WCO I OMD Comparative Study on Certification of Origin
www.wcoomd.org
Approved exporter as an exception to the certificate of origin
Corresponding to the PAN-EURO-MED model, the first type to be considered in the study
can be described to have 2 main features: 1) a certificate of origin shall be issued or authenticated
by the competent authority, and 2) exporters authorized by the competent authority, i.e. approved
exporters, are allowed to make declarations of origin. Hereinafter, this type is referred to as the
approved exporter system. The approved exporter status is provided as an exception or special
privilege to an exporter that has gone through an approval process with the competent authority.
The approved exporter must provide sufficient information to the competent authority in order to
ascertain that he/she has a good knowledge of the rules of origin and that he/she can correctly
determine the origin of the goods. In general, the approved exporter system is often used in
combination with the authority issued certification.
However, in some FTAs that follow the PAN-EURO-MED model, such as EU-Korea FTA
(2011) and EFTA-Philippines FTA (2018), a declaration of origin made by an approved exporter is
the only proof of origin, and the competent authority does not issue any proof of origin. For the
sake of categorization, EU-Korea and EFTA-Philippines FTAs are counted as approved exporter
type certification. Accordingly, this shows that the parties to the FTA introduces slightly different
certification procedures based on the negotiation of rules of origin in the FTA, taking into account
the circumstances of other contracting parties.
Registered exporter as a variation of fully exporter-based certification
The registered exporter system is a self-certification system introduced by the EU in the
context of the EU Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and some FTAs
. The origin of
goods is declared by the exporters themselves. In order to become a registered exporter, an
exporter would only be required to provide certain prescribed information to his competent
authority. Basically, the registration process is a mere manifestation of the required information
and there is no evaluation of the information at the time of registration. In addition, as a benefit of
the registration, the competent authority may be involved in the verification process based on
administrative cooperation provided that the applicable rules of origin allow this cooperation.
In the EU-Canada FTA (CETA) which entered into force in 2017, a declaration of origin made
by registered/approved exporters in EU and by business number assigned exporters in Canada is
the only proof of origin. However, where the exporter is not registered/approved /assigned a
In the EU GSP legislation, the Registered Exporter (REX) system was introduced from 2017. After the end of the
transition period, the GSP Form A no longer is used. An exporter who wishes to export to the EU using GSP
preference shall register with the competent authority in the beneficiary country. The exporter makes an “origin
statement” on the invoice or other commercial documents which would serve as a proof of origin. The REX system is
also applied by the exporters in the Agreements between the EU-Canada, the EU-Japan and the EU-Vietnam, as of June
2020.