G/RO/N/132  
 
7 September 2015  
(15-4578)  Page: 1/2  
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 arrangemen ts 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: 
CHINA (Notification in English) A. NON-PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN 
State Council Decree 416: Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Origin of Import 
and Export Goods (Adopted at the 61st Executive Meeting of the State Council on 18 August 2004, 
promulgated by Decree No. 416 of the State Counc il of the People's Republic of China on 
3 September 2004, and effective as of 1 January  2005). The Decree can also be found at the 
following Internet page: http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2005- 05/23/content_240.htm
 (in Chinese 
only)1. 
                                               
1 A copy of the Decree in English is availa ble with the Secretariat for consultation. G/RO/N/132 
 
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  B. PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN 
Rules of the General Administration of Custom s of the People's Republic of China on the 
Administration of Origin of Goods Imported unde r Special Preferential Tariff Treatment for Least 
Developed Countries2. 
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2 A copy of the Regulation in English is available with the Secretariat for consultation.  Additional 
information about this preferential regime and its rules of origin can be found in the WTO Preferential Trade 
Agreements database: http://ptadb.wto.org .