G/RO/N/129  
 
4 June 2015  
(15-2924)  Page: 1/1  
Committee on Rules of Origin  Original: English  
 
 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 
1.1.  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 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. 
1.2.  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 ). 
1.3.  With reference to these rules, the following notification has been received: 
MALAWI (Notification in English) A. NON-PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN 
Malawi does not have non-preferential rules of origin. 
B. PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN 
- Free Trade Agreement for Common Market for Ea stern and Southern Africa (COMESA) which 
entered into force in 2000.  COMESA Protocol relating to rules of origin is available on 
http://www.comesa.int/ ; 
- Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Trade Protocol which entered into force in 
2001 SADC Protocol on rules of origin is available on http://www.sadc.int ; 
- Bilateral Agreements with RSA, Zimbabwe and Mozambique entered into force 1990, 1995, 
and 2005, respectively.  
 
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