3. These requirements are contained in the invoice certificate to which the exporter is required to subscribe. While the determination of the value in accordance with the provisions of the law is primarily the responsibility of the exporter, the law requires that everyone who acts as an appraiser shall, by all reasonable means in his power, ascertain, estimate and appraise the true and fair market value, any invoice or affidavit to the contrary notwithstanding.

4. Exporters or others, unfamiliar with the Canadian customs law, are susceptible to a considerable margin of error, thus necessitating verification. To be in conformity with the law and fair to exporters, values can only be satisfactorily verified by a customs officer, trained in the requirements of the Canadian law, from a personal and full examination of the exporter's domestic sales records and cost records where necessary. The information furnished is, of course, held in strict confidence and used for customs administrative purposes only.

5. The verification of values for duty of information obtained from the exporters' records by a governmental investigating officer is a common practice in many countries, and little or no difficulty has been encountered by Canadian investigators in respect of the personal examination of sales and cost records, when the purpose of requiring first-hand information and its confidential treatment are understood.

6. In the light of these considerations, I should be grateful if you could approach the Czech Government to request their assurance that a Canadian customs officer would be permitted, if necessary, to verify values in respect of exports to Canada. You should also request the Czech Government to facilitate, as far as their own exporters are concerned, the full disclosure of information from their sales and cost records as required under the Canadian customs law. You might wish to point out that the values to be determined are in accordance with the recognized valuation principles embodied in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

7. You will recall that a similar request was made to the two representatives of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Trade who visited Ottawa on December 12 and 13 of last year. No reply to this request has been received to date.

8. The "Confidential" security classification of this despatch applies, of course, principally to the opening paragraph.

A.F.W. PLUMPTRE
for Secretary of State
for External Affairs