Overview
- The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs issued the formal rules of origin on July 4, 2026, a step that allows the India‑UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement to enter into force on July 15, 2026.
- The rules make a certificate of origin or an exporter’s origin declaration the basis for claiming preferential tariffs and say those documents will remain valid for 12 months from issue.
- They allow cumulative origin treatment to support integrated supply chains, but they state that minor operations such as simple repackaging, relabelling, washing, sorting, polishing or simple assembly will not make goods eligible for origin status.
- Customs authorities are given explicit powers to verify claims, deny benefits to goods that fail the tests and permit importers to apply for refunds if they did not claim preferential treatment at import, subject to time limits.
- The India‑UK Double Contributions Convention will take effect with CETA and extends single‑country social‑security coverage for temporary workers to 60 months, while governments and business groups say the pact could boost trade and advise exporters and importers to review sourcing, value‑addition and record keeping now.