[TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE GAZETTE OF INDIA, EXTRAORDINARY, PART II, SECTION 3, SUB-SECTION (i)]
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
(DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE)
(CENTRAL BOARD OF INDIRECT TAXES AND CUSTOMS)
Notification No. 59/2025-Customs (N.T.)
New Delhi, dated the 29^th^ September, 2025.
G.S.R. (E).- In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 5 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules, namely: -
1. Short title and commencement. - (1) These rules may be called the Customs Tariff (Determination of Origin of Goods under the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement between India and the EFTA States) Rules, 2025.
(2) They shall come into force on the 1^st^ day of October, 2025.
2. Definitions. - In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires, -
- (a) “agreement” means Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the Governments of the EFTA States signed on 10^th^ March, 2024;
- (b) “Annexure” means the annexure appended to these rules;
- (c) “competent authority”,-
- (i) for India , means the Department of Commerce in the case of exports and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), i.e., the customs authority in the case of imports or their successors;
- (ii) for the EFTA States, means the customs authorities of the respective EFTA State;
- (d) “customs value” means the value as determined in accordance with the Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994, as set out in Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement (WTO Agreement on Customs Valuation);
- (e) “EFTA States” means Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland;
- (f) “ex-works price” means the price paid for a product to the manufacturer in the Party where the last working or processing was carried out, in accordance with the international commercial terms (“incoterms”), excluding internal taxes which may be reimbursed when the product is exported;
- (g) “FOB value” means the price actually paid or payable to the exporter for a product when the product is loaded onto the carrier at the named port of exportation, including the cost of the product and all costs necessary to bring the product onto the carrier, excluding customs duties on exportation;
- (h) “Harmonized System” or “HS” means the International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System including its Section Notes, Chapter Notes, Sub-heading Notes and General Rules for the Interpretation of the Harmonized System;
- (i) “manufacture” means working or processing, including assembly;
- (j) “material” means any ingredient, raw material, component or part, used in the manufacture of the product;
- (k) “Party” means India, Iceland, Norway or Switzerland and due to the customs union between Switzerland and Liechtenstein, a product originating in Liechtenstein shall be considered as originating in Switzerland;
- (l) “product” means the product being manufactured, even if it is intended for later use in another manufacturing operation;
- (m) “supporting documents” means any document, in paper or electronic form, used for the purpose of proving that a product covered by a proof of origin fulfils the requirements of these rules and can be considered as a product originating in a Party, such as evidence of the working or processing that the products and the materials used have undergone, and of the originating status of materials used in the production;
- (n) “territory” includes the land territory, internal waters and the territorial waters of a Party; and
- (o) “value of non-originating materials” means the customs value at the time of importation of the non-originating materials used, or, if this is not known and cannot be ascertained, the first ascertainable price paid for the materials in a Party.
3. General Requirements.- For the purposes of the agreement, a product shall be considered as originating in a Party if --
- (a) it has been wholly obtained in a Party, in accordance with rule 4; or
- (b) the non-originating materials used in the working or processing of that product have undergone sufficient working or processing in a Party, in accordance with rule 5.
4. Wholly Obtained Products.- The following products shall be considered as wholly obtained in a Party, namely:-
- (a) mineral products and other non-living natural resources extracted or taken from their soil or from their seabed;
- (b) vegetable products harvested there;
- (c) live animals born and raised there, and products from such animals;
- (d) products obtained by hunting, trapping, fishing or aquaculture conducted there;
- (e) products of sea fishing and other marine products taken from the sea outside the territorial waters of any country, by a vessel registered in a Party and flying its flag, and products manufactured exclusively from such products on board a factory ship registered in a Party and flying its flag;
- (f) products extracted from marine soil or sub-soil outside their territorial waters provided that they have the sole rights to exploit that soil or sub-soil;
- (g) products of heading 30.02 and 30.04 of the Harmonized System obtained there by the use of plant or animal cell cultures;
- (h) products falling within Chapters 29-35 of the Harmonized System obtained there by fermentation;
- (i) waste and scrap derived from production or consumption there, provided that such goods are fit only for recovery of raw materials, or for recycling purposes; and
- (j) products manufactured there exclusively from those specified in clauses (a) to (i).
5. Sufficient Working or Processing.- (1) Without prejudice to rule 6, a product listed in Annexure-A shall be considered to have undergone sufficient working or processing if the product-specific rules specified in that Annexure are fulfilled.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-rule (1), non-originating materials do not have to fulfil the conditions set out in Annexure-A, provided that -
- (a) their total value does not exceed 10% of the FOB value or ex-works price of the product; and
- (b) the maximum value of non-originating materials set out in Annexure-A is not exceeded through the application of this sub-rule.
6. Insufficient Working or Processing.- (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in rule 5, a product shall not be considered as originating, if it has only undergone the following operations, namely:-
- (a) preserving operations to ensure that a product remains in good condition during transport and storage;
- (b) freezing or thawing;
- (c) packaging and re-packaging;
- (d) washing, cleaning, removal of dust, oxide, oil, paint or other coverings;
- (e) ironing or pressing of textiles;
- (f) simple painting and polishing;
- (g) husking, partial or total bleaching, polishing, and glazing of cereals and rice;
- (h) operations to colour sugar or form sugar lumps;
- (i) peeling and removal of stones and shells from fruits, nuts and vegetables;
- (j) sharpening, simple grinding or simple cutting;
- (k) sifting, screening, sorting, classifying, grading, matching;
- (l) simple placing in bottles, cans, flasks, bags, cases, boxes, fixing on cards or boards and all other simple packaging operations;
- (m) affixing or printing marks, labels, logos and other like distinguishing signs on products or their packaging;
- (n) simple mixing of products, whether or not of different kinds;
- (o) simple assembly of parts of articles to constitute a complete article or disassembly of products into parts;
- (p) slaughter of animals; or
- (q) a combination of two or more operations specified in clauses(a) to (p).
(2) For the purposes of sub-rule (1), “simple” means the activities which need neither special skills nor machines, apparatus or equipment especially produced or installed to carry out the activity.
