Certificates of origin
The Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry is an issuing body for non-preferential certificates of origin which means that trade is conducted on a most-favoured nation basis. The most-favoured nation principle applies when there are no trade preferences.
According to the International Chamber of Commerce, “A Certificate of Origin (CO) is an important international trade document that certifies that goods in a particular export shipment are wholly obtained, produced, manufactured or processed in a particular country. They declare the ‘nationality’ of the product and also serve as a declaration by the exporter to satisfy customs or trade requirements.
COs are requested by customs, banks, private stakeholders and importers for several purposes. Almost every country in the world requires CO for customs clearance procedures: when determining the duty that will be assessed on the goods or, in some cases, whether the goods may be legally imported at all”
In 2016, the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry introduced the EssCert Electronic Certificates of Origin (eCOs) platform. This is a secure user-friendly tool for the issuing of certificates of origin. Registered users (enterprises) may apply wherever they are thereby saving time as well as costs.
For further information email either:
Shay-Lee Jonathan
Maushmi Jeebodh
Jodie Bridgens