Assessments of origin remain valid for three years provided the facts and conditions remain comparable, unless a decision contrary to such assessment is made in a review referred to in j. This advance information on origin is considered as a great innovation of the Agreement; i new rules of origin or modifications thereof do not apply retroactively; j any administrative action in relation to the determination of origin is reviewable promptly by judicial, arbitral or administrative tribunals or procedures independent of the authority issuing the determination; such findings can modify or even reverse the determination; k confidential information is not disclosed without the specific permission of the person providing such information, except to the extent that this may be required in the context of judicial proceedings.
As from the conclusion of the HWP, non-preferential rules of origin will be harmonized and Members will be bound to apply only one rule of origin for all purposes covered by Article 1. The WTO provisions on consultation and settlement of disputes apply to the Agreement.
Annex II of the Agreement on Rules of Origin provides that the Agreement's general principles and requirements for non-preferential rules of origin in regard to transparency, positive standards, administrative assessments, judicial review, non-retroactivity of changes and confidentiality shall apply also to preferential rules of origin. Article of the Agreement requires each Member to provide to the Secretariat, within 90 days after the date of entry into force of the WTO Agreement for it, its currently applicable rules of origin, judicial decisions and administrative rulings of general application relating to rules of origin.
The Secretariat circulates to all Members lists of the information received and available to them. The UR Agreement back to top Introduction The increased number and importance of rules of origin led the Uruguay Round negotiators to tackle the issue during the negotiations.
General principles Until the completion of the three-year harmonization work programme, Members are expected to ensure that their rules or origin are transparent; that they are administered in a consistent, uniform, impartial and reasonable manner; and that they are based on a positive standard.
The TCRO is to work, on a product-sector basis of the HS nomenclature, on the following matters: Definitions of goods being wholly obtained To provide harmonized definitions of the goods that are to be considered as being wholly obtained in one country, and of minimal operations or processes that do not by themselves confer origin to a good; Last substantial transformation Change of tariff heading To elaborate, on the bases of the criteria of substantial transformation, the use of the change of tariff classification when developing harmonized rules of origin for particular products or sectors, including the minimum change within the nomenclature that meets this criterion.
Supplementary criteria To elaborate supplementary criteria, on the basis of the criterion of substantial transformation, in a manner supplementary or exclusive of other requirements, such as ad valorem percentages with the indication of its method of calculation or processing operations with the precise specification of the operation. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, advertisement, targeting, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies.
It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. International Chamber of Commerce. Follow us. Contact us Find a document Become a member Careers More sites. Home » Resources for business » Certificates of Origin. There are two types of COs that chambers can issue: Non-Preferential COs which certify that the goods are subject to no preferential treatment. Preferential COs , which certify that goods are subject to reduced tariffs or exemptions when they are exported to countries extending these privileges.
Certificates of Origin Accreditation Chain Through the creation of the Certificate of Origins Accreditation Chain, ICC WCF aims to assist chamber leaders in promoting universal certification standards and processes to better serve chambers of commerce, as well as traders and customs administrations.
Certificates of Origin verification website The Certificate of Origin verification website enables Customs authorities to check the authenticity of COs issued by members of the Accreditation Chain. Electronic Certificates of Origin With increasing concerns on fraud and the need to improve supply chain security, chambers offer online Certificate of Origin services to provide a secured trading environment, in addition to increase transparency and saving time and costs.
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You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. These pockets of poverty may be close to dynamic, urban markets, for example, but economically isolated from them.
They often lack good connections to financial, economic, information, and infrastructure networks, too. Firms and communities in these areas miss opportunities to develop skilled, competitive workforces; they are not integrated in global production chains and are less able to diversify their products and skills. In line with twin goals of eradicating extreme poverty and increasing shared prosperity, experts in the World Bank Group work with developing country policymakers and private sector leaders to increase connectivity and facilitate trade.
Developing countries -- especially those that are landlocked -- face considerable challenges when it comes to tackling trade facilitation issues. Recognizing this, the World Bank Group invests heavily in connectivity, logistics and trade facilitation.
Connectivity encompasses physical facilities, services, and ways to facilitate the movement of goods and people within and across borders regardless of their relative position within a network, e.
The connectivity of one economy depends on the connectivity of all its partners. Understanding how well or how limited connectivity requires information about trade costs and economic distance, which reflect the average cost to access markets as a buyer or supplier. The unit of analysis can vary: networks can be global, regional, or sub-national. Connectivity links trade with transportation, entrepreneurship, and territorial development.
The World Bank Group is a leader in connectivity and logistics performance evaluation, and in customs and border control, a key piece of trade facilitation. The World Bank Group has been an active supporter of customs reform and border management modernization for many years. The Bank Group has invested in more than projects to improve border agency challenges over the past 20 years. Work on this agenda is spread across all regions with customs and border management specialists providing advice and project implementation support as well as practical toolkits and knowledge products.
The products include a dataset that provides a comprehensive cross-country benchmark for logistics performance, a diagnostic toolkit for trade and transport facilitation, a toolkit to assess logistics competencies and skills, and a series of handbooks that tackle the issue of streamlining customs and border clearance procedures through comprehensive border management reform. It helps countries identify ways to improve their trade logistics performance. It provides an informed qualitative assessment of the global logistics environment for the benefit of government and trade practitioners alike.
The LPI includes an interactive cross-country benchmarking tool with data for several years: , , , , and Trade Costs. The Trade Costs Dataset provides estimates of bilateral trade costs in agriculture and manufactured goods for the period. It is built on trade and production data collected in countries. Symmetric bilateral trade costs are computed using the Inverse Gravity Framework Nov.
Trade costs are available for two sectors: trade in manufactured goods, and agriculture. Trade facilitation and logistics have become an important policy area in development. Supply chain constraints are now recognized as a major impediment to export led growth. Taking the perspective of service delivery to traders, the TTFA assessment is founded on facts and data collected through a series of meetings and interviews with the main public and private participants to these international supply chains.
They include customs and other border agencies, transport regulators, freight forwarders, transport operators, ports, and others. The toolkit helps design plans of action to improve logistics performance among its three main dimensions: infrastructure, services, and procedures and processes.
This new edition of the toolkit provides an opportunity not only to reflect the changes in the trade environment and the need for additional features in the toolkit, but also to benefit from the experiences of the assessments already undertaken based on the original edition.
This initial concept was extensively revised to give the new toolkit an increased operational focus. The semantic change from audit to assessment also reflects the expansion in scope and the emphasis on development of implementable actions beyond the initial diagnosis. One of the most significant advances in the Uruguay Round, for example, was the expansion in the number of countries brought under disciplines on standards first negotiated in the Tokyo Round of the GATT.
Many U. In the context of these developments, issues concerning standards and conformity assessment have moved to a central position in future U. This chapter outlines the link among product and process standards, global trade, and U.
As discussed in this chapter, our national trade policy objectives are served through the removal of technical trade barriers in key export markets; participation in international, mutual recognition of conformity assessment systems; and expanded efforts at export promotion through cooperation and assistance to standards bodies in existing and emerging U.
Trade and the expansion of global exports are directly linked to U. Exports provide for domestic economic growth, increased labor productivity, and creation of jobs in the manufacturing and service sectors that pay wages well above the national average. There are many indicators of the importance of exports to the domestic economy.
Goods and services exports rose from 7. Total U. In particular, merchandise exports of advanced technology products have risen sharply. Many of these exports are directly affected by international standards, as well as technical regulations of governments overseas.
Strong export growth in advanced technology goods resulted in a U. The estimated non-advanced technology U.
Moreover, advanced technology product exports rose as a share of total merchandise exports to 23 percent in The rapid expansion of exports has played an important part in U.
As of , there were 7. This represented 20 percent of the total Moreover, jobs linked to exports paid wages on average 17 percent higher than the national average for all U.
The benefits of open markets and specialization are important to multinational firms with operations across the globe. They also benefit small and medium-sized firms, whether they export directly or supply components that other firms incorporate into exported products. As outlined in Chapter 1 , standards help foster economies of scale in the production process.
Economies of scale through open trade allow wide consumer choice and increased purchasing power and consumer welfare. Access to foreign markets also maximizes benefits available through the globalization of production, including access to diversified sources of technology, manufacturing advances, and information on best practices in marketing, sales, and service.
In addition, through increased market size on a global scale, firms are able to spread the costs of investment in research and development across larger numbers of sales. In sum, open trade provides the platform through which firms and nations can leverage the benefits of competitive forces in support of long-term economic advance, consumer welfare, and productivity growth. Standards and conformity assessment are closely linked to these benefits of international trade. Standards development systems and the infrastructure necessary to ensure conformity to standards—including testing, certification, and laboratory accreditation—are an important part of modern industrial processes, as discussed in previous chapters.
In general, the benefits of standards observed in the domestic economic context increase in proportion to their application on an increasingly larger, international scale.
Efficient international standards regimes accomplish several important goals. These include facilitating the diffusion of innovative technologies and production techniques, as well as supporting global economies of scale.
For example, automobile production lines must be switched between right-hand and left-hand drive cars for the United Kingdom and continental Europe.
Consumer electronic devices and household appliances must be adapted for different power supplies in the United States and Europe— and volts, respectively. By fragmenting the prospective markets for products that could otherwise be produced and marketed on a global scale, the lack of internationally harmonized standards reduces the economic advantages of free-flowing international markets.
Harmonization entails the revision or interpretation of different standards in such a way as to render them equivalent. International harmonization of standards enables manufacturers to produce more efficiently for a larger, combined market. In addition to promoting economies of scale to facilitate multiple export markets, common standards and conformity assessment procedures benefit manufacturers in other ways.
Standards convey information to customers about products and services in a technically precise, consistent manner, as outlined in Chapter 1.
This is an important benefit when manufacturer and customer are separated across linguistic, cultural, and geographic distances. Well-organized, open, and transparent standards systems also promote compatibility of key components in national infrastructure, such as telecommunications and computer networks.
These affect not only the quality of domestic industrial production, but also the operation of international markets and U. Conformity assessment procedures are also directly linked to the efficient functioning of international markets.
Even when standards in different countries have been harmonized, the free flow of trade is inhibited if products are subjected to redundant testing and certification requirements in multiple export markets. When conformity assessment procedures performed within the United States are not accepted as valid by regulators or purchasers in foreign markets, U. They also may have to support the costs associated with bringing foreign inspectors to visit and inspect U. When nations, states, or local governments here in the United States refuse to accept competent and scientifically sound testing and certification performed abroad without reasonable justification, the costs of imported goods are raised in a discriminatory manner.
This is true whether the underlying standards for a product are harmonized between an exporter's home and final destination.
Trade protection that restricts competition or restrains circulation of products in international markets reduces global efficiency and slows economic advance. A number of policy tools are used by nations to shelter firms from international competition. Standards that discriminate against imports and nontransparent or discriminatory requirements for showing conformity to standards can create significant non-tariff trade barriers. The economic harm caused by trade discrimination and protection of domestic markets is well documented.
Their effect on increased consumer prices and reduction of global wealth is clear. A recent study of the cost of protection in textiles, apparel, autos, and steel, for example, found that removal of all quantitative restrictions, such as quotas, on imports into the United States would result in a 0.
The same study found that the reduction in welfare caused by U. Great progress has been made in reducing worldwide tariffs since the Second World War. Prior to and the establishment of the GATT, for example, average weighted tariffs on goods in the industrialized nations stood at 35 percent. The Uruguay Round of negotiations completed in cut tariffs in major industrial markets to zero in many sectors.
These include construction, agricultural, and medical equipment; pharmaceuticals; paper; toys; and furniture, among others. The agreement also committed many emerging, newly industrializing markets to cut tariffs sharply in these sectors. Although global tariffs have been reduced, there has been a rise in the use of other mechanisms to deny access of goods to national markets.
Whereas the extent and costs of traditional forms of trade protection are well documented, less attention has been devoted to analyzing or measuring the effects of non-tariff barriers to trade.
At the same time, they block more competitive and efficient producers from reaping the benefits of superior products through expansion of sales in export markets. In many cases, especially in the capital goods sector, the world's most efficient and competitive producers are U.
Although the definitions of non-tariff barriers varies among academic studies, the consensus of several studies is that they are spreading worldwide. These hard-core barriers included import prohibitions, quantitative restrictions, voluntary export restraints, variable levies, restrictions on textiles and apparel, and nonautomatic licensing. To the extent that increases in non-tariff barriers offset the gains achieved in the past few decades from lowering tariffs, this trend is a cause for serious concern.
To the detriment of sound public policymaking, particularly as it relates to future trade negotiations, there have been no comprehensive analyses of standards and conformity assessment systems as non-tariff barriers to trade. There is a significant and growing need for academic and policy-oriented studies and research in this area. Within the context of the work related to the general subject of non-tariff barriers to trade, however, there is evidence to indicate that significant barriers to global trade are embedded in existing standards and will continue to grow in complexity.
This conclusion is based, in part, on observations such as the following: 1 standards that differ from international norms are employed as a means to protect domestic producers; 2 restrictive standards are written to match the design features of domestic products, rather than essential performance criteria; 3 there remains unequal access to testing and certification systems between domestic producers and exporters in most nations; 4 there continues to be a failure to accept test results and certifications performed by competent foreign organizations in multiple markets; and 5 there is a significant lack of transparency in the systems for developing technical regulations and assessing conformity in most countries.
Moreover, observations from U. Many of the barriers to U. This is true, for example, in the capital goods and high-technology sectors, including transportation equipment, electrical machinery, medical devices, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical products, among others. In the absence of trade barriers, these are sectors in which U. One example of foreign technical regulations as unfair barriers to U. The U. An increasing number of U. There is no internationally recognized scientific evidence to support EU regulation.
The ban eliminated most U. However, new dispute procedures instituted in the Uruguay Round agreements, discussed later in this chapter, will lead to more rapid resolution of cases such as this. Data on the total volume of global trade subject to conformity assessment regulations are limited. Increased attention by U. As noted previously, conformity assessment systems have the potential to create equal or greater barriers to trade than standards. Worldwide growth in the complexity of mechanisms for approval of regulated products, such as food additives and medical devices, is of particular concern.
As discussed in Chapter 3 , government agencies and private-sector firms in the United States and abroad are involved in performing redundant testing, certification, quality system registration, and laboratory accreditation.
If not monitored and addressed in a systematic manner, these systems will provide a great number of opportunities for nations to employ a variety of extremely complex and nontransparent barriers to imported goods. There have been only a limited number of recent attempts to estimate the impact of standards and conformity assessment barriers on U.
The project could not independently verify the department's analysis, because supporting data and a detailed methodology employed in the work were unavailable for review. In , the EU banned meat and meat products produced from livestock treated with natural or artificial biotechnology-derived growth hormones. The EU has stated its recognition that there is no scientific evidence to support the ban; however, it remains in effect. Damage to U. The EU's "Global Approach to Testing and Certification," instituted in , mandates that certification of regulated products be performed by European testing laboratories and certifiers.
This system imposes unbalanced costs on non-European manufacturers for obtaining product approvals. In some sectors, testing can be performed by a U. Success in U. Affected sectors include air conditioners, refrigeration equipment, supercomputers, and aircraft support equipment. Performance standards would be less trade restrictive and more flexible in accommodating technological innovations. Barriers to imported wood products were estimated, in , to restrict U. Key among the barriers were restrictive fire and building codes and refusal to accept foreign testing procedures.
Japan agreed to increase reliance on performance-based standards and to accept foreign test data. International technical committees monitor implementation, which has been largely successful. China does not accept U. Procedures for obtaining a required "quality license" are costly and discriminatory, often imposing higher standards for imports than domestic goods.
Many regulatory requirements are unknown or unavailable to non-Chinese firms. China agreed to publish notice of regulations and to discuss other issues. Implementation remains unclear. Acceptance of new pharmaceutical imports can take more than a year. Copied products are often available on the local market before the original is accepted. Many regulatory standards, such as shelf-life standards for processed foods, differ substantially from international practices without scientific basis.
Public notice of rule making is often inadequate. Some standards are applied unequally to imported and domestic products. Medical equipment and processed agricultural products are among imports facing nontransparent or unclear standards.
Agricultural imports are routinely tested, unlike domestic products. Complex registration procedures exist for approval of imported pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and cosmetics. It is not obligated to accredit or recognize foreign organizations, under the North American Free Trade Agreement, until Trade Representative, Office of the. Washington, D. Government Printing Office, Bayard, Thomas O. Reciprocity and Retaliation in U. Trade Policy. American National Standards Institute.
These estimates and the analysis supporting the work need to be carefully examined and reviewed. They provide some indication, nevertheless, that the addition of new layers of complexity and cost in international commercial transactions is cause for concern.
There is danger that a proliferation of complex, costly, and redundant conformity assessment systems among nations will present serious problems in future international trade. Duplicative or discriminatory requirements threaten to undermine the trade-enhancing benefits of international standards by adding layers of costly and redundant requirements for showing conformity to specifications in multiple export markets.
The request by Congress for this study specifically identified the evolving product approval systems in the European Union as a source of concern for the United States.
For example, the expense of meeting EU approval requirements can be a particular obstacle to small and medium-sized U. This is true whether the firm exports directly to European markets or acts as a supplier of components to manufacturers of exported goods. The transition to a unified European economic market has included a number of measures to remove barriers to trade in regulated products among European nations.
To the extent that market unification enables U. New EU requirements for product approval, however, have raised serious concern about U. Changes in EU procedures for setting standards and verifying product compliance with them, their potential effect on U.
A forceful effort at streamlining international systems in standards, certification, and quality regulations at the regional and multilateral levels is an appropriate priority for U. The goal of these efforts is clear. They should provide a mechanism for manufacturers servicing global markets to obtain testing, certification, and registration of quality systems one time, and in one market, to have products accepted globally.
The goal of assured credibility in these systems is also essential. Reaching this goal should be a multilateral priority, however, work to advance this principle can be undertaken unilaterally and at the regional level, as outlined later in sections on the use of U.
As the next section outlines, international mechanisms also exist to reduce standards-related trade barriers. The Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade concluded in with the signing of a world trade agreement.
The TBT. It is expected that the GATT obligations will enter into force on January 1, , for all member nations. Table describes major advances in coverage related to standards and conformity assessment in the Uruguay Round Agreements. The agreement attempts to reduce barriers to trade reflected in the preparation, adoption, or application of standards in a discriminatory manner.
It also addresses the prevention of new barriers, particularly as they might arise in divergent conformity assurance systems. The TBT agreement also has important implications for standards set by subnational and regional governments such as the EU and private-sector bodies.
This section outlines the key elements of the agreement to reveal progress made in the Uruguay Round in relationship to the existing Standards Code negotiated in the Tokyo Round, as well as areas of uncertainty in its implementation and impact on trade. The most important progress made in the Uruguay Round TBT and SPS agreements is related directly to the expanded scope and coverage of international disciplines on technical regulations as they affect trade. This includes both the increase in the number of countries bound by the obligations in the new agreement and the extension of TBT rules to cover new areas of standards and conformity assessment systems.
The expansion in coverage of the Uruguay Round TBT code to include all members of the newly established World Trade Organization is an important move toward strengthened international discipline see Table Most of these members are the industrialized nations of the European Union, with the United States and selected Asian and Latin American countries represented.
Many of these are among the most rapidly developing nations of Asia and Latin America. This is a The extension of rules and procedures on standards and conformity assessment is an important part of strengthening the multilateral trading system. The TBT code helps support progress toward global market liberalization worldwide.
This led to a "free-rider" problem. Dispute settlement process lacked "teeth. Created a new body, the WTO, as the administering body of the international trading system. Membership is available only to countries that are signatories to the GATT and agree to adhere to all of the Uruguay Round agreements.
The Standards Code's purpose was to ensure that technical regulations and standards would not be prepared, adopted, or applied with a view to creating obstacles to international trade.
Imposes no obligation to lower standards for public health, safety, or environmental protection. Obligation is to treat foreign and domestic products without discrimination, and to use international standards where possible and appropriate. The requirement of transparent and nondiscriminatory procedures for issuing product approval was expanded to cover the range of conformity assessment procedures , including testing, certification, accreditation, and quality system registration.
Encourages mutual recognition of conformity assessment procedures between countries. Expands coverage to nongovernmental and regional standards development. Same as Tokyo Round. In addition, states explicitly: "Members shall give positive consideration to accepting as equivalent technical regulations of other Members, even if these regulations differ from their own, provided they are satisfied that these regulations adequately fulfill the objectives of their own regulations.
A stand-alone agreement. For the first time, establishes multilaterally recognized rules and disciplines for the development and application of measures taken to protect human, animal, or plant life or health in the areas of food safety and agriculture. Standards Code Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement was a stand-alone agreement with its own institutional provisions e. GATT members were not obligated by the code unless they specifically accepted it. As of , 46 GATT members had signed the code.
They impose obligations on the members' central governments, local governments, nongovernmental bodies, and international and regional standardization and conformity assessment bodies.
They call for national governments to take "reasonable measures" to ensure compliance with the disciplines in the agreement by subnational and nongovernmental bodies. As of , more than nations had signed the WTO agreement.
Technical specifications with which compliance is mandatory. Signatories to the Standards Code are required to notify other members of proposed new or revised technical regulations. Explicitly states that technical regulations should not be maintained if the circumstances or objectives giving rise to their adoption no longer exist or if the changed circumstances or objectives could be addressed in a less trade-restrictive manner.
Technical specification approved by a recognized standardizing body for repeated or continuous application, with which compliance is not mandatory. Expanded to explicitly include standards for processes as well as products.
A standard is defined as a document approved by a recognized body that provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines, or characteristics for products or related processes and production methods, with which compliance in not mandatory. It may also include or deal exclusively with terminology, symbols, packaging, marking, or labeling requirements as they apply to a product, process, or production method.
Only covered certification and testing. Parties were not to discriminate against imports in cases where positive assurance was required that products would conform with technical regulations or standards.
Parties agreed, whenever possible, to accept test results and certifications issued by relevant bodies in the territories of other parties. The requirement of transparent and nondiscriminatory procedures for issuing product approval was expanded beyond testing and certification to cover the range of conformity assessment procedures, including laboratory accreditation and quality system registration.
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