Customs Origin: A Review of Non-Preferential Rules of Origin in International Trades

Abstract

This issue of the journal is dedicated to non-preferential customs origin.Not so long ago, the words 'customs origin' did not evoke anything to pretty much anyone.Utter the words in otherwise learned gatherings, and all you would get in return is a blank stare.Then in June 2016, to the question 'Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?' a majority of the British people answered 'Leave the European Union'.That answer was a surprise.When the dust settled (to the extent that it ever did), it became clear that the area where this decision would have its biggest impact was on the movement of goods, not only between the UK and the EU, but also between the rest of the world and the UK.At the core of lot of the ongoing discussions and considerations around Brexit is, precisely, customs origin.Something else is happening, probably the result of the same root causes 1 : the multilateral global trading environment built after the Second World War is crumbling.For sure the Word Trade Organization (WTO) stopped progressing long ago, 2 but until recently few envisaged that it could wither, let alone end.Yet, we are now a few months away from the WTO losing an effective dispute settlement mechanism.3 The multilateral discipline of the WTO is being replaced by bilateral tensions and negotiations (usually the former leading to concessions made in the latter).At the core of free trade agreements, there are trade preferences applicable only to originating goods (preferential origin).At the core of the unilateral duties and retaliatory measures countries impose against each