G/RO/94  
 
25 October  2021 
(21-8040) Page: 1/2 
   
 
 
REPORT (2021) OF THE COMMITTEE ON RULES OF ORIGIN  TO THE  
GENERAL COUNCIL ON PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN  
FOR LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES  
1. This report is being submitted by the Committee on Rules of Origin (CRO) to the General Council  
as required by the 2013 (Bali) and the 2015 (Nairobi) Ministerial Decision s on preferential rules of 
origin for Least -developed Countries  (WT/L/917  and WT/L/917/Add.1  respectively) . According  to the 
provisions  of these Decisions , the Committee on Rules of Origin (CRO) " shall annually review the 
developments in preferential rules of origin applicable to imports from LDCs" and report to the General 
Council . 
2. The CRO discussed several matters rela ted to preferential rules of origin for LDCs in its two 
meetings held in 2021 (on 20 May and on 1 4 October). The minutes of these meetings are contained 
in documents G/RO/M/7 6 and G/RO/M/7 71 respectively. The following are some of the recent 
developments Members took not e of: 
Transparency (notifications ) 
− Members have detailed information  about preferential rules of origin and origin requirements 
for LDCs . Almost all preference -granting Members have  submitted a notification using the 
agreed not ification template (G/RO/84) . The United Kingdom has submitted a notification 
describing its preferential rules of origin in February 2021 . A notification about preferential rules 
of origin applied to LDC s is only missing for the schemes of Armenia , Iceland  and Morocco . 
− These notifications and detailed information about these preferential origin requirements can 
be accessed, at the tariff -line level, through the WTO, ITC and WCO "Origin Facilitator" 
(www.findrulesoforigin.org ) 
− While progress with respect to preferential tariff and import data has been slower, there have 
been significant improvements since last year's report , notably with the notification of 
preferential import statistics by Iceland (2010 -2019) , India (2017 -2020) , the Russian 
Federation (2013 -2018) and by Turkey  (2010 -2020).  These notifications are currently being 
reviewed before their possible integration into WTO databases.  No statistics or partial statistics 
only continue to be available for some preference -granting Members: Armenia; China; 
Kazakhstan; Kyrgyz Republic; Montenegro; Morocco; New Zealand; and Tajikistan. Document 
G/RO/W/163/Rev.9 describes in detail the information available with the Secretariat to this 
date. 
− These notifications, including preferen tial import statistics, can be accessed through the WTO 
Preferential Trade Arrangements  (PTA) database ( http://ptadb.wto.org ).  
Recent developments  
− The European Union updated2 Members on the implementation of the self -certification  system 
for registered exporters (Registered Exporter system , REX , also used by Norway,  Switzerland 
and Turkey ). The system is a trade facilitating tool as it allows  exporters to declare the origin 
of the goods witho ut the need to request  a certificate of origin form designated third-party 
authorities.  According to the EU, a few least -developed countries had not yet completed the 
 
1 To be issued.  
2 The presentation was circulated in document RD/RO/95 . G/RO/94  
 
- 2 - 
 
  necessary procedures to transition to this new system and were therefore not able to util ize 
trade preferences in the EU for the moment.  
− The United Kingdom explained  that its General System of Preferences (GSP) had been launched 
successfully. The delegation also reported that it was in the process of reviewing its preferential 
rules of origin with a view to simplifying them. Members, and specially LGCs, were encouraged 
to provide comments in a consultative process which had been launched .   
− A representative of UNCTAD made a presentation regarding the newly developed  website 
(https://gsp.unctad.org/home ) and database on the utilization of preferential schemes. Three 
main search options were possible for the database, namely: i) utilization by product; (ii) top 
products impor ted from a beneficiary; and (iii) utilization by country. As noted, the methodology 
for calculation of utilization rates was similar to the one applied by the WTO.  
Stocktaking of implementation of the Bali and Nairobi Ministerial Decisions  
− Tanzania (on beh alf of the LDC Group) indicated th at document G/RO/W/194 had been prepared 
on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the Nairobi Ministerial Decision. It acknowledged 
progress made on transparency  but noted that restrictive rules of origin and origin requi rements  
continued to be used by many preference -granting Members in several cases .  
Impact of rules of origin on preference utilization (calculation of utilization rates)  
− Members considered a note (G/RO/W/204 ) by the Secretariat on "Utilization of Trade Preferences 
by Least Developed Countries: 2015 -2019 Patterns and Trends" . Thanks to better data 
availability, the Secretariat analysed trends in utilization rates over a five -year period. The note 
confirmed that underutilization could be significant for some preferential schemes and some 
sectors. It also confirmed that the ability to utilize trade preferences varied greatly from one LDC 
to another. Finally, it had shown that that landlocked LDCs faced greater challenges in utilizing 
trade preferences:  while there had been a slight improvement in the level of preference utilization 
by LDCs with sea access, a noticeable deterioration in utilization could be observed for landlocked 
LDCs.  
− On 19 May, members participated in a webinar on "What Drives the Uti lization of Trade 
Preferences" organized by the Secretariat. The webinar was an opportunity to review the research 
conducted so far by the Secretariat on the utilization of trade preferences by LDCs. In addition, 
it was also an opportunity to learn more ab out research being conducted by other institutions on 
the linkages between rules of origin and the utilization of trade preferences. Finally, the workshop 
also offered Members an opportunity to learn from each other's experiences in monitoring the 
utilizat ion of trade preferences and working with the private sector to train operators on origin 
requirements and promote a fuller utilization of trade preferences. The programme, presentations 
and video recording of an event can be accessed through the rules of origin page of the WTO 
website (https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/roi_e/preference_utilization_190521_e.htm ). 
Annual review  of implementation  
− The report of th e CRO to the General Council was considered  and adopted on 14 October 2021 . 
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