G/RO/N/125  
13 January 2015  
(15-0230)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Rules of Origin  Original: Spanish  
 
  NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE 5 AND PARAGRAPH 4 OF 
ANNEX II TO THE AGREEMENT ON RULES OF ORIGIN 
NON-PREFERENTIAL AND PREFER ENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN 
1. According to Article 5.1 of the Agreement on Ru les 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 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 arise 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 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.org) or the 
WTO database on preferential trade agreements (http://ptadb.wto.org). 
3. With reference to these rules, the following notification has been received: 
CUBA (Notification in Spanish) A. NON-PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN
1 
- Joint Resolution No. 4-97 of the Ministry of Finance and Prices (MFP) and the Ministry of 
Foreign Trade (MINCEX), dated 23 January 1997. 
                                               
1 A copy of the legislation enumerated in this Sectio n is available for consulta tion at the Secretariat. G/RO/N/125 
- 2 - 
  B. PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN2 
1. The preferential rules of origin included in the following agreements concluded within the 
framework of the Latin American Integration Association (LAIA): 
- Partial Scope Economic Complementarity Agreements signed with MERCOSUR (Argentina, 
Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), Bolivia, Chil e, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, 
Uruguay and Venezuela; 
- Partial Scope Agreements signed with Guatemala, El Salvador and CARICOM, pursuant to 
Article 25 of the 1980 Treaty of Montevideo; 
- Regional Agreement Relating to th e Regional Preferential Tariff; 
- Regional Agreement on Market Op ening in favour of Bolivia; 
- Regional Agreement on Market Op ening in favour of Ecuador; 
- Regional Agreement on Market Opening in favour of Paraguay; 
- Partial Scope Agreement for the Liberalization and Expansion of the Intraregional 
Seed Trade; 
- Regional Agreement on Cooperation and Exchange  of Assets in the Cultural, Educational and 
Scientific Fields. 
2. The preferential rules of origin contained in the Global System of Trade Preferences. 
__________ 
                                               
2 The relevant provisions are available for consultation on the ALADI website (http://www.aladi.org) and 
the UNCTAD website ( www.unctadxi.org/templates/Page____6207.aspx ).