile fabrics, knitted or crocheted, of man-made fibres, classifiable under tariff subheading 6001.92, for the manufacture of footwear with uppers of textile materials classifiable under tariff Chapter 64.

The application was lodged by The Little Slippery Company, which argued that there are no Southern African Customs Union manufacturers, and that the company was under threat from imported slippers.

Taxation Papers
The National Treasury released the Carbon Offsets Paper on April 29 and the Review of the Taxation of Alcoholic Beverages in South Africa on May 5, and comment on both is due by June 30.

Vat Vendor Registration
On May 16, Sars published draft regulations for registration as value-added tax (Vat) vendors. Comment is due by June 30.

Professional Foreign Hunters Vat
On May 5, Sars published a draft interpretation note on the supply of goods and services by professional foreign hunters, which explains the Vat treatment of various supplies to foreign hunters, including hunting services, taxidermy services, the supply of a trophy as well as the subsequent export of the trophy, on which comment is due by June 30.