Regional Value Content

FTA / RoO

Rule of origin requiring a minimum percentage of a product's value to originate within the FTA region.

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

CAROTAR does not set value thresholds — each agreement does — but it puts the burden of proving them on the importer. Rule 4 requires the importer to possess information, in the prescribed Form I, “to demonstrate the manner in which country of origin criteria, including the regional value content and product specific criteria, specified in the Rules of Origin, are satisfied”, to produce it on request, and to keep supporting documents “for at least five years from date of filing of bill of entry”. An importer who cannot show the value build-up has not met rule 4, whatever the certificate says.

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
• Cumulation
• Diagonal Cumulation

From the AJG lexicon archive (July 2026).