Filipino exporters are reminded to comply with India’s additional requirements to determine the origin of imported goods and the certificate of origin (CO) verification process.
In an advisory, the Department of Trade and Industry-Export Marketing Bureau (DTI- EMB) said they should be familiar with India’s implementation of Customs Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements Rules (CAROTAR) 2020 which has been implemented since 21 September 2020.
“In line with this, please inform our Office of any issues/challenges you may have encountered in exporting to India related to the implementation of CAROTAR 2020. This would be helpful in identifying the required assistance that may be extended to Philippine exporters to India,” it said.
Under the CAROTAR, importers are mandated to provide origin-related details to be indicated in the Bill of Entry as provided in the CO.
These include CO reference number, date of issuance of the CO, originating criteria, indication if accumulation provision is applied, indication if the CO is issued by a third country (back-to-back), and indication if goods have been transported directly from the country of origin.
According to India’s CAROTAR Circular No. 38, the provision for issuance of back-to-back CO is presently available only under Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-India free trade agreement (FTA) and hence, back-to-back CO should not be accepted for goods imported under any other trade agreement.
“In cases where origin declared is doubtful, the customs officer is mandated to ask the importer on relevant origin details before seeking verification from the partner country, making it incumbent upon an importer to have sufficient information on the originating status of the goods imported,” it added.
This includes data on how the origin requirement under an FTA, such as regional value content and product specific rules, was satisfied.
Verification could also be undertaken on a random basis as a measure of due diligence.
“For this purpose, factors such as the quantum of duty being foregone, the nature of goods vis-à-vis the country of origin, commodities that are prone to misdeclaration of country of origin, compliance record of the importer etc., may be given regard while selecting certificates of origin for random verification,” India’s CAROTAR Circular added.
Source: PHILEXPORT News and Features
November 22, 2021
