Origin of goods

The origin of goods may be non-preferential and preferential.

A non-preferential origin of goods is the ‘economic’ nationality of goods, i.e. the goods do not acquire any privileged status in the form of cancellation or reduction of customs duties on them, however it is required for a proper application of many economic policy measures . A certificate of origin is issued as proof of non-preferential origin of goods, usually by chambers of commerce of the exporting country.

The Indirect Taxation Authority deals exclusively  with matters of preferential origin. Preferential origin is laid down in Protocols concerning the definition of the concept of originating products’ and the methods of administrative cooperation, which are an integral part of applicable free trade agreements.  It ensures that the preferential duty rate on importation into another Contracting State is applied only to those goods originating from one of the Contracting States.

Originating products shall have preferences prescribed by the relevant agreements, subject to demonstrated evidence of origin – EUR.1 movement certificate and Account Statement.

Generally, products are considered originating if they:
– are wholly obtained;
– are sufficiently worked or processed products (subject to the conditions referred to in the List of working or processing)
–  have met conditions envisaged for the application of origin cumulation (bilateral –the materials used in the production originating from two countries and diagonal-the materials used in production originating from more than two countries).

In addition to the method of acquiring a preferential origin, each individual agreement prescribes the following basic provisions as well, and they are: insufficient processing or working procedures, general rule of tolerance, no drawback or exemption from duty, the territoriality principle, the direct transport rule, proof of origin, the possibility of granting approved exporter status, etc.

It should be noted that every protocol of origin or another legal grounds laying down the rules of origin have their specificities so it is essential to look into a particular protocol when establishing origin.