On June 29, 2021, the General Administration of Customs issued the Announcement on Adjusting the Format of the Certificate of Origin of the China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement (General Administration of Customs Announcement No. 49 of 2021).。In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Free Trade Agreement between the People's Republic of China and the Swiss Confederation and the resolutions of the Joint Commission, this Agreement isCertificate of origin for import and export goodsThe maximum number has been increased from 20 to 50。Adjust the certificate format accordingly。
When do I start using the new certificate？
The new Sino-Swiss certificate will be available from September 1, 2021。
What is the difference between the new and old certificates？How to distinguish blank certificates？
The color of the new certificate remains the same compared to the old certificate。The Itemnumber in the fifth column of the certificate is changed from Max20 to Max50，That is, the maximum number of commodity items is adjusted from 20 to 50;Certificate back page description of article 4 by Thenumberofitemshouldnotexceed20 Thenumberofitemshouldnotexceed50 instead。For convenience, you can focus on the fifth column of the certificate。
Can old and new certificates be used together？
Do not mix。For visa dates of September 1 and later, use the new version of the certificate。The visa date is 31 August and before, using the old certificate。The date of the Chinese visa is shown in column 12 of the certificate。
If there are not many products, less than 20, can you continue to use the old certificate？
No, please refer to the answer to question 3 to distinguish the format requirements of the old and new certificates based only on the visa date。
Do companies that print Certificates of origin need to choose new and old formats when printing？
Self-printing enterprises only need to pay attention to changes in the number of goods, and the certificate format will be automatically generated according to the application time, and the enterprise does not need any operation。
Is there any change in the Sino-Swiss Declaration of Origin issued by the approved exporter？
This announcement only relates to the Sino-Swiss Certificate of origin and does not affect the Sino-Swiss Declaration of origin。
China-switzerland Free Trade Agreement
The China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement (hereinafter referred to as the "Agreement") is the first package of free trade agreements signed between China and a continental European country, and is a high-quality, rich and mutually beneficial agreement。This agreement consists of 16 chapters，These include general provisions, trade in goods, rules of origin and operating procedures, customs procedures and trade facilitation, trade remedies, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, trade in services, investment promotion, competition policy, intellectual property protection, environmental issues, economic and technical cooperation, institutional provisions, dispute settlement and final provisions。In addition, this agreement also includes 11 annexes such as tariff reduction schedule for trade in goods, product-specific origin rules, certificates of origin, textile labels, and specific commitments for trade in services。
On July 1, 2014, the Free Trade Agreement between China and Switzerland came into effect。According to the agreement, Switzerland vs China 99.Seven percent of exports will be tariff-free immediately after the agreement comes into force, and China will eventually have to pay 84 percent to Switzerland.Zero tariff on 2% of exports。