CBIC releases procedure for self-certification of origin declarations for India-UK treaty

With the India and UK free trade agreement set to be launched on July 15, the government has issued the procedure for self-certification of origin declarations for claiming tariff benefits under the treaty.

To this effect, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has issued guidelines for implementation of self-certification of origin declarations under the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (India-UK CETA). This will be required by UK exporters to import goods to India and get tariff benefits.

“Recognising the need for trust-based compliance and facilitation of origin-related procedures, the Rules of Origin provisions of the Agreement introduce a system of self-declaration of origin by exporters or producers of the United Kingdom for claiming preferential tariff treatment on imports into India,” the CBIC said, adding that preferential tariff may be claimed only after the authenticity of the origin declaration is established.

Authentication establishes that the origin declaration is completed and transmitted by a genuine exporter or producer of the UK and is valid for use in support of a preferential tariff claim in lndia, it said, adding that it also provides safeguards against impersonation, duplicate use of origin declarations and other misuse of preferential tariff claims.

Ikesh Nagpal, Lead-Indirect Tax, AKM Global said the circular is explicit that authentication confirms only the declaration's genuineness, not the underlying originating status, which under Rules of Origin remains separately verifiable. “This is a pragmatic safeguard that also means importers should retain supporting documentation beyond the point of clearance,” he said.

The CBIC has clarified that UK exporters or producers would have to self-certify the originating status of goods through an origin declaration. This should be transmitted simultaneously to the designated CBIC nodal email address and the importer's ICEGATE-registered email address, following which CBIC shall authenticate the declaration and generate a Unique Reference Number (URN) to be quoted in the Bill of Entry for availing preferential tariff treatment.

The origin declaration will be valid for 12 months and will relate to a single shipment and shall not be used for multiple importations. The preferential tariff treatment may also be claimed in respect of originating goods which arrive in India on or after July 15 2026, or continue to remain under customs control as on that date, the CBIC further said.

Nagpal noted that since the detailed ICEGATE trade advisory is still pending, the more practical approach for businesses is to treat this circular as the framework and wait for that advisory before finalising internal SOPs, while in the interim keeping ICEGATE-registered email addresses current and build origin-documentation retention into standard practice for UK shipments.