Preferential Rules of Origin & where to find them

In this news article we would like to give you some tips about where and how to find the information needed to implement the rules for preferential origin from the underlying Free Trade Agreements into your own origin administration.

Trade Helpdesk

Firstly, the website of the European Commission is the core source of information for companies based in the EU. All relevant information about preferential origin can be found at the ‘Trade Helpdesk’ page on the website. A list of all Free Trade Agreements (also known as ‘arrangements’ or ‘protocols’), signed by the European Union are demonstrated in an overview on this page as well.

Example: Switzerland

Besides the arrangement that Switzerland made with the European Union, it has also signed an arrangement with countries located around the Mediterranean Sea. You can find the list with these countries and their rules of origin under the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention at the page about FTAs.

Would you like to find the relevant information for using the preferential rules of origin? Then you need to open the Protocol by clicking on 'Switzerland'. The Official Journal opens directly.

All relevant information regarding the Free Trade Agreement can be found in this arrangement (also named 'protocol'). Besides the origin information that needs to be provided to the Chamber of Commerce in order to obtain the EUR1 or EurMed document, additional information in the arrangement needs to be taken into account by using the preferential origin.

Additional information can be related to the origin part. However, in the new Free Trade Agreements you can also find conditions that have been agreed upon non-origin or non-customs related. Some of the content which is completely origin related can be found below:

It is always useful to study these regulations besides the ‘essential rule’ that decides if your product is preferential or not. The rules that decide about the preferential origin can be found per Tariff head. These are the first four digits of the HS (Harmonized System) code of your product.

The regulations may deviate per arrangement and per HS code, so it is wise to investigate the possibility per country of destination. It also is possible that the FTA for Canada, South Korea or Japan is applicable. In these situations the use of a EUR1 of EurMed is not possible. An invoice declaration or a REX declaration must be used.

No interference of Chamber of Commerce takes place here. Customs does not verify the correct use of every shipment so you have to be aware of the implementation of the origin rules.

So, the rules of Preferential Origin can be found in official legislation. It is always good to know where regulations come from.

Where to find preferential rules of origin & tariffs per country

In daily practice, to find out the preferential rules of origin and the tariff that is applicable per country, we often use the Market Access Database. This is the shortest way to find out what regulation you need to apply to and what is the benefit for the customer. Let’s have a look again at Switzerland as an example: Tariff 8709.

The column 'EU' indicates the tariff by using preferential origin. By not using an EUR1/ EURMED or invoice declaration it leads to an additional duty amount of 24 CHF/ 100KG or 33 CHF/100KG.

By clicking on the RoO option, you can easily find out the preferential rules of origin.

So, when using this last option you can find out in a second what the benefit is and which requirement needs to be fulfilled. By having a look at the full arrangement the additional regulations can be found.

More information about preferential origin rules?

We obviously recommend you to have a close look at the complete agreement first when you enter new markets in unknown countries. Are you interested in this topic and would you like to know more? Don't hesitate to contact us by sending an email to info@pincvision.com or call to +31(0)88-4321800