Goods' origin

The issue of tariff preferences and associated declarations of preferential origin was re-introduced by the accession of the Slovak Republic to the EU. Considering many questions, we have prepared for you a brief general description of the legislative requirements and further information on how this field is dealt with in FERONA Slovakia, a.s.

1. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ORIGINS' RULES

1.1 Goods' origin

The Institute of rules of origin of products and goods is closely linked to customs issues. There are several types of tariffs within the EU, including so-called preferential duties, which constitute an advantage over other tariff rates.

The issue is governed by several EU treaties with individual countries or groups of countries or by EU unilateral action against selected groups of countries. The content of these contracts are the rules that lead to the determination of the products' origin in a particular country, namely by precise definitions that apply to the individual chapters of the Harmonized product classification scheme.

The purpose is to distinguish accurately between the origin of the product and a determination whether or not the goods are eligible for the preferential rate of excise duty while being exported and whether it is therefore goods of preferential origin or not. p>

1.2 Preferential agreements of EU and unilateral preferential EU measures

The EU has contractually agreed preferential agreements or unilateral preferences with practically all countries of the world except the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. The products of these mentioned countries are always of non-preferential origin and preferential custom rates do not apply to them.

1.3 The origin's rules application

All preferential EU agreements and unilateral measures (entailed in Provision of EC (EHS) 2454/93 Implementing legislation to the EU Customs Code, as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) 1602/2000, contains detailed rules for determining the origin of goods, mainly defining the so-called sufficient and insufficient treatment and processing of the products. Their appendixes contain the overviews of products according to Harmonized System chapters, including their specific treatment and processing methods that are required to obtain the preferential status of the product in a particular country where such treatment or processing takes place.

2. PROVING THE ORIGIN IN THE EU

2.1 Legal regulations regarding proving the origin

Accession into the EU introduced an obligation to apply the content Regulation Council (EC) 1207/2001 v as amended (No. 1617/2006) and (appendixes I – IV of this Regulation of the Council) into practice>

In general, the origin of products and goods is proven in principle in two manners, either by a declaration of the manufacturer / supplier or via form EUR.1.

In order to apply these forms of declaration is essential that the vendor has an allotted authorization of the so-called approved exporter which allows to use the simplified customs procedures during export of goods.

2.2 Declaration of manufacturer/supplier

It is a written document where the manufacturer or supplier certifies to his customer in a declaration form that the supplied goods originate in the country indicated therein. It may have a form of an invoice declaration, a delivery note, or a separate document. It can also be issued additionally after delivery.

The individual types of declarations could be distinguished based onthree different criterions, if they are declaration towards products which have a preferential or non-preferential origin , secondly if they are one-time or long-term declaration and whether it applies to business within EU or export to non-EU countries .

2.3 Forms EUR.1

Document EUR.1 is issued by a competent customs office on the basis of a supplier's written request on the prescribed form. The prescribed patterns of the EUR.1 document and requests are part of all preferential EU agreements and are unified.

The EU preferential agreements specify the exact use of EUR.1 document. This document serves as sole evidence of the origin of the goods in Tunisia and Maroco, where you can not use a written supplier's declaration form. It is also used for trade with countries with which the EU does not have preferential agreements (see 1.2).

3. DEMONSTRATING THE ORIGIN AT FERONA SLOVAKIA, A.S.

The obligation to apply Council Regulation (EC) No. 1207/2001, as amended, No. 1617/2006, meant for FERONA Slovakia, a.s. a preparation of a relevant methodology, including a SW application, whose output is to provide a proof of origin to the customers. Due to the large number of customers and the quantity of items we deliver, we prefer to issue one-time declarations of origin of products on invoices. The production of long-term declarations, which our customers often demand, is basically inviable for us because of the impossibility of guaranteeing the same origin of the supplied merchandise items in the long term. We believe that you will understand this and most of you will not be affected negatively by it.

At the same time, we ask you to submit your requirements for provision of proof of origin while making an order. We are able to solve additional requirements, but beyond the commonly used SW and it is more difficult and tedious for us.

3.1 Responsibility for a declaration during sale

In case of declarations concerning both intra-EU deliveries and deliveries to countries outside the EU, it is not given that such declarations should be signed by statutory representatives or by workers with full power of attorney, therefore individual salesmen can sign them.

In line with Council Regulation (EC) No. 1207/2001 "If the supplier issues commercial documents electronically, he does not need to sign the declaration with his own hand, provided that he binds the customer in writing that he takes full responsibility for each statement stating his name, as if he had signed it single-handedly." FERONA Slovakia, a.s. does not sign the one-time invoice declaration and states in the purchase agreement the following sentence for assuming full responsibility:“

"FERONA Slovakia, a.s. commits itself towards purchaser that it assumes full responsibility for each declaration of origin of the goods bearing the trade name as if it were signed by the authorized representative of the company. The commitment is adopted in conjunction with Council Regulation (EC) No. 1207/2001, Article 5, paragraph 3. "

3.2 One-time declaration of the goods origin inland and countries outside of EU

If the customer requires proof of origin, the customs officer shall ensure in the IS so that the following text is printed on the invoice:

DECLARATION

I, the undersigned, hereby declare that the goods listed in this document come from the country indicated for each item in the 'Country of Origin' field and meet the rules of origin governing the preferential trade with EEC, IS, LI, NO, CH, BG, HR, MK, RO, XC, XL, FO, CL, MX, IL, PS, ACP, OCT, TN, DZ, MA, EG, JO, LB, SY, AL, BA, XK, XM, XS, GSP, AD, TR, ZA.

Declare that

I undertake to provide the customs authorities with all the supporting documents that will be required.

If the customer requests to include in the Purchase Agreement that an agreement subject is to provide a proof of origin, the commercial consultant shall ensure in the IS that the following text is printed on the Purchase Agreement:

„Customer requires a proof of goods' origin.“