G/RO/N/213  
 
4 February  2021 
(21-0928) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Rules of Origin  Original: English  
 
 
NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE  5 AND PARAGRAPH  4 OF 
ANNEX  II TO THE AGREEMENT ON RULES OF ORIGIN  
NON-PREFERENTIAL AND PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN  
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. 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 inte rested 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.  
2.  Furthermore, paragraph  4 of Annex  II to the Agreement on R ules of Origin envisages that 
Members shall promptly provide to the Secretariat their existing or new preferential rules of origin, 
including a listing of the preferential arrangements to which they apply, judicial decisions, and 
administrative rulings of general application relating to their preferential rules of origin. In this 
respect, the Committee on Rules of Origin further agreed that notifications made to the Committee 
on Regional Trade Agreements (CRTA) or the Committee on Trade and Development (CTD ) could 
also suffice to discharge Members' notification obligations under the Agreement on Rules of Origin 
(G/RO/M/59). As a result, the Committee agreed that notifications which had been initially received 
by the CRTA or the CTD should also be circulated by the Secretariat to the CRO. Information 
regarding such notifications, including related to preferential rules of origin, can also be obtained 
through the WTO  database on regional trade agreements ( http://rtais.wto.o rg) or the WTO  database 
on preferential trade agreements ( http://ptadb.wto.org ). 
3.  With reference to these rules, the following notification has been received:  
TONGA  
A.  NON-PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN  
In Accordance  with Article 5.1 of the Agreement on Rules of Origin for members to notify its rules 
of origin, judicial decisions and administrative rulings of general application , the Government of 
Tonga  notifies the Secretariat that it does not maintain non -preferential rules of origin.  
B.  PREFERENTIAL  RULES OF ORIGIN  
With reference to Article 5.1 and paragraph 4 of Annex II of the Agreement on Rules of Origin, the 
Government of Tonga  herby provides to the Secretariat legal instruments relating to its preferent ial 
rules of origin together with a short description of its application.  
- Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus (PACER Plus)   
The Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus  came into force on 13 December  2020. 
Under Chapter 2 of the PACER Plus , ordinary customs duties will not apply to goods that satisfy the 
PACER  Plus origin rules highlighted in Chapter 3 of the Agreement. If goods are deemed to meet the G/RO/N/213  
 
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  origin requirements , they will be entitled to preferential treatment in accordance with Annex 2 -A of 
the Agreement.   
The documentary evidence which must be supplied by the exporter  or manufacturer  in one PACER 
Plus party to the importer in another, in order to claim that the  goods are originating, is the PACER 
Plus Declaration of Origin  detailed in Annex 3 -A of the Agreement . 
The full text of the Agreement can be accessed through the official website1 of Tonga 's Ministry of 
Trade and Economic Development . 
The national regulations under which the Tongan Customs administration is able to administer the 
Rules of origin provisions of PACER Plus is the Customs (PACER Plus) Regulations 2020. The principal 
Act under which these regulations were made is the Customs Act  2007. The full texts of the Act and 
Regulations can be accessed through the official government legislation website of the Attorney 
General 's Office of Tonga:  
- https://ago.gov.to/cms/images/LEGISLATION/PRINCIPAL/2007/2007 -
0005/CustomsAct_2.pdf ; and  
- https://ago.gov.to/cms/images/LEGISL ATION/SUBORDINATE/2020/2020 -
0094/CustomsPACERPlusRegulations2020_1.pdf . 
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1 Website under construction.