REPORT OF THE
COMMITTEE ON RULES OF ORIGIN TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL
ON PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN FOR LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DRAFT
Revision
This report is being submitted
by the Committee on Rules of Origin (CRO) to the General Council following the
2022 Decision on Preferential Rules of Origin and the Implementation of
the Nairobi Ministerial Decision, which states that the "CRO should report its work to the General Council
ahead of the Thirteenth Ministerial Conference" (G/RO/95).
In addition, it also discharges
the requirements of the 2013 (Bali) and 2015 (Nairobi) Ministerial
Decisions on preferential rules of origin for least developed countries (LDCs) (WT/L/917
and WT/L/917/Add.1
respectively), which stipulate that the CRO "shall annually review the developments in preferential rules of origin
applicable to imports from LDCs" and report to the General
Council.
1
Introduction.. 2
2 Transparency and data availability (notifications). 2
2.1
Preferential Rules of Origin. 2
2.2
Preferential Tariffs and Preferential Import Statistics. 3
3 Recent developments reported to the CRO.. 4
4 Implementation of the Bali and Nairobi Ministerial Decisions. 4
4.1
Requirements for the Assessment of Sufficient or Substantial Transformation. 5
4.1.1 Ad valorem percentage Criterion. 5
4.1.2 Change
of Tariff Classification Criterion. 5
4.1.3 Specific
Working and Processing Criterion. 5
4.2 Cumulation. 5
5 Documentary requirements. 6
5.1 Proof of
Origin. 6
5.2 Trade
Facilitation Measures for Small Consignments. 6
5.3
Documentary Evidence of Direct Consignment 6
6 Impact of preferential rules of origin on preference
utilization: the ANALYSIS of preference utilization rates. 7
6.1 Linking
Preference Utilization Rates and Preferential Rules of Origin. 7
6.2 Modalities
for the calculation of Utilization Rates. 7
6.3 Preference
Utilization by LDCs. 7
6.4 Discussion
on different factors that could affect the Utilization of Trade Preferences. 8
7 [NEXT STEPS/CONCLUSION]. 9
8 references to documents considered by the CRO (2013‑2023). 9
Annex 1. 10
Annex 2. 12
Annex 3. 13
Annex 4. 14