New Delhi, June 23 (KNN) The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has clarified on Issuance of Preferential Certificate of Origin (COO) for India’s exports to Vietnam under the ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA).  The agencies like EIA, MPEDA, and Textile Committee will now issue the COO online and provide on request the printed copy of the certificate along with the stamp and wet-ink signature of the issuing officer to the exporter.

Various representatives had raised the issue regarding difficulties in obtaining preferential access in Thailand and Vietnam on the basis of digitally signed electronic COO because of the acceptance of manual applications.

The given issue has been taken up by DGFT and it is decided that one additional copy i.e. electronic copy along with the set of 4 copies shall be generated by the system.

The electronic copy shall bear the image signature of the officer and stamp of the issuing agency. Exporters may send the electronic copy to the partner country for any immediate clearance. Where required, the exporter may also collect the other set of printed certificates (in quadruplicate) duly ink-signed by the officer along with the stamp from the designated office for any subsequent submission to the partner country authorities.

“The COO applications for exports under ASEAN-India FTA to all ASEAN countries except Thailand should now be submitted through the e-COO Platform by the exporters to the offices of the designated issuing agencies i.e. EIA, MPEDA, and Textile Committee,” the DGFT circular said.

The DGFT has clarified that no physical application shall be accepted from June 22, 2020. However, manual applications submitted prior to the given date may be issued.