Origin of exports

It is important to differentiate between regulations on preferential and regulations on non-preferential origin.

Preferential origin of goods

Preferential treatment is based on the EU’s free trade agreement and decisions on unilateral benefits and confers duty relief or duty discounts. This means that products that originate from countries and areas included by these agreements may be fully exempt from customs duties, or eligible for reduced customs duties.

For customs union agreements (such as those between the EU, and Turkey, Andorra and San Marino) the goods’ eligibility for preferential treatment is not determined by their origin, but by whether they have entered free circulation.

To obtain preferential origin, goods must either be obtained or sufficiently worked or processed in a treaty state (at the time of importation) or in the EU (at the time of exportation). Thus, it is not enough for a product to be exported from a treaty state to be considered as having its origin in that state.

More free trade concepts.

Origins eligible for free trade status – Guidelines from the European Commission.

Non-preferential origin of goods

The EU's non-preferential rules of origin, i.e. the general rules of origin, rarely apply when exporting from the EU. It is also not certain that general EU rules of origin may be applied when importing to third countries, as the regulations may vary. As opposed to the rules of origin that confer preferential tariff treatment, there are no agreements between the EU and third countries to establish how to establish this type of origin.

Contact the competent authorities in the country to which you intend to export to request information about which general rules of origin apply, if you cannot use the general EU rules of origin. To request a general certificate of origin, please contact one of the Chambers of Commerce in Sweden.

Find all of Sweden's 11 regional Chambers of Commerce here.

General rules of origin.

Information from the Swedish Chambers of Commerce about the origin designation “Made in”.