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The EU Preferential trade guidance on the rules of origin: short explaantions and its impact on the AEO management
The European Commission (TAXUD) released on March 2025 the “Preferential trade guidance on the rules of origin” which provides with the full picture of the EU preferential origin legal framework. What does mean “preferential origin”? it is the status which certifies the compliance of the goods with the rules of origin (or list rules either Product Specific Rules of Origin [PSR]) and others laid down by the free trade agreements inked by the European Union and third countries. The rules of origin can be divided into groups: Wholly obtained products: where only one country or territory is involved in the manufacture of both materials and products; Sufficiently worked or processed…
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Is the EU – Pacific States Interim Economic Partnership Agreement about to cover Nieue, Tonga and Tuvalu islands too? Compliance and business opportunites
The EU – Pacific States Interim Economic Partnership Agreement is a free trade which, currently, covers from a side the European Union from the other one Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands. The EU grants 100% duty-free and quota-free access to all imports coming from Pacific EPA countries. The access to the EU market is permanent, full and free to all products. Pacific EPA countries phase out duties partially and gradually as follows The preferential treatment under this EPA requires The compliance of the good with the principle of direct transport for which the preferential treatment applies only to products which are transported directly between a Pacific State and…
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MERCOSUR free trade agreement: the new text (environmental clauses and rules of origin)
In this article, we share the latest changes made on the text of the free trade agreement published by EU on 2019. We’ll focus on: Environmental changes (Paris agreement and specific section on sustainable development); Rules of origin for calculating the preferential origin (reduced customs duty) under the free trade agreement between the EU and MERCOSUR (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay). ENVIRONMENTAL CLAUSES It is important to start from the evironmental provisions of the abovementioned free trade agreement. About the “climate change” the parties declare that the Paris agreement is an essential element of the next trade relationships. Indeed, they declare that: “ The Parties reiterate their commitment to the…
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EAC, Kenya and EU: Economic Partnership Agreement with a specific focus on sustainable development
On 8 December 2023, Eu Commission published the draft of the “Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Union, of the one part, and the Republic of Kenya, Member of the East African Community, of the other part” by means of the interinstitutional Files 2023/0337 (NLE) and 2023/0338 (NLE). This agreement will cover the following topics: (a) general provisions; (b) trade in goods; (c) fisheries; (d) agriculture; (e) economic and development cooperation; (f) institutional provisions; (g) dispute avoidance and settlement; (h) general exceptions; (i) general and final provisions; and (j) Annexes, Protocols and Joint Statements. Before going deeper with the short check of the available documents, it is useful to recall…
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Free trade agreement New Zealand-EU approved by European Parliament
On 22 November 2023 the European Parliament approved the free trade agreement between the EU and New Zealand. Now, before entering into force, this agreement should be approved by all the Member states parliaments. As declared: “…“Today is a good day for the EU and global rule-based trade. Our vote is a very clear signal of our commitment to negotiating new EU free trade agreements, of which we have seen too few in this parliamentary term. While we live at different ends of the world, the EU and New Zealand are close, trusted, reliable and like-minded partners. Together, we are driving global rules-based trade forward against the backdrop of a…
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The customs aspects of the batteries/waste of batteries regulation
The new regulation (batteries and waste of batteries) should be a good basis for the a new approach to customs; the key stones are: circular economy, trade compliance and sustainable development against environment destruction, deforestaion, climate crisis and pollution. Indeed, from a customs/customs compliance perspective, it is interesting to take into account that the protocol of origin of the free trade agreements (FTA) inked by the European Union usually lays down rules of origin which classify the waste/scramps (generated in the EU) as “originating material” of the European Union. Futhermore, the obligation to develop a reliable system of recycling of some materials contained by the batteries (cobaltum, lithium, nickel )…
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EU, New Zealand: another step done for the entry into force
The agreement between the European Union and the New Zealand has been signed. Now, it needs to be sent to the European Parliament for its consent. After the ratification process in both the EU and New Zealand, the deal enters into force.
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Japan European Union free trade agreement and new geografical indications: food, wine and spirits
The European Commission decision n. 2023/1313 of 22 June 2023 “ approving, on behalf of the European Union, the amendments to Annex 14-B of the Agreement between the European Union and Japan for an Economic Partnership…” entitles the Joint Committee (for the free trade agreement EU-Japan) to: Modify the annex 14-B of the Economic Parthership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union and the Japan; Add under the protection of the intellectual property rights the following European geografical indications (GI): Korčulansko maslinovo ulje, Époisses, Mont d’Or, Vacherin du Haut-Doubs, raclette de Savoie, Lakonia, Cotechino Modena, Finocchiona, Limone di Siracusa, Ajo Morado de Las Pedroñeras, Arzúa-Ulloa, Melocotón de Calanda, Queso de Valdeón,…
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Free trade agreement, European Union and New Zealand
European Council as stated in the decision n. 2023/1323 of 27 June 2023 and published on 30 June 2023is authorized to sign the free trade agreement with the New Zealand. It is stated that “…The signing, on behalf of the Union, of the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and New Zealand (‘the Agreement’) is hereby authorised, subject to the conclusion of the said Agreement…”. The compliance with the protocol of origin of the mentioned FTA is required to both claim for the preferential origin (preferential treatment) and prevent the AEO authorization from any infringiment of the required standards (article n.39 UCC). Finally, it is important to recall that…
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European Union, circular economy and customs compliance
The report “Squaring the Circle. Policies from Europe’s Circular Economy Transition” published in December 2022 by the highlights (among other thinks) the following peculiarities of the European circular economy: The private sector is playing a crucial role in the enforcement of the circular economy with its trade and environmental policies; Customs controls on the ecodesign compliance of the products (like the batteries). Indeed: “…New policy proposals are shifting the focus upstream toward more sustainable and circular products. With the proposal for a new Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) published in March 2022, the EC has presented a framework that will allow it to regulate circularity requirements for almost all…