OTO No.619

OTO No.	619	Classification	MOF-113
Date of Acceptance	October 31, 2000	Respective Office Receiving Complaint	Cabinet Office (Economic Planning Agency)
Responsible Ministries	Ministry of Finance	Related Laws	Temporary Tariff Measures Law
Complainant	Sapporo Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Proxy complaint)	Exporting Countries
Subject	Extension of Validity and treatment of country-of-origin certificates
Description of Complaint	In order to receive the preferential tariff treatment under Article 8-2 of the Temporary Tariff Measures Law, importers must submit country-of-origin certificates issued in exporting countries when they make import declarations. The period of validity of a country-of-origin certificate is limited to only one year and much time is spent obtaining such certificates in exporting countries. The period of validity should be extended. The complainant has continuously imported the same products including household goods and tableware from Southeast Asia for a long time and has been forced to have a country-of-origin certificate issued in the exporting country for every import. Once a country-of-origin certificate is submitted, subsequent imports of the same products should be allowed without such certificate.
Details of Measures	The ministry replied as follows: (1) The preferential tariff system, based on an agreement at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, eases tariffs on goods from preferential tariff beneficiary countries. Under Article 51 (country-of-origin certificate) of the Enforcement Ordinance for the Temporary Tariff Measures Law, those who import cargoes from preferential tariff beneficiary countries, upon declaration of imports, must submit to a customshouse chief documentation certifying that the cargoes in question are produced in preferential tariff beneficiary countries (hereinafter referred to as "country-of-origin certificate"). (2) Country-of-origin certificates for preferential tariffs are required to specify the extent of manufacturing and processing in exporting countries, countries of origin for materials, price breakdowns and other matters about imported cargoes. Since these matters have to be confirmed for each export at customshouses or other agencies entitled to issue country-of-origin certificates in countries of origin (hereinafter referred to as "official agencies"), a single certificate cannot be used for multiple export shipments. (3) Under Article 53 (period of validity for country-of-origin certificate) of the Enforcement Ordinance for the Temporary Tariff Measures Law, the period of validity for a country-of-origin certificate is fixed at one year. A certificate must not be the one that was issued one year or more before the date of import declaration. The period has been fixed with considerations given to trading realities. Since a cargo confirmed by an official agency upon exporting from a preferential tariff beneficiary country cannot be expected to take one year or more to reach Japan, we believe that it is reasonable to fix the period of validity to one year after the issuance date for a country-of-origin certificate. (4) In order to ease importers' burden involving the submission of country-of-origin certificates for preferential tariffs, a proviso of Article 51-1 of the Enforcement Ordinance for the Temporary Tariff Measures Law exempts importers from the submission for products for which customshouse chiefs can identify countries of origin by checking their types or shapes (such products now number 218 on a four-digit HS Code basis).
Status of Processing	Processed (December 6, 2000)	Classification of Action	D
Remarks	A written reply was made on November 14, 2000.