Electronic filing and Issuance of Preferential Certificate of Origin (CoO)
Electronic filing and Issuance of Preferential Certificate of Origin (CoO)
The Director-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) issued a Trade Notice for Electronic filing and Issuance of Preferential Certificate of Origin (CoO) for India’s Exports under the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (India-UAE CEPA) with effect from 1st May 2022. The Trade Notice No. 05/2022-2023 dated 29.04.2022 informed that the Common Digital Platform for Issuance of Certificate of Origin is being expanded to add one more Free Trade Agreements / Preferential Trade Agreements to facilitate the electronic application of Preferential Certificate of Origin (CoO).
Preferential Certificate of Origin
A Certificate of Origin is used to identify the country manufacturing any goods or commodities. A Preferential Certificate of Origin is given to goods subject to preferential tariff treatment in the Payment of duties. These duties may be a reduction of the standard tariff, or they also may be a complete exemption from the taxes. Such a situation arises when two or more nations reach a trade agreement entailing such exemptions when goods are exported or imported between these nations.
Common Digital Platform for Issuance of Certificate of Origin – CoO e-platform
The standard digital platform is single-point access for the Preferential Certificate of Origin (CoO) for all Free Trade Agreements / Preferential Trade Agreements for all agencies and all products. This CoO e-platform is designed to facilitate exporters through a secure, electronic, paperless Certificate of the Origin issuance process. All designated Certificate of Origin issuing agencies is required to work through this portal.
Services of Common Digital Platform
Certificate of Origin (CoO) for exports from India under the following trade agreements are already being applied and issued through the e-platform.
- ICPTA – India Chile Preferential Trade Agreement
- SAFTA – South Asia Free Trade Agreement
- SAPTA – SAARC Preferential Trade Agreement
- IKCEP – India Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement
- IJCEPA – India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement
- AIFTA – ASEAN India Free Trade Agreement
- ISFTA – India Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement
- APTA – Asia Pacific Trade Agreement
- GSP – Generalized System of Preferences
- GSTP – Global System of Trade Preferences
- IMCECA – India Malaysia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement
- ISCECA – India Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement
- India-Mercosur Preferential Trade Agreement
- India-Thailand Early Harvest Scheme
- India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (Ind-Aus
ECTA)
New Services as per DGFT Trade Notice
To further this trade facilitation initiative, the Preferential Certificate of Origin for exports to the United Arab Emirates under the following agreement will also be applied and issued from the CoO e-platform from 1st May 2022.
- India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (India-UAE CEPA)
Important Announcement for Exporter
- The given Certificate of Origin applications for exports from India under the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (India-UAE CEPA) must be submitted through the e-COO platform to the designated issuing agencies.
- No manual application for such a CoO should be submitted to an issuing agency after 25.02.2021. However, any manual applications submitted before the prescribed date may be processed by the issuing agencies.
- DGFT informed that for these applications under India-Mercosur PTA and India-Thailand EHS Trade Agreements, the e-CoO system should generate all the existing CoO copies besides an additional copy, i.e., an electronic copy. The electronic copy shall bear the officer’s image signature and the issuing agency’s stamp.
- The exporter may get the remaining copies duly ink-signed by the issuing officer, along with the stamp of the issuing office. The paper copies of the issued CoOs may be collected post or in person for submission to the Trade Agreement’s partner countries’ authorities.
Important Announcement for Exporter
- The given Certificate of Origin applications for exports from India under the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (India-UAE CEPA) must be submitted through the e-COO platform to the designated issuing agencies.
- DGFT informed that for these applications under India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (India-UAE CEPA), the e-CoO system should generate all the existing CoO copies besides an additional copy, i.e., electronic copy. The electronic copy shall bear the officer’s image signature and the issuing agency’s stamp.
- The exporter may get the remaining copies duly ink-signed by the issuing officer, along with the stamp of the issuing office. The paper copies of the issued CoOs may be collected post or in person for submission to the Trade Agreement’s partner countries’ authorities.
Exporter Registration in Common Digital Platform
The concerned Exporters may please take note of the following additional points for registering in the Common Digital Platform:
- Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) would be required for electronic verification. The digital signature would be the same as used in other DGFT applications
- The digital signature may be Class II or Class III and should have the IEC of the firm embedded in the DSC
- Any new applicant exporter needs to register at the e-platform initially. The password will be sent to the email and mobile number of the IEC holder.
- If the IEC holder desires to update the email on which communication is sent, the same will be done using the ‘IEC profile Management’ service on the DGFT website.
- Once registration is completed, the IEC branch details will be auto-populated as per the DGFT-IEC database.
- The applicant is required to ensure that updated IEC details are available in the DGFT system. Necessary steps may be taken to modify the IEC details online whenever needed.
Get in touch with IndiaFilings to get the Importer Exporter Code (IEC)
Exporter Registration Procedure
The exporter must access the Common Digital Platform’s official website to issue a Certificate of Origin. Before proceeding with the registration process, confirm the following:
- Exporters must update the IEC details on the DGFT portal (precisely mobile number & email id) as all essential information regarding the required exporter will be fetched from there only.
- Exporters need to obtain the Digital Signature Certificate containing the IEC and the name of any listed director in the IEC portal of DGFT.
Click on the Registration option from the home page, or the already registered user can log in to the portal using the credentials.
Insert the Digital Signature Certificate and Enter ten digit IEC Code to start the registration process Read Declaration select “I Agree,” and submit “Save & Next” to proceed with the registration.
Check the details and furnish the required information as required. On successful registration, the exporter can go to the login screen and log in with the credentials received by email.
- User Name – Registered IEC (10-digit alphanumeric/numeric code)
- Password – As received in e-mail.
Procedure to Apply Certificate of Origin (CoO) through Common Digital Platform
From the Home page of Common Digital Platform, click on the online exporter Registration and login option. Provide the credentials along with the captcha and click on the login button.
After login into the portal, the dashboard will display; select the Online application for Certificate of Origin (CoO) Scheme option. The application form will display, provide the following details:
- Free Trade Agreement
- Details of CoO Request before/after shipment
- Issuing Agencies/Regional offices
- Exporter Details
- Product details
- Raw Material
- Description of Goods
After furnishing the details, upload the digitally signed documents and click on submit button.
Note: You must attach DSC for uploading the documents and submitting the application.
Click on the Preview Certificate to View the draft CoO / Click make Payment to initiate the payment process. After successful application submission, the exporter will receive an alert in the form of an email and SMS. The same also is informed to the office where the application is filled.
Procedure to apply for Duplicate Certificate of Origin
After login into the portal and clicking on the Duplicate Certificate of Origin option, a list of the already submitted application is available wherein the exporter can apply for the duplicate certificate.
Upload a requisite document with the proper reason for applying for the same. Once the documents are uploaded, the exporter can make Payment. After successful Payment, the page redirected to the “Submitted Duplicate Certificates” list.
Get the Certificate of Origin (CoO)
After submitting applications under the FTAs mentioned above/PTAs, the Common Digital Platform will generate all the existing CoO copies and an additional copy, i.e., an electronic document. The electronic copy shall bear the officer’s image signature and the issuing agency’s stamp. The exporter may get the remaining copies duly ink-signed by the issuing officer with the stamp from the designated issuing office. The compositions of the CoOs so issued may be collected by post or in person for submission to the FTAs/PTA’s partner countries’ authorities.
The DGFT’s notification about the E-filing and Issuance of Preferential Certificate of Origin (CoO) under India-UAE CEPA is as follows:
Trade Notice 05 - India UAE CEPA go-liveElectronic filing and Issuance of CoO under (Ind-Aus ECTA) – Trade Notice No. 23/2022-23
DGFT Informed that the electronic platform for Certificates of Origin (eCoO) is being expanded to facilitate the issuance of Preferential Certificates of Origin for exports to Australia under the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (Ind-Aus ECTA) with effect from 29th December 2022.
Click here to get the official notification of DGFT – Trade Notice
