Czech News - Jan 97 - Poland And Hungary Opt Out Of The Diagonal Cumulating Syst

Although the new Pan European Rules of Origin (PERO) were introduced from 1 January 1997 and are valid for all countries in the European Economic Area (EEA), complications may arise in exporting products to Poland and Hungary. These two countries refused to accede to the system of new diagonal cumulation of origin at the very end of last year.

As a result, while exporting products from the Czech Republic to Poland (Hungary), it is possible that a Czech certificate of origin will not be issued by customs authorities if these products contain materials of other than Czech, Slovak or Polish (Hungarian) origin, or if materials originating elsewhere are not sufficiently processed in the Czech Republic.

The fact that the certificate of origin is not issued results in the application of non-preferential, i.e. higher import customs duty in Poland (Hungary).

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. It is therefore not a substitute for specialist advice.

For further information contact Paul Antrobus or Richard Fletcher, Arthur Andersen Prague, tel +42 2 2440 1300 or enter a text search 'Arthur Andersen' and 'Business Monitor'.