No:CLE/HO/Pol/GSP/2016
December 9, 2016
Members of the Council,

Sub : New Self-Certification GSP Scheme of European Union

Dear Sir,

We wish to invite your kind attention to our earlier circular dated Aug.17, 2015 informing about new GSP system of European Union which will come into effect from Jan.1, 2017. The following are the highlights of the system.

• GSP is called Generalized System of Preferences. India is a beneficiary of EU GSP.

• On account of GSP, the import duty for certain leather products and footwear imported into EU from India will be either or later than the normal duty i.e. MFN duty. A statement showing the existing duty structure in EU for leather, leather products and footwear exported from India is enclosed.

• The European Union is replacing the current system of Certificates of Origin (COO) Form A by the competent authorities under EU GSP, with a system of self-certification of origin of goods by the exporters themselves using statement of origin. India has opted to switch over to the new system with effect from 1^st January, 2017.

• The concept note of EU new GSP scheme received from DOC is enclosed. The following are the highlight of this concept note.

• Under the proposed EU GSP self-certification scheme, the exports with consignment value > € 6000 under the EU GSP would need to be self-certified by the exporter (rather than by a the approved agencies) from I January, 2017 onwards. This would be done through a statement on origin which has to be made out on a commercial document such as invoice. However, there is a transition period for the implementation of this scheme with an initial period of 1 year provided where the 3^rd party certification under Form A is used.

• There are three categories of agency(ies) to be designated in the beneficiary developing countries for implementation of this self-certification system. In the context of India, the following agencies would be given the three roles:

1. Agency for administrative cooperation: Department of Commerce, Government of India which would be the nodal agency for interface with EU
2. Local Administrators for Registration: 16 agencies with contact details as per Appendix 1. They would be responsible to accessing the EU system and registering the local users.

• Local Users: The designated officers of the Local Administrators who would register the exporters and allot them the REX (Registered Exporter) number.

• All the exporters who are exporting or intend to export to EU under GSP would need to register on the Registered Exporter (REX) System of the European Commission. The registration would have to be done by the Local Users (Export Inspection Council) to whom the exporters would need to submit a form as given in Appendix 2 of the enclosed concept note. A REX number would be allotted to the exporters once the registration is completed. After receiving the REX number, the exporter would be in a position to issue the statement on origin on his own. He does not have to subsequently go to any of the agencies for issuance of a certificate of origin (Form A). However, he can avail of the services of the local administrators and users in cases where he has specific queries. Moreover, after registration, the exporter has to export under the EU GSP by only using the statement on origin (and not Form A).

• Under the EU GSP self-certification, the exporter can issue a   “statement on origin” which would be printed on a commercial document such as the invoice. The format of the statement on origin is as under:

The exporter “REX Number of exporter” of the products covered by this document declares that, except where otherwise clearly indicated, these products are of Indian preferential origin according to rules of origin of the Generalised System of Preferences of the European Union and that the origin criterion met is .

 P (if wholly obtained)

• W“4 digit HS code of export product” if sufficiently worked or processed
• EU/ Norway/ Switzerland/ Turkey cumulation
• Regional cumulation (in case of SAARC cumulation)

• The exporters have the responsibility to ensure that the statement on origin complies with the requisite rule i.e. WO, PSR, cumulation etc. In case of any doubts, the exporters can avail of the services of the local administrators and users who may levy a fee commensurate with the cost of services rendered. A copy of the statement on origin has to be sent to the local user and the exporter would need to maintain the requisite records of these statements of origin and supporting documents for a period of 5 years from the date of export.

• In the eventuality of any request for verification from the EU, the Department of Commerce would decide on the local administrator/ user which would conduct this verification. The agencies may charge a fee for this verification which is commensurate with the cost of services rendered.
• Members may kindly note the above. CLE will shortly organize awareness programmes on this self-certificate GSP Scheme of EU. Members may also approach their respective Export Inspection Council to get more details.

Thanks & regards,

R.Ramesh Kumar
Executive Director
COUNCIL FOR LEATHER EXPORTS

EU GSP Self Certification Concept Note