DEFINITION
A certificate of origin states the country where goods were produced, in the customs sense of origin, which is not always the country they are shipped from.
There are two kinds. A non-preferential certificate, usually issued by a chamber of commerce, proves origin where a buyer, a bank or a country's import rules require it. Preferential origin, proven by a document such as EUR.1 or an origin statement on the invoice, lets goods enter at a reduced or zero duty under a trade agreement between the EU and the destination country.
Origin is decided by the agreement's rules, often where the last substantial processing took place. Declaring a preferential origin the goods do not have can lead to duties being reclaimed later.
HOW KOLIBRA HELPS
Products in Kolibra carry their country of origin, and each deal has a place for its certificate of origin among the compliance documents, so the claim and its proof stay together.