Cumulation

FTA / RoO

FTA provision allowing inputs from certain countries to be treated as originating materials when calculating origin content.

Sources

1. CBIC — Customs (Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements) Rules, 2020 (CAROTAR), Notification No. 81/2020-Customs (N.T.) taxinformation.cbic.gov.in accessed 23 September 2026

Indian practice makes cumulation a declared fact rather than a background concept: CAROTAR rule 3(1)(d) requires the importer to enter in the bill of entry whether “accumulation/cumulation is applied”, alongside the certificate’s originating criteria. What cumulation permits — whose materials or processing may be counted — is set by the particular agreement’s Rules of Origin, not by CAROTAR.

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.

Related terms

• Absorption Principle
• Bilateral Cumulation
• Certificate of Origin
• Change in Tariff Classification
• Diagonal Cumulation
• Direct Transport Rule

From the AJG lexicon archive (July 2026).