Rules of Origin Are Used To Determine The
Rules of Origin Are Used To Determine The
Rules of Origin Are Used To Determine The
for purposes of international trade. There are two common types of rules
of origin depending upon application, the preferential and non-
preferential rules of origin (19 CFR 102). The exact rules vary from
country to country, from agreement to agreement.
The basis for the non-preferential rules originates from the Kyoto
convention[1] which states that if a product is wholly obtained or
produced completely within one country the product shall be deemed
having origin in that country.
For a product which has been produced in more than one country the
product shall be determined to have origin in the country where the last
substantial transformation took place.
To determine exactly what was the last substantial transformation, three
general rules are applied:
1 Change of tariff classification (on any level, though 4-digit level is
the most common)
2 Value added-rule (ad valorem)
3 Special processing rule, the minimum transformation is described.
For instance, in the EU non-preferential rules of origin for T-shirts
(HS6109), the origin is supposed to be in the country where the
complete making-up was done.[2]
Not much more work was done on rules of origin until well into the
Uruguay Round negotiations. In the late 1980s developments in
three important areas served to focus more attention on the
problems posed by rules of origin: