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US' unilateral changes to origin rules
The unilateral changes to origin rules by the United States are not in full support of the spirit of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on Rules of Origin which have come into force since January this year, a Trade Department official said today (Wednesday).
The US has recently announced the final rules implementing the country of origin provisions for imported textiles and apparel under its Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA).
"The final rules affirmed major changes to US origin rules for finished fabrics, certain textiles made-up articles and apparel other than knit-to-shape garments. The URAA rules would take effect from July 1, 1996," said the Assistant Director General of Trade, Miss Emma Lau, in her speech entitled "Changing Scenes in the International Arena of Rules of Origin" in a seminar organised by Hong Kong Society of Accountants.
"The WTO Agreement on Rules of Origin is the first ever agreement to bring rules of origin under multilateral discipline. The agreement stipulates a set of code of conduct regarding the formulation and administration of rules of origin.
"In addition, the agreement provides a three-year Harmonisation Work Programme to develop a set of harmonised rules of origin for all non-preferential trade purposes. The Harmonisation Work Programme was formally initiated in July 1995 and is scheduled for completion in 1998.
"Any unilateral changes to rules of origin in the middle of the Harmonisation Work Programme would clearly pre-empt the outcome of the Programme," she said.
On the circumstances leading to the conclusion of the WTO Agreement on Rules of Origin, Miss Lau pointed out that contrary to tariffs which had a long history of negotiation at the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), rules of origin affected international trade in a less conspicuous but equally significant way.
"A small economy like Hong Kong which relies heavily on exports had always been an easy target and victim to unilateral changes to rules of origin by major importing countries," she said.
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