G/RO/N/147  
 
12 September  2016 
(16-4802) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Rules of Origin   
 
  
NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE  5 AND PARAGRAPH  4 OF 
ANNEX  II TO THE AGREEMENT ON RULES OF ORIGIN  
NON-PREFERENTIAL AND PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN  
1.1.  According to Article  5.1 of the Agreement on Rules of Origin, each Member shall provide to 
the Secretariat, wit hin 90  days after the date of entry into force o f 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 acquai nted 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 
Membe rs 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 the ir 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 M embers' 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 preferen tial trade agreements ( http://ptadb.wto.org ). 
1.3.  With reference to these rules, the following notification has been received:  
BELIZE  
(Notification in English ) 
A. NON-PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN  
None.  
B. PREFERENTIAL RULE S OF ORIGIN  
The CARIFORUM -EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) signed in October  2008 by Belize and 
its CARICOM partners, the European Union and the Dominican Republic. Documents can be 
sourced at the following websites:  
- http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2008/february/tradoc_137971.pdf . 
 G/RO/N/147  
 
- 2 - 
 
  The Belize Guatemala Partial Scope Agreement signed in June  2006 by Belize and the Republic of 
Guatemala:  
 
- http://www.sice.oas.org/trade/blz_gtm/index_e.asp . 
 
The Carribean Community (CARICOM) including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy 
established under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (2001) : 
 
- http://www.sice.oas.org/trade/caricom/caricind.asp . 
 
The CARICOM -Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement (2004) : 
 
- http://sice.oas.org/trade /crcrcom_s/crcrcomind_s.asp . 
 
The CARICOM -Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (1998):  
 
- http://sice.oas.org/Trade/Ccdr/English/Ccdr_in.asp . 
 
The CARICOM -Venezuela Trade and Investment  Agreement (1992):  
 
- http://www.sice.oas.org/trade/carivex.asp . 
 
The CARICOM -Colombia Trade, Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (1994):  
 
- http://www.sice.oas.org/trade/caricome.asp . 
 
The CARICOM -Cuba Trade and Econom ic Cooperation Agreement (2000):  
 
- http://www.minfor.gov.gy/docs/foreign_trad e/caricom_cuba/CARICOM -Cuba.pdf . 
 
__________