G/RO/W/198  
 
27 October 2020  
(20-7484) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Rules of Origin  Original: English  
 
SUBMISSION OF CHAD ON BEHALF OF THE LDC GROUP  
PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN FOR  
LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES  
The following submission, dated 21 October  2020, is being circulated at the request of the delegation 
of Chad.  
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1  TRANSPARENCY AND NOTIFICATIONS  
Members take note of the progress recorded in implementing the Nairobi Decision on 
preferential rules of origin for LDC. The adoption of a notification template for the rules of origin by 
preference granting countries and the notification of the utilization rates of the Duty Free and Quota 
Free schemes according to paragraph 4 of the Nairobi Decision has increased transparency and 
enhanced th e quality of the debate in the Committee on rules of origin towards better rules of origin 
for LDCs according to the Nairobi Decision;  
Members urge preference -granting countries that have yet to notify the trade data on utilization 
rates to do so at the e arliest convenience. Such data notifications should comprise multiple years 
from the most recent years, be reliable, of high quality, regularly updated, and including all 
preferences granted to LDCs under autonomous or reciprocal trade preferences to permi t a 
transparent assessment of utilization rates;   
2  IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SUBSTANTIVE PART OF THE NAIROBI DECISION  
Members considers that, although some improvements have been made by preference granting 
countries to align their rules of origin to the Nairo bi Decision, there has not been substantial progress 
to implement the core part of the Nairobi Decision, specifically: Paragraph1:  requirements for the 
assessment of sufficient or substantial transformation , paragraph2: Cumulation , and 
paragraph  3: documen tary requirements . 
Members note that the LDC WTO group has made several submissions to the Committee on 
Rules of Origin (CRO) identifying the reforms on rules of origin that the preference granting members 
should undertake in order to align their rules of origin to the Nairobi Decision and make the use of 
trade preferences more effective, especially on the issue of direct consignment1 and change of tariff 
classification2.  
Accordingly, Members call upon those preference -granting members that have not yet 
abolished the requirement for a certificate of non -manipulation or any other form of documentary 
evidence for products shipped by LDCs across other members to do so, aligning their legislation to 
the non -alteration principle3 identified as the best pr actice. Members call upon preference granting 
members that use Change of Tariff Classification (CTC), should avoid the multiple exceptions to such 
 
1 "Direct consignment rules and low utilization of trade preferences ", Submission by the LDC group 
dated 7 October 2019, G/RO/W/191, 9 October 2019.  
2 "Rules of origin based on a change of tariff classification ", Submission by the LDC Group, dated 
3 May 2019, G/RO/W/184, 7 May 2019 . 
3 See for a definition of "non alteration principle " in footnote 1  above . G/RO/W/198  
 
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  criteria as provided in paragraph 1.2 (b) of the Nairobi Decision and adhere to the specific 
recommendations contained in the LDC submission and its annex4. 
3  WORK PLAN AND IMPLEMENTATION   
Members reaffirm their commitment and shared responsibility to achieve the objective of rules 
of origin for LDCs that are "transparent and simple, and contribute to facilitatin g market access5" 
and to SDG target 17.126  
In order to achieve this objective, Members agree that the mandate of the Committee on Rules 
of Origin should be revitalized to undertake the work program set out hereunder:  
- Carry out a complete examination o f the remaining aspects of the rules of origin currently 
adopted by preference granting members to assess their conformity with the respective 
paragraphs of the Nairobi  Decision namely paragraph 1:  Requirements for the assessment of 
sufficient or substanti al transformation , paragraph 2:  Cumulation , and paragraph 3: 
documentary requirements  as well as identified best practices proposed for adoption by 
preference granting members.  
- Identify best practices for a simple and transparent administration of rules of origin related to 
certification and related aspects to facilitate compliance with rules of origin requirements and 
optimum use of trade preferences granted to LDCs;  
- Preference granting countries that are not in  a position to al ign their legislation with the Nairobi 
Decision and to adopt the best practices identified according to paragraph 2.3 above and 
subparagraph (i) and (ii) above shall submit reasons for such non alignment and report 
justified evidence to the Committee on Ru les of Origin the need for maintaining such practices;  
- Review the overall progress made in implementing the Nairobi Decision and carry out any 
additional work to ensure implementation of this work program;  
- Complete such process by the time of the next  Ministerial Conference.  
The Committee on Rules of Origin shall report to the General Council on the progress made to 
implement the work program agreed therein. The General Council will adopt, where consensus is 
reached, the results achieved in the Commit tee on rules of origin and shall submit the overall results 
of the work program to the next Ministerial Conference . 
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4 See footnot e 2 above.  
5 See Hong Kong WTO Ministerial Decision on Measures in Favour of Least -Developed Countries, 2005  
6 Target 17.12 of SDG 17: "Realize timely implementation of duty -free and quota -free market access on 
a lasting basis for all least developed coun tries, consistent with World Trade Organization decisions, including 
by ensuring that preferential rules of origin applicable to imports from least developed countries are 
transparent and simple, and contribute to facilitating market access ".