To get the country’s laws in sync with the requirements of the new trade agreements that are under negotiation, the government has proposed a change in procedure that establishes the place of origin of goods traded on preferential duties under the pacts.
The Finance Bill presented in Parliament on Tuesday has proposed an amendment in the Customs Act to enable acceptance of different types of proof of origin provided in trade agreements in order to align the section with the new trade agreements which provide for self-certification.
This change may also speed up the negotiation process for FTA with the UK which follows a system of self-certification. Certificates of origin in the UK and EU are provided by chambers of commerce.
Right now to qualify for concessional tariffs under the free trade pacts importers are required to present a certificate of origin that establishes that the value added to a product in the partner country meets the minimum limit set for each product in the agreement.
Along with the certificate, the importer must also make a declaration regarding the manner in which the country of origin criteria, including the regional value content and product specific criteria specified in the rules of origin in trade agreement are satisfied.
These certificates are issued by designated agencies in the exporting countries. In India this job is with the Export Inspection Council of India, Indian Chamber of Commerce, Trade Promotion Council of India and some designated offices.