G/RO/N/131  
 
6 August 2015  
(15-4052)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Rules of Origin    
 
NOTIFICATION UNDER PARAGRAPH 4  
OF ANNEX II OF THE AGREEMENT ON RULES OF ORIGIN 
PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN 
1. Paragraph 4 of Annex II to the Agreement on Rules of Origin envisages that Members shall 
provide to the Secretariat as soon as possible thei r 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.  Lists of 
information received and available within the Secr etariat shall be circulated to Members by the 
Secretariat under the G/RO/N/- series.  
2. The Committee on Rules of Origin further agreed  that, with respect to preferential rules of 
origin, notifications made to the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (CRTA) or to the Committee on Trade and Development (CTD) could also suffice to discharge their notification 
obligations under the Agreement on Rules of Origin (G/RO/M/59).  As a result, the Committee 
agreed that notifications which had initially been received by the CRTA or the CTD should also be 
circulated by the Secretariat to the CRO. The in formation regarding such notifications, including 
related to preferential rules of origin, can, in a ddition, be retrieved through the WTO data base of 
regional trade agreements ( http://rtais.wto.org ) or in the WTO data base of preferential trade 
agreements ( http://ptadb.wto.org ). 
 
3. Accordingly, the following notifications have been received: 
 JAPAN - GENERALISED SYSTEM OF PREFERENCES (GSP) AND DUTY FREE AND QUOTA 
FREE (DFQF) SCHEME FOR LEAST-DEVELOPED COUNTRIES 
Since 1 August 1971 Japan has implemented its Ge neralised System (GSP) of Preferences for 
developing countries.  Under the GSP, special treatment in the form of DFQF for least-developed 
countries has been provided since 1980.  The GS P scheme was originally notified to the Committee 
on Trade and Development under the document series WT/COMTD/N/2/.  Rules of Origin for Application of GSP:  Simp lification of preferential rules of origins for 
knitted apparel under HS Chapter 61 
(Notification in Japanese with provisional translation into English) 
-  Appended Table for HS Chapter 61 of Ordinance for Enforcement of the Temporary Tariff 
Measures Law is amended:  
http://www.customs.go.jp/english/su mmary/knitted_apparel/index.htm . 
Rules of Origin for Application of GSP 
(Notification in Japanese with provisional translation into English) 
-  Cabinet Order for Enforcement of the Temporar y Tariff Measures Law; Articles 50–55 of the 
above Cabinet Order have become Articles 26–31 respectively, Article 58 and Article 60 were repealed, and Article 25 is added http://www.customs.go.jp/kaisei/shourei.htm ; and  
http://law.e-gov.go.jp/cgi-
bin/idxselect.cgi?IDX_OPT=3&H_NAME=& H_NAME_YOMI=%82%A0&H_RYAKU=1&H_CTG=G/RO/N/131 
 
- 2 - 
 
  1&H_YOMI_GUN=1&H_CTG_GUN=1&H_NO_GENGO=S&H_NO_YEAR=35&H_NO_TYPE=3&H
_FILE_NAME=S35SE069 . 
A copy of the relevant legislation and the Certificate of Origin and the Certificate of materials 
imported from Japan is also available with the Secretariat for consultation. 
__________