A survey on rules of origin (RoO), published on Monday 17 December, should enable the European Commission to adjust its support to European exporters, more specifically small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) wishing to benefit from the advantages negotiated in free trade agreements (FTAs).
For the institution, the aim of this survey was to identify ways to optimise its support to European operators so that they can take better advantage of the FTAs negotiated by the EU - a commitment made in its 2015 strategy entitled “Trade for All”.
Conducted in the summer of 2018, the survey received responses from 1,011 European exporters. 37% of them consider RoO, which makes it possible to determine the country of origin of a product, as the most stringent requirement when exporting products under an FTA. Indeed, RoO, which determine the tariff regime to which a product will be subject, varies substantially from one country to another. Only a third of respondents believe they have all the information they need to comply with it, with SMEs being the most disadvantaged.
Almost half of the operators interviewed also replied that they would need further explanations on product-specific rules.
According to respondents, an interactive, multilingual online tool with explanations accessible to the general public would, inter alia, facilitate the use of RoO - and thus the EU FTAs.
The results of the survey are available online: https://bit.ly/2AetrYj. (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)