Date: 6th May,2022, Time: 2.30 PM
The council had organized a webinar on ‘Understanding the certificate of origin procedure for exports in the India -UAE CEPA Agreement’ on 6th May,2022 at 2.30 PM. The objective of the webinar was to discuss the key aspects and procedures of the agreement with special emphasis on the certificate of origin procedure for exports
Key speakers:
• Dr J.S Reddy, Additional Director, Export Inspection Council, New Delhi
• Mr. Kuldeep Singh, Deputy Director, Export Inspection Agency, New Delhi
Attendees:
The session was attended by around 200 participants and concluded after addressing their queries by the panellists with a vote of thanks by Mr. KK Duggal, Director, Policy
Key highlights of the seminar
Background
Mr KK Duggal, Director, Policy welcomed all the participants to the webinar on understanding the certificate of origin procedure for exports in the India -UAE CEPA Agreement.
India and UAE have signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) on 18th February 2022 with an aim to boost the merchandise trade between the two countries to US$ 100 billion over the next five years. The agreement has come into force on 1st May,2022 and is expected to generate a wide variety of benefits for Indian exporters in terms of free-market access for gems and jewellery products and other products in UAE market and procurement of raw materials at competitive prices in India.
However, in order to avail this concession exporters must produce a ‘Certificate of origin’ that shows that the jewellery exported is of Indian origin. A Certificate of Origin (CO) is an important international trade document that certifies that goods in a particular export shipment are wholly obtained, produced, manufactured, or processed in a particular country. They declare the ‘nationality’ of the product and serve as a declaration by the exporter to satisfy customs or trade requirements. The rules of origin are enforced through this certificate that is issued by authorised agencies of the trading partner. An exporter cannot avail the customs tariff preferences under the FTA without submitting the certificate of origin from the authorised agency. This webinar was conducted to guide exporters on how to obtain a Certificate of Origin.
Mr. KK Duggal said, “UAE is a very important market for Indian gems and jewellery and earlier this year on the 18th of February a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was signed between India and UAE in Delhi. Under this arrangement, the Indian jewellery can be exported to Dubai and the entire UAE and get a duty concession of 5% which otherwise is levied on Indian jewellery. This is a very big concession that the UAE government has given to Indian exporters. To take benefit of this 5% exemption one of the important requirements for the Indian exporters is that their goods should be accompanied by a Certificate of Origin certifying that this is Indian jewellery. Now this certificate is to be given by a government agency. For our sector DGFT and the regional office of DGFT along with export inspection agencies under the Export Inspection Council are authorized to give these certificates.
On the very first day when this agreement became operational, our sector was one of the first sectors to arrange 3 shipments which went to Dubai with a Certificate of Origin issued by the export inspection agency in May. So that was a very big achievement and historic day for our sector, and we are grateful to Dr. Reddy and Mr. Kuldeep who helped the exporters to fill the forms and obtain the Certificate of Origin.”
Dr. JS Reddy said, “This is a momentous occasion that we witnessed on 1st May 2022 with the implementation of the India -UAE CEPA Agreement. With this initiative, exporters sitting anywhere can apply online and understand the documents and requirements needed while registering. The certificate of origin is like a promissory note of financial nature. It is a humble request to all of you to exercise due diligence and sincerely submit the document in the first instance itself. The certificate of origin is not the final step while availing benefits and the customs authorities can use the certificate as a reference document and ask for additional documents to verify the rules of origin. Let us hope we achieve all our export targets that we have on this export front”
He further added that similar regional workshops will be conducted in order to further educate exporters in India about the agreement
The key points of discussion during the seminar were as follows: –
- Background of tariff preferential schemes
- Brief on Rules of origin and origin criteria
- Product Specific rules
- Form of Certificate of origin and application form
- Issue of certificate of origin
- Special provisions
- Minimal process or insufficient operations
- Obligation of exporter/manufacturer
- Procedure for application
The panellists then addressed the queries and doubts of the participants. Some of the queries include: –
- What is the mode of submitting the certificate of origin- Online or Physical?
- How much time will it take for the issuance of certificate of origin?
- What is the procedure for registration in the common digital platform of DGFT?
- How does one fill details in certificate of origin when importing gold bars as it happens through nominated agencies?
The seminar ended with a vote of thanks by Mr KK Duggal, Director, Policy who thanked all the participants for joining the seminar.
For further details, you can view the webinar through this link-