Rules of origin : firm perspectives, lessons learned, and ways forward

Abstract

Compliance costs with rules of origin (RoO) are often quoted in the literature as a major cost for firms. Yet the literature leaves not much place to firms’ realities. This book fills such a gap as it contains testimonials from different leading worldwide firms and SMEs in LDCs on how they relate and deal with RoO. It discusses how firms assess RoO in new FTAs such as Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) to check if it is offering new trading opportunities, the difficulty of complying with different administrative requirements on proof of origin, the internal perspective on how a firm decides and administer in investing in RoO compliance costs by setting in- house compliance units. The book also contains two important contributions breaking stereotypes. A SMEs shows the importance of the EU RoO reform in deciding to invest on production facilities in a LDC and a major multinational company acknowledges the impact of RoO in its operations and the need to rationalize RoO in the international trading system.