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Requirement for E-filing of Non-Preferential Certificate of Origin (CoO) extended

The Director-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has announced an extension of the timeline for compulsory electronic filing of Non-Preferential Certificate of Origin (CoO) through the medium of its common online platform. The option for submission and issuance of a Non-Preferential Certificate of Origin by the designated agencies using paper-based systems may continue for quite a while.

Non-Preferential Certificate of Origin

A Certificate of Origin’s main purpose is to assess if the items being exported/imported are legal and whether they are subject to duties. A Certificate of Origin, in other words, is a document that identifies the country (i.e., manufacturing source or origin) of any goods or commodities. The Certificate of Origin also contains a plethora of additional information, such as the product’s nature, intended destination, and exporting countries. It is a vital tool for export or cross-border trading, as agreed upon by the governments in trade treaties and contracts.

A Non-Preferential Certificate of Origin (CoO NP) says that the products or commodities being exported will not get preferential tariff treatment and the commodities that are being moved will be subject to all applicable tariffs levied on them.

A Preferential Certificate of Origin, on the other hand, is a sort of Certificate of Origin granted to products or commodities that receive preferential tariff treatment in the payment of charges/ customs. These charges might be in the nature of a decrease in the standard tariff or a total exemption from the levy of tariffs. When two or more countries sign a trade agreement that includes such exclusions for commodities exported or imported between them, a scenario like this emerges.

Certificates of origin are available from the Indian Chamber of Commerce and the Trade Promotion Council of India. All Indian exporters must get this certificate from these two agencies to prove that the items they are sending are of Indian origin. It also proves that the exported item was wholly sourced, manufactured, or produced in India. Hundreds of millions of Certificates of Origin are produced each year to support the growth and development of global trade and business.

The primary reason for obtaining a Certificate of Origin is to clear customs. If the products being exported/imported do not have a Certificate of Origin, the Customs officer in charge of inspecting them will refuse to let them leave the warehouse. The Customs officer uses the Certificate of Origin to assess the duties that must be paid and to determine if the products being exported/imported are legitimate.

Common e-filing platform

The DGFT created a unified digital platform that gives all agencies and commodities a single point of access to Non-Preferential Certificates of Origin (CoO NP) for all Free Trade Agreements. This electronic Certificate of Origin (CoO) platform is designed to help exporters get a secure, electronic, and paperless Certificate of Origin. All approved Certificate of Origin issuing agencies must utilize this portal.

The timeline for the usage of this mandatory e-filing platform has been extended by DGFT a number of times in the past.

As reported in a notification dated November 15, 2021, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has extended the transition timeline for obligatory submission of Non-Preferential Certificate of Origin applications utilizing the e-CoO Platform until January 31, 2022. The notification has been announced via Trade Notice No. 24/2021-22 dated November 15, 2021.

This trade notice by DGFT has been issued in continuation of previously announced notices including trade notice 42/2020-2021 dated February 19, 2021, trade notice 48/2020-2021 dated March 25, 2021, trade notice 10/2021-2022 dated July 19, 2021, trade notice 19/2021-2022 dated October 01, 2021, and trade notice 21/2021-22 dated October 18, 2021.

Extension of electronic filing of Non-Preferential Certificate of Origin

For the specified time period until January 31, 2022, the current manual/paper processes for submitting and processing of Non-Preferential Certificate of Origin (CoO) applications will be allowed, and the online system will not be made mandatory until that time.

The digital platform for Certificates of Origin (CoO) had been earlier broadened, according to the DGFT, to allow for electronic submission and issuance of Non-Preferential Certificates of Origin. The goal of this platform is to provide a single electronic, contact-free window for all the CoO-related procedures.

As a result, all exporters involved are urged to ensure that they are properly registered on the aforementioned platform as soon as possible. Any technical or procedural difficulties should be referred to the CoO Helpdesk within the time frame specified. The Help Manual and FAQs may be found on the landing page at https://coo.dgft.gov.in for any assistance with the procedure of registration and application submission.

According to the DGFT, all entities that have been recommended under Appendix-2E should conclude their onboarding procedure as soon as it is feasible and not later than January 31, 2022. In accordance with Trade Notice 21/2021-22 which was published on October 18, 2021, it is proposed that all agencies/entities notified under Appendix-2E should complete the onboarding process by January 31, 2022, failing which the agencies would be de-notified from Appendix 2E.

Takeaway

It has been announced that the timeframe for submitting Non-Preferential Certificate of Origin applications through the common e-CoO Platform has been extended till January 31, 2022. Hence, for the time being, the existing manual processes for submitting and processing non-preferential CoO applications will be allowed, and the online system will not be made compulsory.

The above-mentioned trade notice issued by the DGFT can be seen here:

Trade-Notice-24-eCoO-Extension-till-Jan2022

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