24-hour hotline : 23 922 922

e-mail address : enquiry@tid.gov.hk

Ref. : CERT 200

9 January 2004

Dear Sirs,

Certificate of Origin Circular No. 2/2004

Certificate of Preference Circular No. 2/2004

Certificate of Origin Requirements -
Origin Marking and
Provision of Up-to-date Factory Registration Particulars

Introduction

This circular sets out certificate of origin requirements for applying Certificates of Origin (CO) and the requirement for manufacturers to provide up-to-date registration particulars to the Department's Factory Registration (FR) including product Hong Kong Harmonized System codes (HKHS codes) and authorized signatories.

Origin Marking Requirement

2. The criteria for the issue of Certificates of Hong Kong Origin for specific products by the Trade and Industry Department and the five Government Approved Certification Organizations (Note¹ ) are established in conformity with internationally accepted practice and standards. For wholly obtained or produced goods, they must be the natural products of Hong Kong which have been wholly grown or mined in Hong Kong or produced in Hong Kong from domestic materials. For manufactured goods involving multiple country processing and/or materials, they must be the products of manufacturing processes in Hong Kong which have changed permanently and substantially the shape, nature, form or utility of the basic materials used in manufacture. For the Certificate of Origin Form A, the goods concerned must meet both the origin rules of Hong Kong as well as those of the donor countries.

3. Origin marking or labelling is not mandatory for goods claiming Hong Kong origin for export. However, if traders would like to apply origin markings on their goods for export, they should mark their goods as "Made in Hong Kong".

Requirement for Provision of Up-to-date Factory Registration Particulars

4. In applying for CO to cover goods for exports, manufacturers are required to register for FR in order to demonstrate that they possess sufficient capacity to produce the products. At the time of application, manufacturers should register all of their products produced and furnish up-to-date product HKHS codes and authorised signatories to the FR. Information which does not tally with the Department's FR record may result in deferment of CO applications.

5. For manufacturers registered under FR and who have not yet provided the HKHS codes of their registered products, or if manufacturers need to add new products to their FR records, they should provide up-to-date product HKHS codes by completing the form attached at Appendix. This form should be returned to the FR section of Trade and Industry Department either in person, by post, or by fax at 2787 6048 / 2398 9450. For updates in other registration particulars, traders can refer to the "Guidance Notes on Completion of Application for Amendment of Registration Particulars under Factory Registration" for details. The Notes can be downloaded from the Department's web portal (http://www.tid.gov.hk/english/aboutus/publications/registcert/note_amendfr.html) or obtained from the Customer Service Centre of the Certification Branch.

Enquiry

6. For further information on the origin marking and the FR requirement, please contact the following office / officers:-

Yours faithfully,

(Paul KWOK)

for Director-General of Trade and Industry 

1 The five Government Approved Certification Organizations are the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce; Federation of Hong Kong Industries; the Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong; the Indian Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong and the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce.

The Chinese text of this Circular is for reference only. In case of discrepancies between the English and Chinese texts, the English text shall for all purposes be conclusive.