ARTICLE 5 OF THE AGREEMENT ON RULES OF ORIGIN

Japan

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 Japan.