In order to benefit from the
AA provisions, namely preferential duties, the
Egyptian exporter should accompany the imported
goods with a EUR.1 certificate of origin or an
invoice declaration (if the value of the goods
does not exceed EUR 6,000 or the exporter is
recognised by the Customs of the exporting
country as an approved exporter). Articles 16 to
30 of Protocol 4 of the AA give all details on
how to obtain these proofs of origin.
Currently, all industrial products coming from
Egypt falling within chapters 25 to 97 of the EU
Combined Nomenclature, with the exception of the
products listed in Annex I of the AA (as
considered to be agricultural or processed
agricultural products), are benefiting from
duty-free access when exported to the EU.
Egyptian agricultural products and processed
agricultural products included in Protocol 1 and
Annex II of Protocol 3 of the AA are also
receiving a preferential treatment when exported
to the EU (in some cases within the limits of a
tariff quota).
If an Egyptian exporter (or its import agent in
the EU) wants to know the customs duties applied
to its products when exported to the EU, they
can access the EU Customs Tariffs Database
(
http://europa.eu.int/comm/taxation_customs/dds/en/tarhome.htm
) and search on a product-by-product basis
either by the product code or the product
description.
In case an Egyptian exporter wants to know about
the EU standards or requirements for a certain
product, he/she can contact the European
Information Correspondence Centre (EICC) at the
Federation of Egyptian Industries
(www.eicc.org.eg), who periodically receives the
latest EU legislation concerning any kind of
products and can provide with the different
requirements a product should meet to be allowed
to enter the EU market.
In addition, the European Commission recently
upgraded its EU Export Helpdesk for Developing
Countries (
http://exporthelp.europa.eu ), with
detailed information on import requirements (SPS
measures, standards, labelling, customs
documents and applied taxes among others), in
addition to other relevant information
concerning exports to the EU, such as import
tariffs, customs documents required and Rules of
Origin, plus trade statistics with the EU Member
States. The information is displayed for the
product requested by its HS Code.
A complete version of the AA can be obtained in
the following address:
http://www.eu-delegation-org.eg/en/eu_and_country/association.htm
