Newsletter
Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement – Provisional Rules of Origin Applicable to Products
After extensive negotiation with mainland China, Taiwan's Ministry of Finance and other related agencies recently passed the "Provisional Rules of Origin Applicable to Products" (the "Provisional Rules"). The Provisional Rules will apply to goods included in the "early harvest" list of the Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement ("ECFA" or the "Agreement") and that will enjoy tariff concessions pursuant to the Agreement. The purposes of the Provisional Rules are to avoid confusion and to ensure that the tariff concessions apply only to goods that originated in either Taiwan or mainland China.
The Provisional Rules require that in order to be certified as originating from Taiwan or mainland China, goods must be (1) wholly obtained in Taiwan or mainland China, or (2) produced entirely in Taiwan, mainland China, or both, exclusively from originating materials or (3)produced in Taiwan, mainland China, or both, using non-originating materials, and conforms to the product specific rules.
Since most of the raw materials for the manufacture of goods are from aboard instead of domestic sources , the country of origin and value-added ratio will be determined by using tariff number adjustments, the regional value content, or the processing methods for the finished products. The Provisional Rules also stipulate requirements relating to materials used in processing the goods, tariff treatment of accessories and replacement parts, and the transportation of the goods
The specific implementing rules for the new Provisional Rules will be determined following further negotiations.