Ordinary Course Of Trade

Summary of Ordinary Course Of Trade

A concept routinely applied in customs valuation that holds that the dutiable value of goods is the price at which they would normally sell if customary channels of distribution were observed. For example, where it was industry practice for a product to be sold directly by a manufacturer to an end user, customs would apply duty upon the manufacturer’s selling price, even where an intervening broker had added a markup, thereby increasing the price to the importer. Under the customs valuation agreement (read this and related legal terms for further details) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the principle of applying the price used in the “ordinary course of the trade”has been largely supplanted by the transaction value method.

(Main Author: William J. Miller)