section 7

Trade Agreements

Fiji has a number of free trade agreements which include bilateral (between two countries) and multilateral (between several countries) agreements. These agreements are designed to facilitate increased trade and eliminate trade barriers.

Fiji has a number of free trade agreements which include bilateral(between two countries) and multilateral (between several countries)agreements. These agreements are designed to facilitate increased trade and eliminate trade barriers.

Trade agreements are important to exporters and it is always good to seek the advice of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism on market access and the opportunities under the various trade agreements. Exporters should also enquire about the rules of origin of these trade agreements and how their products qualify under the rules of origin.

For further details regarding these agreements and benefits to exporters, contact the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism.

RULES OF ORIGIN

Trade agreements allow market access to countries. With duty-free products, this allows products that are exported to importing countries to be competitive and affordable to customers. Rules of origin are a very important component of trade agreements as they determine whether the products will enter the overseas market duty-free.

Each trade agreement has its own rules of origin. The rules of origin are the criteria needed to determine the national source of a product that would qualify it for duty-free access to the country of export.

MSGTA and PICTA have their own rules of origin. The certificate of origin (CO) forms for export to the countries under the above trade agreements can be obtained from the Fiji Revenue & Customs Service.

I. MSGTA Rules of Origin

To qualify for MSGTA preferences (i.e. lower duties or duty free), originating goods must fall into one of two categories:

1. Goods must be 'wholly produced or obtained' in the Territory of a Party.
These products are basically raw products of a preference country.

2. Goods must be 'sufficiently worked' in the Territory of a Party.
A product is considered to be sufficiently worked when the product meets the minimum requirement of a change in tariff heading of the HS code in the last two digits of the six digit tariff heading which is different from those in which all the non-originating materials used in its manufacture are classified.

II. PICTA Rules of Origin

To qualify for PICTA preferences, originating goods must fall into one of two categories:
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1. Goods must be wholly produced or obtained in the Territory of a Party.
These are goods which have undergone no process of manufacture and contain no foreign parts or inputs.

2. Goods must have undergone ‘substantial transformation’ in the Territory of a Party.
The criteria for manufactured goods to qualify as originating through having undergone substantial transformation are two-fold:

• the last process of manufacture must be performed within a Party to the PICTA; and
• not less than 40% of the factory cost of the final good must be represented by qualifying expenditure.

In order to qualify for duty free access, exporters must obtain a CO for export of their products. Exported manufactured goods that do not have a CO will be duty payable in the country of destination. CO is also issued and approved by MITT for specific markets like China. Four (4) copies of the CO needs to be filled with copies of commercial invoice, packing list and shipping bill of lading for sea or air.

Detailed information on MSGTA and PICTA can be accessed via the website link:

MSGTA
Download
‍PICTA
Download

Fiji Mission Offices and Trade Commissions can assist exporters in market connections and research. The following table lists therespective Missions and Trade Commission contact details.