A certificate of origin (CO) is an official document that certifies the country where goods were manufactured or produced. It is commonly required by customs authorities or business partners when goods are exported, in order to comply with regulations and meet import requirements in the destination country. A CO also determines correct duties and allows you to qualify for trade agreements benefits.
How do Certificates of Origin differ?
It is important to distinguish between preferential and non-preferential origin:
- A non-preferential certificate of origin simply certifies the
origin of the goods and does not grant any tariff advantages. These certificates are typically issued by Chambers of Commerce and are mainly used for customs, commercial, or regulatory purposes.
- A preferential origin, on the other hand, allows goods to
benefit from reduced or zero customs duties under free trade agreements. Preferential origin is proven through specific documents, such as an EUR.1 certificate or an origin declaration. For these certificates of origin, please check with the General Administration of Customs and Excise.
In most cases, certificates of origin are issued by the Chambers of Commerce, with a few exceptions for specific products – e.g., Antwerp World Diamond Centre has exclusive authority to issue COs specifically for diamonds. Please note that certificates of origin issued by Belgian Chambers of Commerce are non-preferential and do not, by themselves, entitle goods to trade agreement benefits.
Where to get a certificate of origin?
COs are issued typically on the territorial basis, i.e. if your company is registered in Brussels Capital Region, you would apply to Beci – Brussels Chamber of Commerce for your CO.
The Chambers are regularly audited by the Federation of Belgian Chambers and the Federal Public Service Economy, to ensure that the issued COs meet all legal requirements.
Most of the COs in Belgium are processed via a centralized online platform DigiChambers. Requesting a CO is usually quite straightforward, but for companies new to exporting, the application process can raise a few technical questions. Beci processes around 70 requests per day, with different types of complexity, and the recurring issues can slow down the process considerably.
What are the most common mistakes?
We have talked with the Beci experts in export formalities and have come up with the most common mistakes that we see and how to avoid them.
1. Forgetting to click the “Submit” button
Yes, this may sound obvious, but it is the most frequent issue. After making changes to your application, please make sure you have clicked the Submit button. If the request is not submitted, it cannot be processed
2. Submitting an incomplete or incorrect online CO request
All mandatory fields in the online CO application must be completed correctly and in consistency with your sales invoice and the packing list. Please check the demo how to do it.
3. Providing unclear or insufficient proofs of origin
Each item must be clearly identifiable on the proofs and on the sales invoice, with a mention of origin and the relevant HS codes. Proofs may include a supplier invoice with origin, a declaration of origin, a supplier’s certificate of origin, or a declaration of own manufacture.
4. Uploading unnecessary or outdated documents
Quite often, we receive documents that are:
- not related to the request’
- not requested, or
- no longer relevant after modifications are made.
This creates extra work, as all documents must be opened and reviewed to find the correct information. Please remove outdated files and upload only the documents that are required for your CO application
5. Using document formats that are difficult to search
Using document formats that are difficult to search
Some documents do not allow quick searches using the CTRL+F shortkey, which slows down verification. Whenever possible, please upload documents in searchable formats (e.g., searchable PDFs), as this helps us process your request faster.
6. Uploading invoices that are not readable
We cannot accept the sales invoices with very small text or insufficient zoom, if they are impossible to read on an A4 page. Please ensure that all the documents are clearly legible before uploading them.
7. Unclear document naming
While not mandatory, clear naming your document can also speed up the verification process. Please include useful indicators, such as the supplier’s name or the product name or reference. It will make it much easier to navigate through the supporting documents
To sum it all up, we encourage you to you keep in mind that the documents are reviewed by real people, not machines. Ask yourself – would it be comfortable for you to work with the submitted documents if you received them? If the answer is no, it may be worth improving the format or increasing the font size before submitting. This will be greatly appreciated and will help us process your request as smoothly and efficiently as possible.
By Ekaterina Clifford
Got questions?
Check out the CO application procedure!
