Customs Valuation Agreement Message to the Congress Transmitting a Protocol Amending the Agreement.

To the Congress of the United States:

I am today transmitting to the Congress, pursuant to Section 102 of the Trade Act of 1974, the text of a trade agreement negotiated in the Tokyo Round of the Multilateral Trade Negotiations and entered into in Geneva, Switzerland on May 28, 1980. This agreement is a protocol which will make a minor amendment to the Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, known as the Customs Valuation Agreement. The Customs Valuation Agreement was approved by Congress in the Trade Agreements Act of 1979.

The new agreement will amend the Customs Valuation Agreement to eliminate one of the four tests under that agreement by which related parties can establish a transaction value for customs purposes. This amendment will have little impact on United States law but will greatly facilitate acceptance of the Customs Valuation Agreement by a significant number of developing countries. All of the developed country signatories to the Customs Valuation Agreement support the protocol.

I am also transmitting to Congress, as is required by section 102 of the Trade Act of 1974, an implementing bill and a statement of Administrative Action. This bill approves the protocol and makes changes in our customs valuation law which are necessary or appropriate to implement the protocol. The legislation will also make certain technical amendments to Title II of the Trade Agreements Act of 1979, relating to customs valuation.

I urge the early approval and implementation of the protocol to the Customs Valuation Agreement by the Congress.

JIMMY CARTER

The White House,

August 1, 1980.