(S) Many exporters or importers forget that the direct transport or non-manipulation rule can disqualify your product counting as originating. Find out how it works
Preferential arrangements contain rules concerning the transportation of preferential goods from one party's territory to another.
The purpose of direct transport is to ensure that the goods arriving in the country of import are the same as those which left the country of export. You need to verify that your product has been sent from your country to the recipient/partner country without being altered or transformed in another country.
If for any reason the goods pass through or stop-over in, the territory of a third country provided that they stay under the customs supervision, the conditions of direct transport are considered to have been fulfilled.
Upon request, your importer must be able to prove to customs authorities that the
goods bought to you and originating in your country has not been altered elsewhere
before arriving in the country of import
If your product “transit” in another country, it must not be altered or separated, and it has to be under the vigilance of customs authorities.
Proof of compliance with the direct transport rule may be given by a single transport document covering the passage of the goods through the country of transit or, for example, a "non-manipulation certificate" issued by the authorities of that country.
Case Study: The UK FTAs and the Direct Transport Rule in Practice
The majority of the agreements signed by UK provide this.
For the importer to benefit from the tariff preference (reduction/removal of customs duties), the transport of goods must be direct between the partner countries.
However, a logistics stopover in a third country to the agreement or transit through another country between the UK and the partner country is not likely to interfere with this rule. The transport or transit documents must be able to certify that the goods have remained under the control of the main carrier or customs. for example, this may be case for goods between the UK and Tunisia, whose trucks will necessarily transit through EU territory under cover of a T1 transit document. This should not interfere with the benefit of the tariff preference applicable to products imported into the UK or Tunisia under this agreement.
What happens if the goods have been unloaded to be stored for a time in the EU?
Concrete example : A product manufactured in UK obtains UK preferential origin according to the rule of the UK/Switzerland agreement. This product is not exported directly from UK to Switzerland, but is previously imported and stored in France. The French company exports some of these products to Switzerland (as is, without transformation). Question: can the Swiss customer benefit from the tariff preference provided for in the UK/Switzerland agreement, knowing that the condition of direct transport has not been respected?
Answer: Possibly… under conditions.
The French demonstrates that these goods have not been transformed by proving that they remained under customs control during the storage period: the Swiss customs accept as proof the T1 transit declaration which will accompany these goods on leaving the warehouse under customs or temporary storage facility for example, and…
On presentation, to the Swiss customer, of the proof of preferential UK origin as provided for in the agreement. The practical terms are to be defined according to the operation and the agreement (declaration of origin on a commercial document from the UK supplier, or, for certain agreements, the EUR.1 movement certificate issued in the UK).
The free trade agreements signed by UK accepts for some the splitting of shipments in the country of storage (a truck imported into the EU and re-exported to Switzerland in the form of split shipments).
It also works in the sense: Swiss products are stored in the EU before returning to the UK.
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