G/RO/N/163  
 
15 February 201 8 
(18-0986) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Rules of Origin   
 
NOTIFICATION UNDER A RTICLE 5 AND PARAGRA PH 4 OF  
ANNEX II TO THE AGRE EMENT ON RULES OF OR IGIN  
NON-PREFERENTIAL AND PRE FERENTIAL RULES OF O RIGIN  
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 o f 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, m oreover, 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 interested 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 ar ise for a Member.  
 
2. Furthermore, paragraph 4 of Annex II to the Agreement on Rules 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 arra ngements 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 whi ch 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 reg ional trade agreements ( http://rtais.wto.org ) or the 
WTO database on preferential trade agreements ( http://ptadb.wto.org ). 
 
3. With reference to these rules, the following notificat ion has been received:  
 
ISRAEL  
A. NON-PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN  
At this time, Israel does not have in its legislation non -preferential rules of origin, and has 
no judicial decisions or administrative rulings of gen eral application concerning 
non-prefere ntial rules of origin.  
B. PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN  
- Agreement on the Establishment of a Free Trade Area between the Government of 
the United States of Ameri ca and the Government of Israel  
The above mentioned Agreement has been notified under The  General Agreement on Tariffs 
and Trade  ("GATT ") Article XXIV on 1 May 1985 in document L/5862. The text of the 
Agreement was circulated in document L/5862/Add.1 and can be found at:   
http://economy.gov.il/InternationalAffairs/TradePolicyAndAgreements/BilateralAgreementsD
ivision/Pages/USA.aspx  G/RO/N/163  
 
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  Rules of Origin prov isions can be found  in Annex 3 of the Agreement.  
Summary of Rules of Origin  provisions in the IL -US FTA  
To receive Free Trade Agreement ("FTA") benefits, three tests must be met: (i) the article 
must be wholly produced in a Party OR undergo substantial transformation in a Party; 
(ii) the article must be imported directly from the other Party; and (iii) the sum of the costs 
of input produced in the exporting Party plus the direct processing costs performed in the 
exporting Party must comprise at least 35% of  the appraised value of the article when 
imported into the other Party. The FTA rules specifically exclude any article from eligibility by 
virtue of merely undergoing (a) simple combining or packaging operations or (b) mere 
dilution with water or mere dilu tion with other substances that do not materially alter the 
characteristics of the article. These rules do not create any extra barriers vis-à-vis third 
countries.  
- EFTA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland) – Israel Free Trade 
Agreement  
The above mentioned Agreement has been notifie d under GATT Article XXIV on 
30 November 1992 in document L/7129. The text of the Agreement is circulated in 
document L/7129/Add.1. Rules of Origin provisions can be found in Article 3 and Protocol B 
of the Agreeme nt.  
http://economy.gov.il/InternationalAffairs/TradePolicyAndAgreements/BilateralAgreementsD
ivision/Pages/EFTA.aspx  
Summary of Rules of Origin  provisions  
Wholly obtained or sufficiently worked or processed based on conditions set out in a 
"processing list" (change in tariff heading and/or added value). Pan -Euromed rules of origin 
with diagonal cumulation.  
- EURO -Mediterranean Agre ement between the European Communities and Israel  
The above mentioned Agreement has been notifie d under GATT Article XXIV on 
20 September 2000 in document WT/REG110/N/1. The text of the Agreement is circulated in 
document WT/REG110/1.  
http://economy.gov.il/InternationalAffairs/TradePolicyAndAgreements/BilateralAgreementsD
ivision/Pages/EU.aspx  
Rules of Origin provis ions can be found in Article 28 and Protocol Number 4 of the 
Agreement. Title II of Protocol 4 of the Agreement defines "originating products". The 
concept of bilateral cumulation with materials originating in the European Communities is 
treated in Article  3 of Title II of Protocol 4 of the Agreement . 
Summary of Rules of Origin  provisions  
Pan-Euromed rules of origin with diagonal cumulation applies. Evidence of the originating 
status of products is furnished by the EUR.1 movement certificate.  
- Free Trade A greement between Canada and Israel  
The above mentioned Agreement has been notified under GATT Article XXIV on 
15 January  1997 in document WT/REG31/N/1. The text of the Agreement is circulated in 
document WT/REG31/2.  
http://economy.gov.il/InternationalAffairs/TradePolicyAndAgreements/BilateralAgreementsD
ivision/Pages/Canada.aspx  G/RO /N/163  
 
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  Rules of Origin provisions can be found in Chapter Three, Annex 3.1 and Chapter Five.  
Summary of Rules of Origin  provisions  
In general, origin is conferred when: (i) the good is wholly obtained or produced in the 
territory of a Party; (ii) each of the non -originating materials used in the production of th e 
good undergoes an applicable change in tariff classification set out in the specific rule for 
that good, and the good satisfies any other applicable requirement set out in that rule, as a 
result of production occurring entirely in the territory of one or  both of the Parties; (iii) the 
good is produced entirely in the territory of one or both of the Parties exclusively from 
originating materials; (iv) or, other particular circumstances as set out in Chapter Three. 
The Agreement contains a de minimis  rule f or originating goods and  diagonal  cumulation is 
permitted with countries with which the parties each separately has an FTA which predates 
this Agreement.   
- Free Trade Agreement between Turkey and Israel  
The above mentioned agreement has been notified unde r GATT Article XXIV on 
16 April 1998 in document WT/REG60/N/1. The text of the Agreement is circulated in 
documents WT/REG60/1 and WT/REG60/1/Corr.1.  
http://economy.gov.il/InternationalAffairs/TradePolicyAndAgreements/BilateralAgreementsD
ivision/Pages/Turkey.aspx  
Rules of Origin provisions can be found in Article 11, 12, and Protocol B of the Agreement.  
Summary of Rules of Origin provisions  
In general, origin is confirmed when: the good is wholly obtained or produced in the territory 
of a Party; or each of the non -originating materials used in the production of the good 
undergoes  an applicable change in tariff classification, or  the good satisfies other particular 
circumstances. Bilateral cumulation is allowed and there is up to 10%  tolerance for 
non-originating materials and outward processing.  
- Free Trade Agreement between Israel and Mexico  
The above mentioned Agreement has be en notified under G ATT Article XXIV on 
22 February  2001 in document WT/ REG124 /N/1. The text of the Agreement is circulated in 
document WT/REG124/1.  
http://economy.gov.il/InternationalAffairs/TradePolicyAndAgreements/BilateralAgreementsD
ivision/Pages/Mexico.aspx  
Rules of Origi n provisions can be found in Chapter III of the Agreement.  
Summary of Rules of Origin  provisions  
The requirements for the determination of origin are: (i ) the products is wholly obtained or 
produced in one of the parties; (ii) it has been sufficiently worked or processed, which is 
determined by a change in the tariff classification; (iii) in some cases, an additional method 
to determine origin, based on a percentage of value added to the product is also available. 
In the case of a change in tariff heading requirement, the headings are clearly specified, 
while the methods for calculating origin based on the value added percentage criterion, are 
also indicate d in Chapter III of the Agreement.  The Agreement also contains provisions on, 
inter alia , regional value content, cumulation, de minimis , etc. 
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