NOTICE:
This publication is intended to provide guidance and information to the trade community. It reflects the U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) position on or interpretation of the applicable laws or regulations as of the date of publication, which is shown on the front cover. It does not in any way replace or supersede those laws or regulations. Only the
latest official version of the laws or regulations is authoritative.
PREFACE
On December 8, 1993, Title VI of the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (Pub. L. 103-182, 107 Stat. 2057), also known as the Customs Modernization or “Mod” Act, became effective. These provisions amended many sections of the Tariff Act of 1930 and related laws. Two concepts that emerged from the Mod Act are "informed compliance" and "shared responsibility," which are premised on the idea that in order to maximize voluntary
compliance with the laws and regulations of CBP, the trade community needs to be clearly and completely informed of its legal obligations. Accordingly, the Mod Act imposes a greater obligation on CBP to provide the public with improved information concerning the trade community's rights and responsibilities under CBP’s regulations and related laws.
In addition, both the trade and CBP share responsibility for carrying out these requirements. For example, under Section 484 of the Tariff Act as amended (19 U.S.C. 1484), the importer of record is responsible for using reasonable care to enter, classify and determine the value of imported merchandise and to provide any other information
necessary to enable CBP to properly assess duties, collect accurate statistics, and determine whether other applicable legal requirements, if any, have been met. CBP is then responsible for fixing the final classification and value of the merchandise. An importer of record's failure to exercise reasonable care could delay release of the
merchandise and, in some cases, could result in the imposition of penalties or, in certain
instances, referral for criminal enforcement.
The Office of Trade, Regulations and Rulings (RR) has been given a major role in meeting the informed compliance responsibilities of CBP. In order to provide information to the public, CBP has issued a series of informed compliance publications, on new or revised requirements, regulations or procedures, and a variety of classification and valuation
issues.
This publication, prepared by the Valuation and Special Programs Branch, RR, is entitled Customs Valuation Encyclopedia (1980-2021). It provides summaries of valuation decisions issued by the branch. The summaries are organized by subject and by date of issuance of the valuation decision. In order to reduce the volume of the 2021 edition, excerpts have only been placed in the subject categories where they are most applicable and exact duplicate entries in the various subject categories (as seen in editions prior to 2015) have been deleted, noting only the location of the full excerpt after the decision number. Additions to the previous edition (2015) are shown in the color red. Most of the
valuation decisions after 1989 are available in their entirety at the CBP website in the Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) at the following link: http://rulings.cbp.gov/. In the search box, type the decision number. Please note that over the years, decisions were given a six digit number, then they were preceded by the letter “W”, and they are now preceded by the letter "H". It is important to use the exact letter and numbers in order to retrieve the decision in CROSS. Additionally, this publication updates old committee name references of the World Customs Organization
and adds titles of the valuation instruments that have been issued by the World Customs 4 Organization (WCO), which are available with a subscription at www.wcotradetools.org/en/valuation/tccv-texts. We sincerely hope that this publication, together with seminars and increased access to rulings of CBP, will help the trade community to improve voluntary compliance with customs laws and to understand the relevant administrative processes.
The material in this publication is provided for general information purposes only.
Because many complicated factors can be involved in customs issues, an importer may wish to obtain a ruling under CBP’s Regulations, 19 CFR Part 177, or to obtain advice from an expert who specializes in customs matters, for example, a licensed customs broker, attorney or a customs consultant.
Comments and suggestions are welcomed and should be addressed to the Executive Director, Regulations and Rulings, Office of Trade, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 90 K Street, NE, 10th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20229-1177.
