Updated REX Guidance

What does it mean for your company?

The guidance is a useful tool to be used by the customs authorities and economic operators to understand the practical aspects of REX. However, it should be noted the document is of explanatory and illustrative nature and as such not legally binding.

The revised guidance confirms that the transition period that enabled economic operators in GSP beneficiary countries to gradually implement REX has ended. The new guidance also provides a few updates on the procedure to become a registered exporter, the status of the registered exporter, the origin statements and the annexes included in the guidance. 

Economic operators should check whether the updated version of the guidance provides new insight, clarity or opportunities.

A new element in the guidance is that Switzerland, Norway and Turkey also apply REX in the context of their respective GSP scheme. Therefore, an exporter in a GSP beneficiary country will only have to register once for all his exports under GSP to the EU, Norway, Turkey and Switzerland. 

The old guidance stated that for those free trade agreements (FTA) in which no specific REX origin statement was provided, the text for the statement to be used was the one included in Annex 22-07 of the UCC IA. The revised version explains that the text defined in a FTA is to be used by exporters and re-consignors. 

Main Facts

REX is a single self-certification system of the goods’ preferential origin by registered exporters. The exporter, trader, manufacturer or re-consignor apply for the registered exporter status with the customs authorities in their country. It is a one-off formality since one registration will provide a unique number that can be used for all preference systems where it is officially recognized. These exporters make out origin statements  on commercial documents which will allow importers to claim preferential origin in countries where said system is recognized. 

REX is applied since 1 January 2017 in the context of GSP, since January 2020 by the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) and in numerous FTAs, such as the CETA (the FTA with Canada), the JEFTA (FTA with Japan), the EU-UK FTA and the EU-Vietnam FTA. Zimbabwe is also applying REX in the context of the EPA for its exports to the EU.