The World Customs Organization (WCO), with the support of the United Kingdom’s His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) under the framework of the Accelerate Trade Facilitation Programme, organized a national Workshop on Customs Valuation for the benefit of Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA), from 06 to 10 March 2023, at the Headquarters of the NamRA in Windhoek.
The workshop was co-facilitated by experts from the Secretariat, South Africa Revenue Service (SARS) and Malawi Customs.
Among the 21 participants were 13 women Customs officers holding senior and middle management positions and working at different Customs Offices.
The objectives of the workshop were to support NamRA in the implementation of the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement and in enhancing its Customs officers’ capability to properly determine the Customs value of imported goods, a key element when calculating the amount of duty that the importer must pay. The proper implementation of the Agreement is an important corner stone for more transparent, quicker and less costly cross-border trade and effective revenue collection. During five days, several topics concerning Customs valuation were discussed, including the principles of the WTO Valuation Agreement, the transaction value and alternative valuation methods as well as an introduction to the nexus between Customs Valuation and Transfer Pricing (TP).
Participants also had the opportunity to present and discuss practical experiences and challenges in order to deepen their understanding of the Customs Valuation Agreement and to apply the knowledge gained during the workshop in their daily work.
In his closing remarks the Commissioner of NamRA, thanked the participants and the facilitators and indicated that the knowledge and skills gained during the training will be reflected in the standard operating procedure manual, which the NamRA is currently developing. He further welcomed the continued support of WCO to help the NamRA realise its vision of being a world class revenue agency that positively impact the livelihoods of every Namibian.