We’ve been talking about our preparations for the launch of Genesis for the last few months…
- Working with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
- Training with Preferential Rules of Origin expert Frank Bertens from the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce
- Trips to the ICC in Paris for our team to learn about the intricacies of Free Trade Agreements and rules of origin…
It’s been fun! And now we are here…the launch day of Genesis.
Genesis is a new digital trade tool for verifying and certifying preferential origin declarations made by exporters within the framework of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). It aims to reduce importers' risk of mistakes, fraud, and fines, facilitate smoother customs checks of origin declarations, and simplify customs control procedures.
According to the World Customs Organisation study on the Digitalisation of Certificates of Origin, released in June 2023, “it was noted by some members that there was a low level of knowledge about the requirements for self-certification resulting in higher irregularity/error rates in cases of self-certification.” And that “The development of an online system for the declaration of origin can be very effective in enabling the importing Customs to check quickly and easily that a declaration/certification was made by the entity stated and has not been altered”.
In light of this, we have teamed up with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) to develop an online system, Genesis, to tackle the difficulties and challenges faced by SMEs, customs, importers and exporters in origin self-declaration.
How it works:
Exporters can contact Business West and ask for our International Trade specialists to verify and certify their invoice declarations, providing all supporting documents to prove that they can benefit from the preferential origin.
We invite all exporters to register on the Genesis Gateway and submit their invoice origin declarations for verification and certification. The International Trade team will check if there is a valid FTA in place, and check the commodity codes listed and whether the preferential rule of origin is applicable to those commodity codes. Once certified, the importer and importing Customs can verify the authenticity of the certification on the ICC Genesis Gateway verification platform.
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