ARTICLE 5 OF THE AGREEMENT ON RULES OF
ORIGIN
Notification of Non-preferential Rules of Origin
HONG
KONG, CHINA
1._
According to
Article 5.1 of the Agreement on Rules of Origin, each Member shall provide
to the Secretariat, within 90 days after the date of entry into force of
the WTO Agreement for it, its rules of origin, judicial decisions, and
administrative rulings of general application relating to rules of origin in
effect on that date. If, by inadvertence, a rule of origin has not been
provided, the Member concerned shall provide it immediately after this fact
becomes known.
2._ Article 5.2 of the Agreement provides, moreover, that during
the period referred to in Article 2, Members introducing modifications,
other than de minimis
modifications, to their rules of origin or introducing new rules of origin,
shall publish a notice to that effect at least 60 days before the entry
into force of the modified or new rule in such a manner as to enable interested
parties to become acquainted with the intention to modify a rule of origin or
to introduce a new rule of origin, unless exceptional circumstances arise or
threaten to arise for a Member.
3._ In addition, as a result of
consultations held in 2024, the Chairperson of in the CRO noted that it would
be desirable that Members keep their notifications complete, up to date and
accurate in case of modifications to the applicable legislation, as necessary.
In doing so, Members were encouraged to use a notification template (Annexes to
document _JOB/RO/8/Rev.3). The use of the notification template would have the advantage of
facilitating the preparation of notifications and standardizing the information
submitted.
4._ Further to these notification
obligations and recommendations, the following notification has been received
from Hong Kong, China.
_______________
ANNEX 1
NON-PREFERENTIAL
RULES OF ORIGIN
I. BASIC INFORMATION
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1)_
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Notifying Member:
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Hong Kong, China
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2)_
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Contact point:
(If possible, provide the following contact
details: name, telephone, e‑mail, website)
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Principal Trade
Officer
Factory Registration and Origin
Certification Branch
Systems Division
Trade and Industry Department
Tel: (+852) 2398 5538
E-mail: co_enquiry@tid.gov.hk
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3)_
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Are non-preferential rules of origin
("non-preferential RO") in force?
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þ
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Yes
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o
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No*
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* If your answer in question 3 is 'No', the
subsequent questions of this Annex do not need to be completed
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4)_
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Please indicate which commercial policy
instruments use these non‑preferential RO (refer to Article 1.2 of the
Agreement on Rules of Origin):
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Hong Kong, China administers an origin certification system to
facilitate exports to foreign markets. Non-preferential RO are used to
establish the origin of Hong Kong, China's exports in order to meet the
requirements of overseas importing authorities for purposes other than
obtaining preferential tariff under free trade agreements.
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5)_
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Date of entry into force or any substantive
modification thereof:
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Hong Kong, China's non-preferential rules of origin was notified to
the WTO in 1995 and the latest notification was in 2012 (referring to WTO
document G/RO/N/86, dated 1 October 2012).
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6)_
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Date of expiration, if applicable:
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N/A
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7)_
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Governmental or non-governmental authorities in
charge of administration:
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Trade and Industry Department
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8)_
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Internet link to legislation, title and date of
adoption of the legislation, and for any explanatory documents, if
applicable:
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Hong Kong, China does not have any specific laws or regulations for
non-preferential origin determination on imports. As required under
Regulation 4 of the Import and Export (Registration) Regulations (Cap. 60E),
an importer of goods, other than the exempted articles, shall lodge an
accurate and complete declaration for the goods imported, including their
origin.
Hong Kong, China also administers an origin certification system to
facilitate exports to foreign markets. Origin rules are established in
conformity with internationally accepted practice and standards for the
certificates of origin and are further detailed in the Certificate of Origin
Circular. Certificate of Origin Circulars and the latest non-preferential RO
are available at Trade and Industry Department's website <https://www.tid.gov.hk>.
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9)_
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Comments, if any:
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N/A
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II. APPLICATION OF NON-PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN
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10)_
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Do non-preferential RO apply to imports?
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o
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Yes
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þ
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No
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11)_
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Do non-preferential RO apply to exports?
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þ
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Yes
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o
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No
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12)_
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Is there a de minimis
rule for the application of non-preferential RO?
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o
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Yes
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þ
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No
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If "Yes", please specify the de minimis threshold and provide the relevant legal
references applicable to questions 10 to 12:
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N/A
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III. CRITERIA
FOR DETERMINING SUBSTANTIAL TRANSFORMATION FOR ASSESSING THE ORIGIN OF THE GOOD
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13)_
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General criteria, if applicable for all
products:
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For wholly obtained or produced goods, they must be the natural
products of Hong Kong which have been wholly grown or mined in Hong Kong or
produced in Hong Kong from domestic materials. For manufactured goods which
may involve multiple place processing and/or materials, they must have
undergone manufacturing processes in Hong Kong which have changed permanently
and substantially the shape, nature, form or utility of the basic materials
used in manufacture.
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14)_
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Product specific rules of origin where
applicable:
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The detailed origin criteria and the corresponding principal
manufacturing processes for specific products are set out in the
Administrative Origin Criteria for Specified Products for Issue of
Certificates of Hong Kong Origin available at Trade and Industry Department's
website.
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15)_
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Definition of non-originating material and
originating material, if any:
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Non-originating material means a material that
does not qualify as originating in Hong Kong in accordance with the non-preferential
RO.
Originating material means a material that
qualifies as originating in Hong Kong in accordance with the non‑preferential
RO.
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16)_
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List of minimal operations not conferring
origin, if any:
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Simple diluting, packing, bottling, drying, simple assembling, sorting
or decorating etc.
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17)_
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Residual rules, if any:
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N/A
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18)_
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Any other information the Member deems necessary
(provide an Internet link, if appropriate)
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The origin criteria,
including the principal processes which confer origin to a finished article,
for specific products and periodic refinement to them are published in
Certificate of Origin circulars sent to traders available at Trade and
Industry Department's website <https://www.tid.gov.hk>.
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IV. ADVANCE RULINGS
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19)_
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Are advance rulings on the origin of a good
issued?[1]
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20)_
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Authority in charge of issuing advance rulings
on origin:
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N/A
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21)_
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Instructions for the application for an advance
ruling on origin:
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N/A
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22)_
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Internet link to legislation and any other
relevant legal references:
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N/A
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ANNEX 2
NOTIFICATION
TEMPLATE FOR DOCUMENTARY REQUIREMENTS RELATED TO
NON-PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN
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1)_
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For
imports, are there mandatory requirements for certificate and/or any other
documentary proof of origin for non-preferential purposes?
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o
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Yes
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þ
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No**
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2)_
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For
exports, are there mandatory requirements for certificate and/or any other
documentary proof of origin for non-preferential purposes?
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o
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Yes
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þ
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No**
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Certificates of origin
are not mandatory for the export of goods originating from Hong Kong, China;
an origin certification system is administered to help exporters meet the requirements of the importing
economies.
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** If answers to questions 1 and 2 are 'No', the
subsequent questions of this Annex do not need to be completed
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3)_
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Is
there a standardized or prescribed format and/or content of certificate
and/or any other mandatory documentary proof of origin?
If
"Yes", please attach a copy or provide relevant details in the
Appendix of this Annex
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Yes No
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4)_
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If
only requested in specific circumstances, please describe the cases for which
a certificate (or other mandatory documentary proof of origin) is requested
and the respective format (prescribed form or other):
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5)_
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If
mandatory requirements for certificate and/or any other documentary proof of
origin for non-preferential purposes are limited to certain products, please
specify for which HS Chapters and the respective format (prescribed form or
other):
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6)_
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Exemptions
to the mandatory requirements for certificate and/or any other documentary
proof of origin for non-preferential purposes (e.g. low value consignments,
postal consignments, …):
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7)_
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Governmental
or non-governmental authorities designated for issuance of certificate and/or
any other mandatory documentary proof of origin, if any:
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8)_
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Please
provide the relevant legal references applicable to Questions 1 to 7:
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ANNEX 2 ‒
APPENDIX
Please
attach the prescribed form and/or Internet link to the prescribed form of
Certificate of origin (or other mandatory documentary proof of origin), if
applicable.
__________
[1] As defined
in Article 2(h) of the Agreement on Rules of Origin and Article 3 of
the Trade Facilitation Agreement.