Issuance of Preferential Certificate of Origin for India’s exports to Vietnam under ASEAN-India FTA

Circular No. ES/ 206/2020-21 22nd June, 2020

To : Members of the Council

Sub.: Issuance of Preferential Certificate of Origin for India’s exports to Vietnam under ASEAN-India FTA

Dear Member,

O/o DGFT has issued Trade Notice No. 15/2020-2021 dated 21st June, 2020 clarifying about the issuance of Preferential Certificate of Origin (COO) for India’s exports to Vietnam under ASEAN-India FTA.

It may be informed that Trade Notice No. 12/2020-2021 dated 22nd May, 2020 was issued by O/o DGFT in view of the various representations received from exporters expressing difficulties in obtaining preferential access in Thailand and Vietnam based on the digitally signed electronic Certificates of Origin and manual applications for the said countries was allowed.

Now, DGFT has taken up this issue, and decided the following -

One additional copy i.e. electronic copy along with the set of 4 copies shall be generated by the system.
The electronic copy shall bear the image signature of the officer and stamp of the issuing agency.
Exporters may send the electronic copy to the partner country for any immediate clearance.
Where required, the exporter may also collect the other set of printed certificates (in quadruplicate) duly ink-signed by the officer along with the stamp from the designated office for any subsequent submission to the partner country authorities.
The COO applications for exports under ASEAN-India FTA to all ASEAN countries except Thailand should now be submitted through the e-COO Platform by the exporters to the offices of the designated issuing agencies i.e. EIA, MPEDA and Textile Committee.
No physical application shall be accepted from 22nd June, 2020. However, manual applications submitted prior to the given date may be issued.
These agencies (EIA, MPEDA and Textile Committee) will henceforth issue COO online and provide on request the printed copy of certificate along with stamp and wet-ink signature of the issuing officer to the exporter.