The applicable Customs Law of Serbia provides for relevant rules for determining preferential and non-preferential origin of goods.
Non-preferential origin of goods is laid down by this Law for the purposes of:
- application of the Customs Tariff, except in cases envisaged by Article 30, paragraph 3, points 4) and 5) of the Customs Law;
- implementation of commercial policy measures
- drafting and issuing certificates
Under this Law, goods originating in a specific country are:
- goods wholly produced in that country;
- goods processed to a sufficient degree in that country.
Goods produced through involvement of more than one country will be deemed as originating from the country where they underwent the last substantial and economically justified processing or treatment, provided that such processing was carried out by an undertaking equipped for that purpose and that it resulted in substantial changes to the product or a completely new product.
The Regulation on customs approved treatment of goods provides the rules for acquiring the originating product status (Annexes 7, 8 and 9 to this Regulation).
Processing or treatment of goods found to have a sole objective of avoiding application of Serbian provisions to the goods originating in some countries will not be deemed as sufficient for such goods to obtain the status of the goods originating in the country where such action was performed.
Preferential rules of origin that provide a more favourable treatment to goods in the customs procedure are determined by international agreements covering such goods that Serbia concluded with the countries that are practically the most important trade partners of Serbia. Preferential origin under such agreements provides for reduced or zero import duties for specific goods imported from certain countries. Preferential rules of origin may also be defined by the Government for the goods entitled to preferences based on preferential tariff measures unilaterally adopted by the Republic of Serbia that apply to other countries, groups of countries or territories.
In order for the preferential regime to apply, it is necessary to submit proof – certificate of origin or declaration by the exporter, confirmed by the customs authority in the country of export.
In its Regulation on customs approved treatment of goods, the Government of the Republic of Serbia provided more detailed conditions for the manner of submitting proof and issuing certificates of origin.