| TOP |
| 5th Report of Market Access Ombudsman Council (March 17, 1998) |
1. Complainant:Japan Foreign Trade Council, Tokyo Chamber of Commerce
2. Ministry concerned: Ministry of Finance
3. Complaint:
When fulfilling the manufacturing (processing) contracts for several kinds of products and subsidiary materials are supplied through several types of export or are supplied from third parties free of charge, although all subsidiary materials may not necessarily be used in all products, the subsidiary materials for each product must be calculated each time and deducted from the total quality supplied by the time of final shipment. This complicates the procedures at time of import and gives rise to concern that errors will be made in reports. A lump-sum calculation method should be made possible for the subsidiary material reporting method.
4. Corresponding Policy of the Ministries concerned:
From the past, calculation of the expenses, etc., required for tools has been omitted from the method for calculating the taxable amount of subsidiary materials, and the amount pertaining to individually imported cargo has been divided proportionally and included in the taxable amount of the imported cargo; the lump-sum calculation method is not approved.
The method for determining the taxable amount for such imported freight is implemented under internationally unified rules, based on the "Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994" (customs evaluation agreement); Japan cannot thus handle it in its own special way.
For cargo imported in the same continuous import transaction, if a "Comprehensive Evaluation Report" stipulating the method for settling the taxable amount is submitted prior to the import declaration, submission of the evaluation report can be omitted for two years, as a rule, for individual import declarations.
5. Remarks
The complainant's opinion is as follows.
"I understand that this is the policy as it now stands."