The proposal that was submitted last Thursday by the European Commission for the introduction of 25,000 M/T canned tuna quota with a reduced 12% “Single Duty†tariff, for the Asian nations, does not contain any specific origin requirement concerning the raw tuna.
There has been some discussion about the fact if the proposal of the European Commission would require Thailand to use only raw tuna caught by vessels with Thai origin, flying the Thai flag.
The proposal of the European Commission read on the matter of the origin of the fish in article 4:
1. The origin of canned tuna qualifying for the tariff quota shall be determined in accordance with the provisions in force in the Community.
2. Qualification for the share of the tariff quota allocated to Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia, in accordance with Article 3 shall be subject to presentation of a certificate of origin meeting the conditions laid down in Article 47 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/933.
Certificates of origin shall be accepted only if the products meet the criteria for determining origin set out in the provisions in force in the Community.
If we then read Article 47 of regulation 2454/93, we find:
When the origin of a product is or has to be proved on importation by the production of a certificate of origin, that certificate shall fulfill the following conditions:
(a) it shall be made out by a reliable authority or agency duly authorized for that purpose by the country of issue;
(b) it shall contain all the particulars necessary for identifying the product to which it relates, in particular:
- the number of packages, their nature, and the marks and numbers they bear,
- the type of product,
- the gross and net weight of the product; these particulars may, however, be replaced by others, such as the number or volume, when the product is subject to appreciable changes in weight during carriage or when its weight cannot be ascertained or when it is normally identified by such other particulars,
- the name of the consignor;
(c) it shall certify unambiguously that the product to which it relates originated in a specific country.
Specialists in the field of nomenclature and duty tariffs said that the proposed regulation was not very clear. But after studying they confirmed that the above reference to the origin of the canned tuna products involved, only requires that the single final product manipulation needs to be taken place in Thailand.
The formulation implies that the most favorable available regulation on origin of the final product is applicable, and that therefore Thailand can use raw tuna from any origin for its canned tuna exports to Europe. Also this canned tuna product could fully benefit for the 12% reduced duty tariff for about 52% of the 25,000 M/T quota.