India-UK CETA and its rules of origin: a new chapter in India’s preferential trade architecture

Editorial note: With the EU-India FTA near conclusion and the UK-India CETA entering into force on 15 July 2026, exporters to India face a market that is liberalising at the border while tightening on origin. Using the newly notified UK-India rules of origin as a working template for how India treats preferences, this article walks through what actually determines whether your goods receive them: the shift from 'certificate of origin' to 'proof of origin'; de-minimis, cumulation and non-Party operations; the verification machinery, temporary suspension and five-year records; and the sector traps that quietly disqualify goods - all layered over India's own customs rules (CAROTAR) gatekeeper regime. The through-line is a single, unforgiving principle: the preferential rate is a conditional entitlement, not an automatic one - every claim stands or falls on the origin file behind it, and origin disputes are rarely lost on the law; they are lost on the file.