DoC requests information on orginal status of products

The Department of Commerce (DoC) in the Ministry of Trade, Commerce and Consumer Affairs has embarked on an exercise to gather information for the purpose of determining the origin status of products, which are of export interest to Sri Lanka under various Preferential Trading Arrangements.

This initiative will primarily aim at compiling information on an identified group of products, which have encountered certain genuine difficulties/problems in complying with the Rules of Origin criteria stipulated in several Preferential Trading Arrangements, even though the respective final products have acquired the required Domestic Value Addition - DVA (Eg. 35% of the FOB value) during the production process, a Ministry Press Release said.

The change of Commodity Classification (HS Code) does not take place at four-digit level in respect of all non-originating materials (imported raw materials), even after they have undergone a substantial level of processing and acquired a considerable value.

For instance, Rules of Origin criteria in most of the Free Trade Agreements stipulate that 4 - digit HS code of the final product should be different from those of non-originating raw materials, irrespective of the fact that the final product has acquired the required level of domestic value addition (35% of the FOB value).

Sugar confectionary (HS 1704), Articles of silver, gold and other base metals with or without stones (HS 7113), Ferro silicon (HS 7202), Pumps (HS 8413, 8418), Electrical items (HS 8471), Electronic items (HS 8507, 8517), Motor cycles (HS 8711), Wooden furniture (9403) are some of the few items which fall into this category. DoC has already requested a selected group of companies exporting these products to provide production and processing data requested in the fact sheet.

Sri Lankan exporters will not be in a position to enjoy optimum benefits under various free and preferential trading agreements/arrangements, unless the above difficulties in regard to rules of origin criteria are addressed in a satisfactory manner.

DoC appreciates the cooperation of the exporters, as the information they provide would be beneficial to seek exemptions from the general rules of origin and, change the existing rules as appropriate under various Preferential Trading Agreements already negotiated by Sri Lanka.

All exporters, whose products face similar difficulties, are kindly requested to provide the information on e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]