The Department of Trade and Industry Export Marketing Bureau (DTI EMB) urged all Philippine exporters to the European Union to register with the EU Registered Exporter (REX) System before the June 30, 2020 deadline.
Registered exporters will be able to avail of preferential tariffs under the Generalised System of Preferences Plus (EU GSP+), which grants zero tariffs to 6,274 product lines. These products include particular items of fish, dairy, fruits, vegetables, coconut oils, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, chemicals, fertilizers, essential oils, soaps, articles of plastics and rubber. Also included are articles of wood and leather, apparels, footwear and headgears, ceramic products, glass and glassware, pearls, fine and costume jewelry, furniture, auto and aero parts, ships and boats, electronics and semi-conductors, watches, and other manufactured articles.
REX is the new system of certifying the origin of goods the EU has progressively introduced in its preferential trade arrangements. First applied to the GSP program on January 1, 2017, REX will eventually completely replace the current system of origin certification that is based on the certificates of origin (CO) issued by government authorities, and on invoice declarations made out under certain conditions by economic operators.
READ: Registration with EU exporters’ system extended until June
Under REX, the so-called “statements on origin” will be accomplished by economic operators. To do this, an economic operator will have to register as an exporter in his/her country’s competent authority, which in the Philippines is the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
After June 30, 2020, the EU will no longer accept CO Form A.
“Our exporters to Europe should now register with the EU REX so that they can avail themselves of the preferential tariffs under the EU GSP+. This one-time registration simplifies the process of exporting to the EU because exporters no longer need to get a Certificate of Origin (CO) Form A from the Bureau of Customs every time they ship to the EU,” DTI-Trade Promotions Group (TPG) undersecretary Abdulgani M. Macatoman said in a statement.
Registration procedures are contained in BOC Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) 50-2019, which provides guidelines on the implementation of REX for exporters under EU GSP.
Producers, manufacturers, or traders may apply by filling out the application at https://customs.ec.europa.eu/rex-pa-ui/#/create-preapplication/.
Once application has been filled out and submitted electronically, the producer, manufacturer or trader should submit the application form to the concerned BOC Export Division/Unit with the Unique Reference Number (URN) as a Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) locator, Client Profile Registration System (CPRS) for non-PEZA locator, or other equivalent document; and a Product Evaluation Report, if applicable.
During the expanded community quarantine (ECQ), applicants may submit their applications together with other required documents to gina.german@customs.gov.ph and ecd@customs.gov.ph or through the BOC portal client.customs.gov.ph.
Applications evaluated by Export Division/Unit of the port will be endorsed to BOC Export Coordination Division (ECD) for its registration to the REX system. Registered exporters will be assigned an REX Number within seven working days from receipt of the complete set of documents endorsed by the port to ECD.
Exporters and the endorsing port will be notified by the ECD on results of the application with the assigned REX number. Denial of application will likewise be communicated.
The Statement on Origin must be completed in legible and permanent form, and issued by typing, printing or stamping the text stated below on the invoice, pro-forma invoice, packing list or any other commercial document identifying clearly the originating products:
“The exporter (Registered Exporter Number) of the products covered by this document declares that, except where otherwise clearly indicated, these products are of Philippine preferential origin according to rules of origin of the Generalised System of Preferences of the European Union and the origin criterion met is _______.”
The REX number must be indicated in the Statement on Origin if the value of the originating goods for consignment is above the value threshold of 6,000 euros. If the value of the originating goods is below the value threshold, then any exporter, even though not registered with BOC, may accomplish a Statement on Origin.
Representative/s of an exporter will be allowed to make origin declaration upon submission of the exporter’s written authorization.
For further inquiries on EU REX, DTI said to contact the export officers in the local ports, Ms. Gina C. German of the BOC at gina.german@customs.gov.ph, or Ms. Maria Jaena Go-Aco of the DTI-EMB at MariaJaenaGoaco@dti.gov.ph.
Image by Alex Bennett from Pixabay
