Dear all,
When talking with EU, it appeared that they chose the substantially processed principle for products for which :
-they have a competitive edge and were not afraid of competition
-they had no production and were eager to get lowest prices
To apply this principle, they would choose either 40% added value and/or change of Custom HS n°(Ex : from chapter 3 to chapter 16 )
They chose the fully obtained principle for products for which :
-They want to protect their own producers
-they want to stop any triangular trade(Ex : Chinese shrimp being processed by Morocco and reexported to EU)
Actually, the EU approach is about the same for most countries, since some of these principles are part of the discussions in the WTO
najib layachi
food technologist and inspector
MOROCCO
----- Original Message -----
From: George Souza
To: 'layachi Najib'
Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2004 5:38 PM
Subject: RE: Country of origin labelling
Dear M. Iayachi,
Thank you very much for your insightful discussion of the issues. You have obviously done this before!
You are absolutely correct that political and economic issues play a key role in the process. In the case the key is to give the US product an advantage with consumers in the US market. Why not just label product of US as product of US and let the consumer make the decision (I will leave that for another time).
I particularly like the description of the "fully obtained" versus "substantially transformed" principles. That is a source of much debate in this regulation. It is also a source of much confusion across different agencies and other regulations in the US.
Quick question: for the EU how do they handle the fully obtained/substantially transformed issue?
Thanks for your help.
George
George Souza
Endeavor Seafood
172 Thames St.
Suite 300
Newport, RI 02840
Phone 401-841-5412
Fax 401-841-8639
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-seafood@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-seafood@ucdavis.edu] On Behalf Of layachi Najib
Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2004 12:36 PM
To: ListSeafood
Subject: Country of origin labelling
Dear all,
Country of origin labelling is only part of the large area of rules of origin.
I had the opportunity to work on some of these, during trade talks between Morocco and EU, and Morocco and USA.
The rules are quite complex because they are not based on technical matters only, but also on political and economical matters.They raise the same questions as rules of citizenship.
Some countries are going to go for very tough rules of origin because they want to protect the label of their products against the international competition.Others will be very open towards products they do not produce and are willing to give it their "citizenship".
However, two basic principles are used. The first, called "fully obtained", will impose on a product to have all its components originating from the same country in order to get the label of that country.
The second, called "substantially processed", will accept to change the origin of a product if the raw material has been processed to some extent.
Which principle is used for which product will depend on a political decision by the importing country.
When an importing country accepts a given origin, it accepts to give it some favors like entering without paying tarifs, or not being inspected, .......
If the first principle is used, then the labelling should include all the steps and mixes that occured in the product life.Exemple : shrimp from China and Vietnam, processed in France, imported in the US by ......
If the second principle is used, the labelling might include only product of France.
Regards
najib layachi
food technologist and inspector
MOROCCO
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