FTA / RoO
A document certifying the country of origin of goods, required to claim FTA preferential tariff treatment.
Under CAROTAR rule 3, an importer claiming preference must, at the time of filing the bill of entry, declare that the goods qualify as originating, cite the tariff notification, produce a certificate of origin for each item, and enter its details — reference number, date of issuance, originating criteria, whether accumulation or cumulation is applied, whether the certificate was issued by a third country (back-to-back), and whether the goods were transported directly from the country of origin. Rule 3(2) lets the officer deny the claim without verification where the certificate is incomplete, carries an unauthenticated alteration, is produced after its validity has expired, or covers an ineligible item; in each case it is marked “INAPPLICABLE”. A certificate is therefore a document that must be right on its face before its contents are even examined.
What CAROTAR does and does not settle. These rules govern how an importer into India claims and proves preferential origin. They do not define the substantive origin criteria — cumulation, value content, tariff shift, wholly obtained — which are set by each trade agreement’s own Rules of Origin. CAROTAR says so itself at rule 8(3): “In the event of a conflict between a provision of these rules and a provision of the Rules of Origin, the provision of the Rules of Origin shall prevail to the extent of the conflict.” So read the agreement for what qualifies, and CAROTAR for what India requires of the importer who claims it.
For India exports, COO is issued by: (1) Export Inspection Council (EIC) — for goods requiring inspection certificate, (2) Export Promotion Councils (EEPC, PHARMEXCIL, APEDA, etc.) — for sector-specific COO, (3) Chambers of Commerce (FICCI, CII, ASSOCHAM, PHD Chamber) — for general COO, (4) FIEO — Federation of Indian Export Organisations. For EU GSP preference, use Form A (being replaced by REX system). For UAE CEPA, DGFT-authorised COO required.
From the AJG lexicon archive (July 2026).
Developed by Amit Jain at allfrontierglobal.com
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