Guidance notes for the completion of European Community certificate of origin

The Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce of Commerce and Industry is an issuing authority authorised by Her Majesty’s Government under EC Regulation No 2454/93 for granting or certifying officially prescribed Certificates of Origin, which operates in this regard under the guidance and conditions of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce.

Before the Chamber can undertake this work for any company, certain formalities must be completed to comply with Certificate of Origin Rules and the following information must be lodged at the Chamber office.

  1. A Formal Undertaking, which we supply, must be completed and signed by either a Director, Company Secretary, Partner, Proprietor or person duly authorised to act on behalf of the company.
  2. A complete list of all company signatories, authorised to sign documents on behalf of the company. It is not in order to authorise oneself to sign unless, of course, you are the sole trader proprietor. It is also advisable to have more than one person to sign documents in case of sickness or holidays.

Documents with signatures of unauthorised persons cannot be accepted even though the person who has signed may be in a senior position in the company.

It will be necessary to keep the chamber informed of additions to and removal from the above listings.

Documents may be presented in person at the Chamber or by post providing an SAE is provided Postal documents are processed by return. All fees (where applicable) must be included with the documents.

  1. The EC Certificate of Origin came into use on 1st January 1973 and is the form used by exporters when the importer requires or whenever the commercial transaction or customs regulations so require. With the exception of exports to the Arab League Countries (for which a special certificate is used), the EC Certificate of Origin may broadly be considered relevant in the following circumstances:-
  2. The Certificate of Origin is produced with the security print and CANNOT be reproduced by the exporter. It is available only from Chambers of Commerce.
  3. Current Certificates require carbon paper to complete all copies in an identical manner.
  4. The security print on the Top copy (original)is to prevent erasures. Correction fluids are not permitted. Errors on the certificate must be crossed out and the correct information inserted, all alterations must be initialled. The Chamber will then approve any such alterations.
  5. Certificates can be completed in typescript or by hand (hand-written script must be legible). The signature of the exporting company’s authorised signatory on the Pink application copy of the certificate must be made in ink. Facsimile or rubber stamp signatures are not permitted. The name of the signatory must be printed alongside the signature for identification purposes.
  6. If the Certificate requires a MINOR alteration after the Chamber has certified, the Chamber MUST be notified and the advice given strictly adhered to. The Chamber’s file copy of the Certificate will be amended to correspond with the altered document.
  7. ON NO ACCOUNT ARE ANY MAJOR ADDITIONS OR DELETIONS PERMITTED AFTER THE CHAMBER HAS CERTIFIED.
  8. Only one Original Certificate can be issued, but official (yellow) copies may be used as a transaction dictates. These are available from the Chamber office. Photostat copies are not acceptable and cannot be certified.
  9. If, after certification, a Certificate is cancelled for any reason, it should be returned to the Chamber for cancellation. Replacement Certificates can be issued in certain circumstances.
  10. The applicant must be the consignor of the goods or a person duly authorised by him.
  11. The Chamber can never certify blank or incomplete Certificates. Certificates may be issued after despatch of the goods providing evidence of shipment method is produced.
  12. The Application (pink) copy of the certificate together with a copy of the exporters commercial invoice and any other documents required by the Chamber, will be retained on the Chamber files for a minimum of two years.
  13. The Arab Boycott of Israel procedure remains in force, and certificates containing any reference to the boycottcannot be certified.
  14. The Chamber can only certify what it knows to be factual and exporters are under obligation to provide any evidence requested by the Chamber in connection with an application for a Certificate of Origin.

Certificate Completion

BOX 1 Consignor – Insert the name and address of the exporting company.

BOX 2 Consignee – Insert the name and address of the overseas customer (importer, i.e. the final destination of the goods)

BOX 3 Country of Origin – Insert the country of origin, i.e. where the goods were manufactured.

  1. If the goods are of EC origin the correct terminology is as follows. "European Community – United Kingdom" (or other member state). In the case of goods of foreign origin, the actual country of origin should be stated and evidence provided for the Chamber to support this declaration. Evidence acceptable to the Chamber is as follows:-

  2. a copy of foreign certificate of origin
  3. a copy of foreign invoice
  4. a copy of the import entry against which HM Customs cleared the goods
  5. a declaration from the foreign supplier declaring (on their company letter headed paper) that they are the manufacturer of the goods.

BOX 4 Transport Details (optional)

The term optional refers to the option of means of transport. The means of transport should be inserted as "Sea freight", "Airfreight", "Road" etc. If the method of transport is unknown, “Earliest Available Transport” or “Mixed Transport” is acceptable.

 

BOX 5 Remarks – This box can be left blank

BOX 6 Item Number, Marks, Number & Kind of packages, description of goods.

Goods should be described in the form in which they appear on the commercial invoice but, where the description covers a multitude of items and there is insufficient space, the description may be brief. For example, if an export consists of 5,000 steel tubes of assorted sizes, the description of the goods may be given:- "5,000 assorted steel tubes as per invoice No.xxxxxxxx" A full description should then appear on the invoice. Negative clauses, ambiguous statements (e.g. Said to Contain), reference to value, political boycotts or information not relevant to the Certificate of Origin should not be included on the Certificate.

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THE CHAMBER CAN ONLY CERTIFY INFORMATION THAT CAN BE SUPPORTED BY DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE OR IF NECESSARY A VISIT TO YOUR PREMISES.

If you are concerned about compliance with Letters of Credit and are in any doubt as to the information to be included on a Certificate the staff at the Chamber will be pleased to help.

 

BOX 7 Quantity – Quantity should be expressed in gross or net weight or other units of measurement.

Any space after the last entry on the Certificate must be cancelled by the ruling of a horizontal line right across the Certificate on all copies, followed by a diagonal line to make further entries or additions impossible.

 

BOX 8 On the Original and Copy Certificate – The exporter should NOT insert any details in this box – Chamber Use Only.

BOX 8 Pink Application copy ONLY

The exporter should read the clause in this box and sign (authorised signatories only) followed by their name in block capitals.

 

Reverse of pink application copy

All exporters should complete this part of the Certificate and information supplied as requested.

Please remember that the Chamber must retain one copy of each document presented for its files. Exporters are reminded that the Chamber has a duty to treat all information supplied to them, for the purposes of obtaining any certified documents, in the strictest confidence.


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