G/RO/W/160  
 
21 July 2016  
(16-3891)  Page: 1/3  
Committee on Rules of Origin  Original: English  
 
SUBMISSION OF BENIN ON BEHALF OF LEAST-DEVELOPED COUNTRIES 
Template for the notification of preferential rules of origin - Draft for consideration 
The following communication, dated 19 July 2016, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Benin. 
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Paragraph 4.3 of the Ministerial Decision on Prefer ential Rules of Origin (RoO) for least developed 
countries (LDCs), adopted at the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference held in Nairobi, provides that:  
"Preferential rules of origin shall be no tified as per the established procedures1.  In this regard, 
Members reaffirm their commitment to annually prov ide import data to the Secretariat as referred 
to Annex 1 of the PTA Transparency Mechanism,  on the basis of which the Secretariat can 
calculate utilization rates, in accordance with modalities to be agreed upon by the CRO.  
Furthermore, the CRO shall develop a template for the notification of preferential rules of origin, to 
enhance transparency and promote a better understan ding of the rules of origin applicable to 
imports from LDCs ." 
In order to facilitate the discussion in the CRO, the LDC group submits the template outlined below 
with a view to developing a template for the notifi cation of preferential rules of origin for LDCs.  
The purpose of this template is to enable pr eference granting WTO Members to provide the 
necessary information on the applicable rules of origin in a manner that is easily understandable by the government agencies and exporters of LD Cs so that they can better seize the market 
access opportunities emerging from these preferences.  
In addition to filling in the template in the Annex below, preference-granting Members notifying 
their rules of origin under paragraph 4.3 shall subm it electronic or paper copies of the following 
documents and data: 
(a) The legislative texts in one or more of the official WTO languages containing the preferential 
rules of origin applicable under the arrangemen ts granted under the Decision on Measures in 
Favour of Least-Developed Countries (Annex F of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration); 
(b) The full texts of the administrative regulations concerning modalities for issuance 
acceptance, retrospective issuance, replacement of certificate of origin or equivalent declarations made by private operators as stipulated according to the preference-giving country and related procedure, notifications of stamps used where required and related 
requirements; 
(c) The full text and related administrative regulations of the modalities of the proof the 
consignment of the goods from the beneficiar y countries to preference-giving countries 
including transit through third countries; and 
(d) The full texts of the modalities of the verification procedures and related penalties. 
                                               
1 These notifications are made pursuant to the Transparency Mechanism for Preferential Trade 
Agreements (PTAs). It is also noted that the Agreement on Rules of Origin stipulates that Members provide to 
their preferential rules of origin to the Secretariat. G/RO/W/160 
 
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  ANNEX 
TEMPLATE FOR NOTIFICATION 
A. BASIC INFORMATION 
1)  Notifying member:  (Name of the Notifying Member); 
2)  Date RoO entered into force:  (Insert date and link to relevant source, if available); 
3) Date of last changes to the RoO:  (Insert date and link to relevant source, if available); 4) Date of notification to the WTO; 
5)  Date of expiration of RoO if applicable:  (Insert date and link to relevant source); 
6)  Title of the preferential scheme for which legislation on RoO will be applicable; 7)  Enactment of RoO, Related Legislation and Publication of RoO modifications:  (Insert the 
name/number of the laws within the notifying Member and correlated link); 
8)  Authority(ies) granting the preferential treatment:  (Insert which authority is granting the 
preferential treatment and link to relevant source); and 
9)  National authorities in charge of RoO administration with direct phone and email address:  
(Insert which authority is entitled to administrate the rules of origin and link to relevant 
source). 
B. INFORMATION ON RULES OF ORIGIN 
I.  BENEFICIARIES (a)  List of Beneficiaries:  (Insert the link where the complete list of beneficiaries can be found 
and modalities are found); and 
(b)  Eligibility:  (Name the document, article/section where the eligibility criteria can be found 
and insert the specific related link). 
II.  CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING SUBS TANTIAL TRANSFORMATION FOR ASSESSING 
THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN 
(a) General criteria, if applicable for all products: 
i. Definition of wholly obtained products; and 
ii. Describe the rule and insert the formula for calculating ad valorem  percentage criteria 
when it is applied. 
(b) Product specific rules of origin where applicable: 
i. Insert the link where the complete list of product specific rules of origin can be found. 
(c) Definition of non-originating material and originating material; 
(d) List of insufficient working process; and 
(e) Rules for application of cumulation and related procedures. 
III.  DOCUMENTARY REQUIREMENT 
i. Certificate of origin 
(a) Requirement for certificate of origin, if any:  (Indicate whether there is any 
requirement for issuance of certificate of origin); 
(b) Authority to be designated for issuance of certificate of origin:  (Indicate whether 
government authority or private sector will issue the certificate of origin); 
(c) Prescribed form of Certificate of origin:  (Attach prescribed form if applicable); and (d) Any other procedures applied for certificate of origin, if any. G/RO/W/160 
 
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  ii. Direct shipment 
(a) Rules applicable for direct shipment; 
(b) Documentary requirement for proof of direct shipment, if any. 
IV.  VERIFICATION AND PENALTIES 
(a)  Procedure for verification of certificate of origin:  (Name the document, article/section where 
provisions related to verifications can be found and insert the specific related link) 
(b)  Penalties for fraud and false declarations:  (Name the document, article/section where 
provisions related to penalties can be found and insert the specific related link) 
(c)  Authorities and procedures for appeal in the case of dispute on verification (d) Requirement for preserving the documents related to issuance of certificate of origin. 
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