Using importer’s knowledge to claim preferential treatment: a gift or a trap?

Trade agreements have their own unique rules of origin to determine whether something has preferential origin. They also each have their own rules on how preferential origin should be evidenced. This can be confusing when a business is using multiple trade agreements. The focus of this article is on a particular method of evidencing preferential origin: importer’s knowledge. This is a relatively new concept in the EU, first appearing in the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, replicated in the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and now contained in the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.