For the products listed in Annex 22-01, the draft Regulation does not provide for any modification of the „residual rule” to be applied when non-preferential origin is to be determined after working or processing that is not considered economically justified. Recently, the European Commission published an update of its „Guidelines on Non-Preferential Rules of Origin” (available here). The previous version is dated December 2018. For imports into the EU, non-preferential origin would be indicated in the import declaration, but no specific proof of origin would be required. In the Agreement on Rules of Origin, WTO members agreed to negotiate harmonized, non-preferential rules of origin. At the end of this „harmonization work programme”, all WTO members would apply identical rules of origin for all non-preferential purposes (rules of origin in regional and preferential trade agreements would not be harmonized). However, these negotiations are still ongoing and not all WTO Members apply origin requirements for non-preferential purposes. See Technical information on rules of origin. The declarant is responsible for the correct determination of origin and should have information on the processing that took place in the last country of production of the goods declared for release for free circulation in the EU. There are two types of origins: preferential (which is at the centre of this instrument) and non-preferential. Both are determined by appropriate rules of origin.
These are the instruments by which it is possible to determine whether a product exported from a beneficiary or partner country can be considered sufficiently related to that country and therefore originating in that country to obtain the tariff preference granted to that country from the EU. The Sustainable Development Action Plan is included in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 of 28 July 2015 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to detailed rules on certain provisions of the Union Customs Code. OJ L 343, 29.12.2015, p. 1). In particular, the update provides further clarification on the different assessments to be carried out in order to verify whether a product falls within the scope of the non-preferential rules of origin: Article 60(1) of the Union Customs Code (`UCC`)3 provides that goods wholly obtained or produced in a single country or territory are to be considered as originating in that country or territory. The list of goods that may be considered wholly manufactured or produced in a country or territory is set out in Article 31 of the UCC AD. The Bali Ministerial Decision establishes the first multilateral guidelines for rules of origin that preferential WTO Members will apply to their non-reciprocal preferential arrangements for least-developed countries. The guidelines are intended to make it easier for least-developed country exporters to benefit from preferences and thus make better use of market access opportunities. 1 Draft Commission Delegated Regulation amending Delegated Regulation (EU) No 2015/2446 as regards certain provisions on the origin of goods, ref. Ares(2021)3728861 – 07/06/2021. The online course „Made in …: Understanding Rules of Origin” allows participants to become familiar with the basic concepts of rules of origin and the WTO disciplines that govern their application.
The course is available through ECampus, the WTO`s e-learning centre. Non-preferential origin is used for the application of a number of trade policy measures, including (but not limited to) anti-dumping and countervailing duties, safeguard measures, origin marking requirements, government procurement and statistics. Origin information can be made mandatory for customs authorities in all EU countries. To obtain a binding decision on the original information (which is usually valid for 3 years), you must contact the competent authorities of the EU country where the vUA is used (or in the EU country where you are established). List of competent authorities that may issue a BCR. However, the proposed Regulations propose to amend the „residual rule” with respect to goods not listed in Schedule 22-01. While the principle is that non-preferential origin is determined by reference to the country or territory from which most of the materials originate, the draft regulation specifies that clarifications and amendments to the non-preferential rules of origin would be made on 20 September. would enter into force on the day after publication in the Official Journal, while the amendments reflecting the HS 2022 nomenclature would apply from 1 January.
2022. However, not all products fall under Annex 22-01. For example, aluminium products and products covered by Chapter 76 of the EU Combined Nomenclature (i.e. the EU tariff classification system) are not covered by Annex 22-01. Their non-preferential origin cannot be assessed on the basis of list rules, but must be determined by reference to the concept of `final substantial conversion` as interpreted by EU legal systems. In the event that the working or processing is considered economically unjustified, Article 33 of the UCC AD provides for a specific `residual rule` for determining non-preferential origin. This residual rule refers to the country or territory from which most of the materials originate. For certain products, legally binding rules have been established in Annex 22-01 UCC-DA to set the criteria to be applied to the product in the last country of manufacture in order to confer non-preferential origin on the product. The provisions of the Annex should be read in conjunction with the introductory remarks describing how to apply the rules set out in Annex 22-01 UCC-DA (see also the Guidelines on Non-Preferential Rules of Origin, which provide some explanation on the use of Annex 22-01 UCC-DA). List rules for products covered by specific provisions of Annex 22-01 are highlighted in the table „List rules”.
Even if a working or processing corresponds to the last substantial working or transformation referred to in Article 60(2) UCC, the non-preferential working or processing does not (necessarily) correspond to the country or territory in which that working or processing took place, if such working or processing is not `economically justified` or if it consists of minimal operations. In these circumstances, special rules apply to the determination of non-preferential origin. Preferential rules or origins are those that apply to reciprocal trade preferences (i.e. regional trade agreements or customs unions) or non-reciprocal trade preferences (i.e. preferences for developing or least-developed countries). For example, the proposed Regulations propose to amend Annex 22-01 of the CDA, which, as noted above, provides list rules for determining the non-preferential origin of certain goods. Origin is the „economic” nationality of goods traded in trade. The nationality, value and tariff classification (Combined Nomenclature) of goods imported into the European Union must be determined in order to determine whether any customs duties, tariff restrictions or special requirements are applicable. The European Commission`s Export Assistance Service describes the rules of origin that apply to certain products. The rules are based on the HS classification and, in most cases, are product-specific: each HS code eligible for a preferential tariff under a trade agreement has a rule of origin.
They can be defined at different levels: some rules affect an entire chapter, others are specific to titles or subtitles. In some cases, rules of origin may be established at the level of the national commodity code/customs tariff line or even for a specific type of product within an HS or commodity code.