Verification of Certificate of Origin under FTA

The following Facility Notice was issued by the Commissioner of Customs (Export) Jawaharlal Nehru Customs House on 13^th October 2011.

[Customs Facility Notice No. 128 dated 13^th October 2011]

Sub: Verification of origin in case of goods imported under Free/Preferential Trade Agreement.

Attention of the importers, trade and their agents is drawn to the above cited subject. A number of Free/Preferential Trade Agreements (FTA/PTA) are in operation at present under which goods can be imported at preferential rate of duty. Rules of Origin are notified under such Agreements which require the importer to, inter alia; make a claim at the time of importation, in the form of a prescribed Certificate of Origin (COO) under the seal and signature of authorized signatories, for claiming the preferential rate of duty.

2. There have been instances in the recent past where benefit of the preferential rate of duty has been denied by the assessing officer on the ground that the signature/seal on the Certificate of Origin is not available with them. It seems that the specimen signatures and seals of authorized signatories of Certificate of Origin (COO) is not being properly disseminated to the assessing officers.

3. In this connection, Board has tasked the Systems Directorate to take up the issue of devising a quick and reliable system of dissemination of the signatures/seals to the assessing officers.

4. In the interim, locally the Additional Commissioner of Customs, Appraising Main (Import) has been designated in JNCH to act as the repository of the circulated signatures/seals of the authorized signatories of Certificate of Origin (COO) and he will ensure the proper dissemination and also verification (in case of doubts raised) of the signatures/seals to the assessing officers.

Difficulty, if any, faced should be brought to the notice of the designated officer.

F.No.S/22-GEN-1512011 AM (I)