When exporting goods by freight, you may need a number of different shipping documents, including a Certificate of Origin for goods being sold abroad as a permanent export.

Working alongside the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Blair offers an exclusive in-house certification department. With experienced service providers to prepare and process the necessary paperwork needed for UK exports, including Certificates of Origin, you can rest assured your international trade certification requirements will be fully and efficiently met.

What is a Certificate of Origin?

A Certificate of Origin confirms the origin of exported goods — where “origin” refers to the economic nationality of a product — and is typically issued for goods shipped out of one particular country and sold to buyers in importing countries as a permanent export.

Certificates of Origin are essentially origin documents attesting to the location where shipped goods have been manufactured or produced, where all internationally traded goods are required to have an origin when declared to customs, at both the point of export and import.

In some cases, goods may be wholly obtained in one country, without the addition of any non-originating materials or, if more than one country was involved in the production of the goods, where the last substantial transformation to those goods took place.

Why do you need a Certificate of Origin?

Certificates of Origin are recognised international trade documents that may be required by authorities, and other bodies or organisations, for both commercial and customs reasons.

They can be used to declare and authenticate the origin of exported goods to customs in the importing country. They can also be used to assign rates of import duty, where Certificates of Origin are mostly required by customs authorities for customs-clearance procedures, in order to determine the legitimacy of imports and import duties due on those shipments.

Required by many country or regional trade agreements, Certificates of Origin are a specific form of documentation that accompany shipments of goods — either as an electronic or paper certificate — to help determine whether certain goods are eligible for import and subject to import duties. In some cases, they can also be used to determine if a shipment is entitled to preferential status and tariff relief, together with preferential duty rates.

What are the different types of Certificates of Origin?

There are two main types of Certificates of Origin, including:

• a UK Certificate of Origin, and
• an Arab-British Certificate of Origin

The type of certificate required when exporting goods will depend on the importing countries involved and your particular export shipment to each destination country.

What is a UK Certificate of Origin?

A UK Certificate of Origin is a shipping document used for exporting shipments of goods to non-Arab countries, including Turkey and Iran, as well as Egypt. This certificate will provide any customs authority with proof of the origin of goods being exported to these countries, acting as both a commercial or customs clearance requirement, although the main purpose of the certificate is to establish the rate of import duty payable in the importing country.

What is an Arab-British Certificate of Origin?

An Arab-British Certificate of Origin is a shipping document used to evidence a shipment’s country of origin when being exported exclusively to Arab League countries. Accordingly, Arab-British Certificates of Origin can only be issued for certain countries, including Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

Again, the primary purpose of this type of origin certificate is to determine the relevant tariff rates for customs clearance purposes in the buyer’s country, in this way satisfying customs authorities of the origin of the goods and the import duties payable.
Arab-British Certificates of Origin are only for Arab League destinations, while UK Certificates of Origin are for all other countries, including European Union countries. The former are certified by the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce and usually also require embassy legalisation. At Blair, we work closely with the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce and all foreign consulates in London to ensure prompt processing.

How can Blair help you with Certificates of Origin?

Obtaining a Certificate of Origin is often a standard part of the required documentation for UK exports, although for the novice exporter, applying for Certificates of Origin can present a number of practical challenges. These can include proving origin requirements and origin verification, dealing with specific country criteria in the context of international trade, shipping to two or more countries, and even submitting the required documentation online.

Equally, for the more seasoned exporter, already well-experienced with global trade requirements and the various customs formalities in certain countries, our certification service can help to keep exporting processes streamlined and cost-efficient.

At Blair, we offer various processing options for the issuance of both UK and Arab Certificates of Origin. These include a secure electronic certification service via Quickcert, our online platform, allowing you to obtain certified shipping documentation, including an electronic Certificate of Origin, in less than a day. It may also be possible to obtain an expedited paper certificate overnight, provided Embassy Legalisation is not needed.

Additionally, we offer a comprehensive document-preparation service and full Embassy Legalisation service, where applicable. To discuss your Certificate of Origin or any additional international trade documentation requirements, please reach out to our sales team on +44 (0) 1784 254123 or contact us to learn more.