ARUSHA, TANZANIA – The government has made good progress in issuing simplified Certificates of Origin (CoO) to improve trade with other East African Community (EAC) Partner States.

Majaliwa Kassim Majaliwa, the Tanzania’s Prime Minister said the government has issued 3,222 simplified certificates as of June last year compared to 2,355 issued in 2014.

He was addressing the East African Legislative Assembly in Arusha where it ishaving its current sitting.

A CoO is a document used in international trade in printed form or as an electronic document. It is completed by an exporter and certified by a recognized issuing body, attesting that a ship consignment has been produced, manufactured or processed in a particular country.

The origin of a product does not refer to the country, where the goods were shipped from, but to the country, where they were made.

If it happens that the products were manufactured in two or more countries, the origin is obtained in the country, where the last substantial economically justified working or processing is carried out.

A common practice is that if more than 50% of the cost of producing the goods originates from one country, the local content is more than 50%, then that country is regarded as the country of origin. In case of trading blocs, such as the EAC, CoO may be allowed to state the trading bloc rather than a specific country.

Determining the origin of a product is extremely important because origin is key information for applying tariffs, embargo and other trade policies.

However, not all exporters need a CoO for it depends on the destination of goods, their nature and it can also depend on the financial institution involved in the export process.

Source: EA Business Week

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