Rules of Origin under the Australia - New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement

CONTENTS

Preliminaries
Cover, Copyright, Terms of reference, Contents, Abbreviations, Key Points, Overview, recommendations and findings

1   About the study
1.1   Background
1.2   The reference
1.3   Outline of the CER RoO
1.4   CER in the context of the international trading system
1.5   Parallel study
1.6   Conduct of this study
1.7   Structure of the report

2   Trends in preferential trade
2.1   Global trends in preferential trade
2.2   Trends in CER trade
2.3   The changed tariff environment for CER
2.4   Concluding comments

3   Rules of origin and their role in trade agreements
3.1   The need for RoO
3.2   Assessing origin is difficult
3.3   Special origin rules are common
3.4   The WTO's efforts to harmonise RoO
3.5   Concluding comments

4   Economic effects of rules of origin
4.1   Trade and welfare effects
4.2   Investment effects
4.3   The efficiency and productivity of firms
4.4   Empirical work on RoO
4.5   International developments
4.6   Concluding comments

5   Problems with CER rules of origin
5.1   Background
5.2   Inconsistent implementation
5.3   Difficulties with last process of manufacture requirement
5.4   Regional content threshold (50 per cent rule)
5.5   Compliance and enforcement
5.6   Determined manufactured raw materials
5.7   Differences in duty on inputs
5.8   Recent developments
5.9   Concluding comments

6   Compliance and administration costs
6.1   Scope of compliance and administration costs
6.2   Claiming preference - the process
6.3   What costs does proving origin impose on business?
6.4   Costs incurred by Customs in administering RoO
6.5   Compliance and administration costs under multiple RoO
6.6   Concluding comments

7   Design principles
7.1   General design principles for RoO
7.2   What these principles mean at a practical level

8   Options for change
8.1   Determination of substantial transformation
8.2   Regional value content approach
8.3   Change in tariff classification approach
8.4   Rely only on a standard definition of manufacture
8.5   Waivers
8.6   Tariff-based options

9   The Commission's proposals
9.1   CER RoO have become unduly restrictive
9.2   The tariff environment is changing
9.3   Where to from here?

A   Conduct of the study

B   Stocktake of preferential trade agreements

C   Definitions of manufacture under the CER

References