Specific Annex K

Chapter 1

Rules of origin

Definitions

For the purposes of this Chapter:

E1./ F2.

“country of origin of goods” means the country in which the goods have been produced or manufactured, according to the criteria laid down for the purposes of application of the Customs tariff, of quantitative restrictions or of any other measure related to trade;

E2./ F3.

“rules of origin” means the specific provisions, developed from principles established by national legislation or international agreements ("origin criteria"), applied by a country to determine the origin of goods;

E3./ F1.

“substantial transformation criterion” means the criterion according to which origin is determined by regarding as the country of origin the country in which the last substantial manufacturing or processing, deemed sufficient to give the commodity its essential character, has been carried out.

Principle

1. Standard
The rules of origin necessary for the implementation of the measures which the Customs are responsible for applying both at importation and at exportation shall be laid down in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter and, insofar as applicable, by the provisions in the General Annex.

Rules of origin

2. Standard
Goods produced wholly in a given country shall be taken as originating in that country.
The following only shall be taken to be produced wholly in a given country :

1. mineral products extracted from its soil, from its territorial waters or from its sea-bed;
2. vegetable products harvested or gathered in that country;
3. live animals born and raised in that country;
4. products obtained from live animals in that country;
5. products obtained from hunting or fishing conducted in that country;
6. products obtained by maritime fishing and other products taken from th e sea by a vessel of that country;
7. products obtained aboard a factory ship of that country solely from products of the kind covered by paragraph (f) above;
8. products extracted from marine soil or subsoil outside that country's territorial waters, provided that the country has sole rights to work that soil or subsoil;
9. scrap and waste from manufacturing and processing operations, and used articles, collected in that country and fit only for the recovery of raw materials;
10. goods produced in that country solely from the products referred to in paragraphs (a) to (ij) above.

3. Recommended Practice
Where two or more countries have taken part in the production of the goods, the origin of the goods should be determined according to the substantial transformation criterion.

4. Recommended Practice
In applying the substantial transformation cri terion, use should be made of the International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System.

5. Recommended Practice
Where the substantial transformation criterion is expressed in terms of the ad valorem percentage rule, the values to be taken into consideration should be:

• for the materials imported, the dutiable value at importation or, in the case of materials of undetermined origin, the first ascertainable price paid for them in the territory of the country in which manufacture took place; and
• for the goods produced, either the ex-works price or the price at exportation, according to the provisions of national legislation.

6. Recommended Practice
Operations which do not contribute or which contribute to only a small extent to the essential characteristics or properties of the goods, and in particular operations confined to one or more of those listed below, should not be regarded as constituting substantial manufacturing or processing:

1. operations necessary for the preservation of goods during transportation or storage;
2. operations to improve the packaging or the marketable quality of the goods or to prepare them for shipment, such as breaking bulk, grouping of packages, sorting and grading, repacking;
3. simple assembly operations;
4. mixing of goods of different origin, provided that the characteristics of the resulting product are not essentially different from the characteristics of the goods which have been mixed.

Special cases of qualification for origin

7. Recommended Practice
Accessories, spare parts and tools for use with a machine, appliance, apparatus or vehicle should be deemed to have the same origin as the machine, appliance, apparatus or vehicle, provided that they are imported and normally sold therewith and correspond, in kind and number, to the normal equipment thereof.

8. Recommended Practice
An unassembled or disass embled article which is imported in more than one consignment because it is not feasible, for transport or production reasons, to import it in a single consignment should, if the importer so requests, be treated as one article for the purpose of determining origin.

9. Recommended Practice
For the purpose of determining origin, packings should be deemed to have the same origin as the goods they contain unless the national legislation of the country of importation requires them to be declared separately for tariff purposes, in which case their origin should be determined separately from that of the goods.

10. Recommended Practice
For the purpose of determining the origin of goods, where packings are deemed to have the same origin as the goods, account should be taken, in particular where a percentage method is applied, only of packings in which the goods are ordinarily sold by retail.

11. Standard
For the purpose of determining the origin of goods, no account shall be taken of the origin of the energy, plant, machinery and tools used in the manufacturing or processing of the goods.

Direct transport rule

12. Recommended Practice
Where provis ions requiring the direct transport of goods from the country of origin are laid down, derogations therefrom should be allowed, in particular for geographical reasons (for example, in the case of landlocked countries) and in the case of goods which remain under Customs control in third countries (for example, in the case of goods displayed at fairs or exhibitions or placed in Customs warehouses).

Information concerning rules of origin

13. Standard
Changes in the rules of origin or in the procedures for their application shall enter into force only after sufficient notice has been given to enable the interested persons, both in export markets and in supplying countries, to take account of the new provisions.

Chapter 2

Documentary evidence of origin

Definitions

For the purposes of this Chapter:

E1./ F2.

“certificate of origin” means a specific form identifying the goods, in which the authority or body empowered to issue it certifies expressly that the goods to which the certificate relates originate in a specific country. This certificate may also include a declaration by the manufacturer, producer, supplier, exporter or other competent person;

E2./ F3.

“certified declaration of origin” means a “declaration of origin” certified by an authority or body empowered to do so;

E3./ F4.

“declaration of origin” means an appropriate statement as to the origin of the goods made, in connection with their exportation, by the manufacturer, producer, supplier, exporter or other competent person on the commercial invoice or any other document relating to the goods;

E4./ F5.

“documentary evidence of origin” means a certificate of origin, a certified declaration of origin or a declaration of origin;

E5./ F1.

“regional appellation certificate” means a certificate drawn up in accordance with the rules laid down by an authority or approved body, certifying that the goods described therein qualify for a designation specific to the given region (e.g. Champagne, Port wine, Parmesan cheese).

Principle

1. Standard
The requirement, establishment and issue of documentary evidence relating to the origin of goods shall be governed by the provisions of this Chapter and, insofar as applicable, by the provisions of the General Annex.

Requirement of documentary evidence of origin

2. Recommended Practice
Documentary evidence of origin should be required only when it is necessary for the application of preferential Customs duties, of economic or trade measures adopted unilaterally or under bilateral or multilateral agreements or of measures adopted for reasons of health or public order.

3. Recommended Practice
Documentary evidence of origin should not be required in the following cases:

1. goods sent in small consignments ad dressed to private individuals or carried in travellers' baggage, provided that such importations are of a non-commercial nature and the aggregate value of the importation does not exceed an amount which shall not be less than US$100;
2. commercial consi gnments the aggregate value of which does not exceed an amount which shall not be less than US$60;
3. goods granted temporary admission;
4. goods carried in Customs transit;
5. goods accompanied by a regional appellation certificate as well as certain specific goods, where the conditions to be met by the supplying countries under bilateral or multilateral agreements relating to those goods are such that documentary evidence need not be required.

Where several consignmen ts of the kind referred to in (a) or (b) are sent at the same time, by the same means, to the same consignee, by the same consignor, the aggregate value shall be taken to be the total value of those consignments.

4. Recommended Practice
When rules relating to the requirement of documentary evidence of origin have been laid down unilaterally, they should be reviewed at least every three years to ascertain whether they are still appropriate in the light of changes in the economic and commercial conditions under which they were imposed.

5. Recommended Practice
Documentary evidence from the competent authorities of the country of origin should be required only in cases where the Customs of the country of importation have reason to suspect fraud.

Applications and form of the various types of documentary evidence of origin

(a) Certificate of origin

Form and content

6. Recommended Practice
When revising present forms or preparing new forms of certificates of origin, Contracting Parties should use the model form in Appendix I to this Chapter, in accordance with the Notes in Appendix II, and having regard to the Rules in Appendix III.

Contracting Parties which have aligned their forms of certificate of origin on the model form in Appendix I to this Chapter should notify the Secretary General of the Council accordingly.

Languages to be used

7. Recommended Practice
Certificate of origin forms should be printed in the language(s) selected by the country of exportation and, if these languages are neither English nor French, also in English or French.

8. Recommended Practice
Where the certificate of origin is made out i n a language that is not a language of the country of importation, the Customs of that country should not require, as a matter of course, a translation of the particulars given in the certificate of origin.

Authorities and other bodies empowered to issue certificates of origin

9. Standard
Contracting Parties accepting this Chapter shall indicate, either in their notification of acceptance or subsequently, the authorities or bodies empowered to issue certificates of origin.

10. Recommended Practice
Where goods are not imported directly from the country of origin but are forwarded through the territory of a third country, certificates of origin should be allowed to be drawn up by the authorities or bodies empowered to issue such certificates in that third country, on the basis of a certificate of origin previously issued in the country of origin of the goods.

11. Recommended Practice
Authorities or bodies empowered to issue certificates of origin should retain for not less than two years the applications for, or control copies of, the certificates of origin issued by them.

(b) Documentary evidence other than certificates of origin

12. Recommended Practice
Where documentary evidence of origin is required, a declarati on of origin should be accepted in the following cases:

1. goods sent in small consignments addressed to private individuals or carried in travellers' baggage, provided that such importations are of a non-commercial nature and the aggregate value of the importation does not exceed an amount which shall not be less than US$500;
2. commercial consignments the aggregate value of which does not exceed an amount which shall not be less than US$300.

Where several consignments of the kind referred to in (a) or (b) are sent at the same time, by the same means, to the same consignee, by the same consignor, the aggregate value shall be taken to be the total value of those consignments.

Sanctions

13. Standard
Provision shall be made for sanctions agains t any person who prepares, or causes to be prepared, a document containing false information with a view to obtaining documentary evidence of origin.

APPENDIX I

APPENDIX II

Notes
1. The size of the certificate should be the international ISO size A4 (210 x 297 mm, 8.27 x 11.69 inches). The form should be provided with a 10 mm top margin and a 20 mm left-hand filing margin. Line spacing should be based on multiples of 4.24 mm (1/6 inch) and width-spacing on multiples of 2.54 mm (1/10 inch). The layout should be in conformity with the ECE layout key, as illustrated in Appendix I. Minor deviations in the exact size of boxes, etc., should be permissible if required for particular reasons in the issuing country, such as the existence of systems other than metric measurement, features of national aligned systems of documents, etc.

2. Where it is necessary to provide for applications for certificates of origin, the form of application and the form of certificate should be compatible to permit completion in one run.

3. Countries may determine standards concerning the weight per m 2 of the paper, and the use of a machine-turned background to prevent falsification.

4. For the guidance of users, rules for the establishment of the certificate of origin may be printed on the back of the certificate.

5. Where requests for post-facto control may be submitted under a mutual administrative assistance agreement, a space may be provided for that purpose on the back of the certificate.

6. The following comments refer to the boxes in the model form :

Box No. 1:

"Consignor", "producer", "supplier", etc. may be substituted for "exporter".

Box No. 2:

There should be only on e original certificate of origin, identified by the word "Original" adjacent to the document title. If a certificate of origin is issued in replacement of an original certificate that has been lost, the replacement certificate shall be identified by the word "Duplicate" adjacent to the document title. Copies of an original or of a duplicate certificate shall bear the word "copy" adjacent to the title.
This box is also intended for the name (logotype, emblem, etc.) of the issuing authority and should leave space for other official purposes.

Box No. 3:

The particulars provided for in this box may be replaced by " to order " and, possibly, the country of destination.

Box No. 4:

This box can be used for additional information on means of transport, rou te, etc., which can be inserted if so desired by, for example, the issuing authority.

Box No. 5:

If an indication of "Item No." is required this can be inserted, preferably in the margin to this box or at the beginning of each line in the box. "Marks and Nos." can be separated from "Number and kind of packages" and "Description of the goods" by a vertical line. If a line is not used, these particulars should be distinguished by adequate spacing. The description of the goods can be supported by adding the number of the applicable Harmonized System heading, preferably in the right-hand part of the column. Particulars of the origin criteria, if required, should be given in this box and should be separated from the other information by a vertical line.

Box No. 6:

Normally, gross weight should suffice for the identification of the goods.

Box No. 7:

This column is left blank for any additional details that might be required, such as measurements, or for reference to other documents (e.g., commercial invoices).

Boxes Nos. 6 and 7:

Other quantities which the exporter may state in order to facilitate identification can be entered in either box 6 or box 7, as appropriate.

Box No. 8:

This area is reserved for the details of the certification by the competent body (certification legend, stamps, signatures, date and place of issue, etc.). The precise wording of texts, etc., is left to the discretion of the issuing authority, the wording used in the model form serving only as an example. This box may also be used for a signed declaration by the exporter (or the supplier or manufacturer).

APPENDIX III

Rules for the establishment of certificates of origin

The rules for the establishment of certificates of origin (and where applicable, of applications for such certificates) are left to the discretion of national authorities, due account being taken of the Notes set out above. However, it may be necessary to ensure compliance with, inter alia, the following provisions:

1. The forms may be completed by any process, provided that the entries are indelible and legible.
2. Neither erasures nor superimpositions should be allowed on the certificates (or applications). Any alterations should be made by striking out the erroneous material and making any additions required. Such alterations should be approved by the person who made them and certificated by the appropriate authority or body.
3. Any unused space s should be crossed out to prevent any subsequent addition.
4. If warranted by export trade requirements, one or more copies may be drawn up in addition to the original.

Chapter 3

Control of documentary evidence of origin

Definitions

For the purposes of this Chapter:

E1./ F1.

“certificate of origin” means a specific form identifying the goods, in which the authority or body empowered to issue it certifies expressly that the goods to which the certificate relates originate in a specific country. This certificate may also include a declaration by the manufacturer, producer, supplier, exporter or other competent person;

E2./ F2.

“certified declaration of origin” means a “declaration of origin” certified by an authority or body empowered to do so;

E3./ F3.

“declaration of origin” means an appropriate statement as to the origin of the goods made, in connection with their exportation, by the manufacturer, producer, supplier, exporter or other competent person on the commercial invoice or any other document relating to the goods;

E4./ F4.

“documentary evidence of origin” means a certificate of origin, a certified declaration of origin or a declaration of origin.

Principle

1. Standard
Administrative assistance for the control of documentary evidence of origin shall be governed by the provisions of this Chapter and, insofar as applicable, by the provisions of the General Annex.

Reciprocity

2. Standard
The competent authority of the Contracting Party which has received a request for control need not comply with it if the competent authority of the requesting Contracting Party would be unable to furnish that assistance if the positions were reversed.

Requests for control

3. Recommended Practice
The Customs administration of a Contracting Party which has accepted this Chapter may request the competent authority of a Contracting Party which has accepted this Chapter and in whose territory documentary evidence of origin has been established to carry out control of such evidence :

1. where there are reasonable grounds to doubt the authenticity of the document;
2. where there are reasonable grounds to doubt the accuracy of the particulars given therein;
3. on a random basis.

4. Standard
Requests for control on a random basis, as provided for in Recommended Practice 3 (c) above, shall be identified as such and be kept to the minimum necessary to ensure adequate control.

5. Standard
Requests for control shall :

1. specify the reasons for the requesting Customs administration's doubts about the authenticity of the document produced or the accuracy of the particulars given therein, unless the control is requested on a random basis;
2. specify, where appropriate, the rules of origin applicable to the goods in the country of importation and any additional information requested by that country;
3. be accompanied by the documentary evidence of origin to be checked, or a photocopy thereof, and where appropriate any other documents such as invoices, correspondence, etc. that might facilitate control.

6. Standard
Any competent authority receiving a request for control from a Contracting Party having accepted this Chapter shall reply to the request after having carried out the necessary controls itself or having had the necessary investigations made by other administrative authorities or by bodies authorized for the purpose.

7. Standard
An authority receiving a request for control shall answer the questions put by the requesting Customs administration and furnish any other information it may consider relevant.

8. Standard
Replies to requests for control shall be furnished within a prescribed period not exceeding six months. If the authority receiving the request cannot reply within six months, it shall so inform the requesting Customs administration.

9. Standard
Requests for control shall be made within a prescribed period which, except in special circumstances, should not exceed one year, commencing with the date on which the document was produced to the Customs office of the Contracting Party making the request.

Release of the goods

10. Standard
A request for control shall not prevent the release of the goods, provided that they are not held to be subject to import prohibitions or restrictions and there is no suspicion of fraud.

Miscellaneous provisions

11. Standard
Any information communicated in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter shall be treated as confidential and used for Customs purposes only.

12. Standard
The documents needed for control of documenta ry evidence of origin issued by the competent authorities or authorized bodies shall be retained by them for an adequate period which should not be less than two years following the date on which the documentary evidence was issued.

13. Standard
The Contracting Parties that accept this Chapter shall specify the authorities which are competent to receive requests for control and communicate their address to the Secretary General of the Council who will transmit such information to the other Contracting Parties having accepted this Chapter.