The process for issuing certificates of origin for K-beauty companies will be significantly simplified.
The Korea Customs Service announced on the 30th that it has revised the "Public Notice on the Handling of Affairs Concerning Special Cases of the Customs Act for the Implementation of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)" to newly designate 17 items, including six types of cosmetics such as lipstick, eyeshadow, mascara, and mask packs, as eligible for simplified origin verification.
The issuance of a certificate of origin is a necessary procedure to receive FTA benefits. The simplification of this process is being promoted to support the export expansion of K-beauty companies, whose exports have been increasing due to growing popularity overseas. The aim is to facilitate small and medium-sized export companies that have marketability and export competitiveness but face difficulties in preparing documentation to prove origin.
With the revision of the public notice, K-beauty companies will now be able to submit simplified supporting documents when exporting the 17 designated items, making it easier to obtain certificates of origin than before.
Previously, to obtain a certificate of origin, companies had to submit eight types of documents to customs (or the chamber of commerce), including a statement of origin, manufacturing process chart, and a list of raw material purchases, to prove that the goods were made in Korea. However, going forward, a single domestic manufacturing (comprehensive) confirmation can replace the eight documents previously required.
Since 2017, the Korea Customs Service has designated items for which origin can be verified solely by the fact that they are manufactured or processed in Korea, due to the characteristics of the manufacturing process, as "items eligible for simplified origin verification" and has simplified the certificate issuance process.
To date, 326 items have been designated as eligible for simplified origin verification. With the addition of 17 new items from the 30th of this month, the total will increase to 343 items. However, the Korea Customs Service emphasized that the applicability depends on the item and the specific FTA, so exporters must check in advance whether the items they export are covered by each agreement.
The Korea Customs Service plans to continue actively collecting and reflecting feedback from the export field to further improve related systems, so that promising items and companies can actively utilize FTAs to expand their export markets.
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