EU: Non-Preferential Origin Guide (Update March 2022)

(FREE) The EU Commission has updated its guide on non-preferential rules of origin. Download the latest version here.

When do preferential rules of origin apply?

These apply in the absence of any trade preference — that is, when trade is conducted on a most-favoured nation basis.

What are they?

Non preferential rules of origin allow for imposing commercial policy measures such as anti-dumping and countervailing duties, trade embargoes, safeguard measures and quantitative restrictions or tariff quotas. They are also used for trade statistics, public tenders and origin marking.

In a nutshell, what is there to know about these rules?

Overall, think of the origin of goods to be wholly obtained products and products having undergone a last substantial transformation.

If only one country is involved in producing a good the wholly obtained concept will be applied.

If two or more countries are involved in the production of goods, the concept of last, substantial transformation determines the origin of the goods.

What about the need to proof the origin?

The non-preferential origin of the goods is a mandatory element of the declaration for release for free circulation.

The declarant is responsible for the correct origin determination and should hold the information on the processing that has taken place in the last country of production of the goods declared for release for free circulation in the EU.

Proof of origin is all evidence submitted to support the declared origin. Customs authorities should not request a non-preferential certificate of origin issued in a third country as a proof of the origin with a quota exception.

Are the rules EU specific?

Thes rules ate based on global WTO provisions, but the EU applies its own set of non-preferential rules of origin provisions, which have to be used.

What is covered in the version?

This version describes concepts‘Made in’, CCI certificates of origin, anti-dumping duties in particular.

Download

Download the EU guide on non-preferential origin, March 2022 version: https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/document/download/2fddb411-361d-4b25-9286-a9318125ee2a_en