ICC calls for harmonized non-preferential rules of origin

August 10, 2015

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is calling on countries to stop rolling out unilateral non-preferential rules of origin and encouraging them to conclude the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Rules of Origin.

Negotiations on the WTO Agreement on Rules of Origin have been at an impasse for over a decade, triggering a proliferation of unilateral non-preferential rules and creating severe administrative burdens and costs for companies, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Rules of origin are the criteria used to define where a product was made and are an important component of trade rules. Non-preferential rules of origin define the origin of a good for commercial purposes only with regard to such matters as Most Favoured Nation treatment, trade statistics and import quotas. ICC warns that the increasing proliferation of such regulations for commercial policy purposes will lead to trade distortion and increased confusion for manufacturers, importers and exporters alike due to competing non-preferential origin regimes.

In a recently released statement, ICC has called for a standstill in the implementation of new country-specific rules of origin and for mutual recognition of non-preferential rules of origin for commercial purposes until the WTO Agreement is ratified.

Until ratification of WTO rules, the ICC statement recommends that non-preferential rules of origin implemented in the country of manufacture should be accepted by the country of import ("mutual recognition") and that the origin of a good should be determined only once - regardless of how many countries it is exported to.

While acknowledging that it might be challenging for Customs administration to familiarize themselves with foreign rules of origin, ICC underlines that cooperation with Customs can be organized much more easily compared to the cost of implementing numerous different rules of origin regimes by countless enterprises...

This has been excerpted from a 7 August 2015 article by the International Chamber of Commerce.


Topic(s): 
World Economy & Politics
Information Source: 
Canadian News Channel / International News Channel
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