Origin of goods and Made in marking: rules and pitfalls

In customs, non-preferential origin answers a simple question: where does this product come from, for the purposes of duties and controls. The Union Customs Code, Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, sets the rule in its Articles 59 and 60. A product wholly obtained in one country takes the origin of that country. When several countries take part in its manufacture, the origin is that of the place of its last substantial transformation, assessed by a change of tariff heading, sufficient value added, or a representative processing operation.

This origin governs the basic customs duty, the application of anti-dumping and countervailing duties, import restrictions and the marking of the product. It does not lower any duty. Preferential origin, governed by trade agreements and their own documents, is the one that opens reduced rates. Confusing the two leads to declaring an origin that serves neither your duties nor your marking.

CE marking attests conformity, never provenance. As for origin marking, there is no single harmonised regime for all products imported into the Union. Sector-specific legislation imposes it on certain product families, and several member states require origin labelling on specific imported products. There is also a particular case: for products covered by the implementing regulation that establishes an anti-dumping measure, a specific marking of the country of origin, visible and durable, is required.

In a container coming from China, the marking is decided before loading. The factory marks the country of origin on the product and, in practice, on the packaging and the cartons. If the mention is missing, the correction happens at the port, in a rush, or not at all. Our Chinese-speaking team in Guangzhou requests photos of the marking before departure and locks this requirement into the brief.

Light assembly, packaging or minor finishing does not change the origin. A product manufactured in China, even fitted with European components, remains Chinese if its last substantial transformation takes place in China. The reverse also holds: a product born elsewhere and simply packaged in China does not become Chinese. This is the rule under Article 60 of the Union Customs Code, applied product by product.

The classic pitfall is circumvention of anti-dumping duties, governed by Regulation (EU) 2016/1036. Some sectors, such as bicycles subject to measures since the 1990s, have seen arrangements designed to mask the real origin. Customs authorities track these schemes, hold containers and seize the goods. The importer of record then bears the burden of proving the declared origin, even when the factory wrote the "made in" mention with its own hand.

The non-preferential certificate of origin is issued by a chamber of commerce, in China mainly the CCPIT. It attests the declared origin of the goods; it does not open any reduced duty. The Union does not require it for all imports, but customs can request it to verify a declaration, and a customer, a bank or a freight forwarder sometimes adds it to their documents.

Do not confuse it with preferential documents, such as the EUR.1 movement certificate or the origin declaration on invoice, specific to trade agreements. There is no comprehensive free trade agreement between China and the Union: for a Chinese import, the certificate of origin remains a piece of evidence, not a saving on duties. Check the consistency between the certificate, the invoice and the bill of lading before departure.

Most origin problems are settled before shipment. Here are the ones our team most often encounters on files coming from China.

In every case, the fault falls on the importer of record, not on the factory. A mention written by the seller is not proof. Origin is checked component by component, compared against the product's nomenclature and documented before shipment, not on arrival.

Sorva is a sourcing and brokerage house. Our Chinese-speaking team in Guangzhou collects the declared origin of each factory, checks it against the product's customs nomenclature and flags inconsistencies before the order. We verify the "made in" marking on pre-loading photos, follow the applicable anti-dumping measures with your freight forwarder, and have the certificate of origin issued when your file requires it.

In most cases you pay no fees: you open a file, we negotiate the goods on your behalf, and we take a commission on their ex-factory value.