I am planning to export goods overseas. Is a certificate of origin really necessary?

A certificate of origin is a system that officially certifies in which country the exported goods were grown, raised, manufactured, or processed, and is a key document for the importing country to determine whether to impose tariffs or apply preferential FTA tariffs.

In particular, in order to receive Free Trade Agreement (FTA) benefits, the origin determination criteria for each agreement must be met, and a certificate of origin as prescribed by the relevant agreement must be prepared.

Certificates of origin are largely classified into preferential certificates of origin and non-preferential certificates of origin.

For purposes of tariff benefits such as FTA, APTA, and GSP, a preferential certificate of origin is required, and it can be issued through the Korea Customs Service or the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

On the other hand, when not related to tariff benefits but for reasons such as overseas buyer requirements, dumping investigations, or origin labeling issues, non-preferential certificates of origin are used.

The issuance procedure is divided into self-issuance and institutional issuance.

In the case of self-issuance, the exporter designates a signatory in advance, prepares and signs the certificate of origin themselves, and then must manage the certificate ledger.

Institutional issuance is a method of registering with the Korea Customs Service customs clearance system or the Chamber of Commerce and Industry trade certification system, then applying and being issued electronically.

Since certificates of origin are highly likely to lead to post-verification or disputes, it is important to comprehensively review the export structure, the applicability of agreements, and the appropriateness of the issuance method.

I recommend systematically managing risks related to certificates of origin through prior consultation with a customs specialist attorney.