G/RO/N/143  
 
5 August 2016  
(16-4199) 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 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 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 prefer ential trade agreements ( http://ptadb.wto.org ). 
1.3.  With reference to these rules, the following notification has been received:  
AFGHANISTAN  
(Notification in English ) 
A. NON-PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN  
 Chapter 6 "Origin o f Goods " (Articles 29 -33) of the Customs  Law of 2004, in force since 
30 March 2005.  Chapter 6 includes provisions on the determination of the origin of wholly 
obtained and non -wholly obtained goods (transformation), certificates of origin, preferential 
origin and on the return of goods.  
The text of the Customs Law, including Chapter 6, can be consulted on the official website of the 
Afghanistan Customs Department: http://customs.mof.gov.af/fa  (Dari) and 
http://customs.mof.gov.af/en  (English)  
 The responsible structures in the Government of Afghanistan have adopted the Procedure on 
Advance Rulings on Binding Decisions (covering advance origin rulings), in March 2015.  
The Procedure will enter into force in August 2017.  G/RO/N/143  
 
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  B. PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN  
 South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) Agreement  
Signed by Afghanistan (LDC), Bangladesh (LDC), Bhutan (LDC ), India, Maldives (LDC), 
Nepal  (LDC), Pakistan and Sri Lanka and in f orce for Afghanistan since 7 August 2011.  
According to Article 18 of the SAFTA Agreement, the rules of origin as well as the methods of 
administrative co -operation that govern the Agreement are set out in Annex -IV, the Product 
Specific Rules are listed in Annex -A and the Operational Certification Procedures, including the 
SAFTA Certificate of Origin and the Format for Exchange of Information on Issuance of SAFTA 
Certificate of Origin are contained in Annex -B.  
The text of the Agreement, including Annexes IV , A and B can be consulted on the official website 
of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC):  
http://saarc -sec.org/areaofcooperation/detail.php?activity_ id=5  
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