EU – Colombia, Peru and Ecuador preferential trade: update to Harmonised System 2022

On 29 November 2024, the Trade Committee established by the Trade Agreement between the EU and Colombia, Peru and Ecuador updated the list of working or processing operations required to confer originating status on products manufactured from non-originating materials, in line with the Harmonised System (HS) 2022. This means that if a product is made in one of those countries using materials from outside, certain conditions must be met for the product to count as "made in" that country.

The changes will enter into force 60 days after the adoption and will be published in the Official Journal, in due time.

The Trade Committee Decision updates the product-specific rules of origin of the Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, and Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. These rules concern the definition of the concept of “Originating Products” and the methods of administrative cooperation.

Specifically, the updates are:

• The product-specific rules of origin are updated to reflect the HS 2022 adjustments.
• The description and codes of certain products under headings 0303, 0307 and 1605 are updated to reflect the EU Combined Nomenclature and TARIC codes.

Background

The Harmonized System (HS) is an international standardized system for classifying traded products. It was developed and is maintained by the World Customs Organization (WCO), an independent intergovernmental organization.

The HS is a set of codes used to classify goods for customs, statistical, and other purposes. It is a six-digit code system, where each product is assigned a unique code based on its characteristics, such as its material composition, function, and intended use.