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European Community Form, issued on forms printed by BCCI

CERTIFICATES OF ORIGIN OF GOODS BY THE EUROPEAN UNION

A Certificate of Origin of Goods is a document which certifies the origin of the goods to be exported. Determining the origin of the exported goods is one of the key bases for the implementation of any tariff and other important criteria.  The sole purpose of the Certificate of Origin of Goods is to show the origin of the goods in order to meet the customs or trade requirements such as letters of credit, etc.

The term “Certificate of Origin” means a specific form identifying the goods, which is used by the duly authorized organization (BCCI) to expressly certify that, the goods for which the certificate is related, originate in a particular country/group of countries.
The Certificate of Origin of goods certified by the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) includes: 1 original, 3 copies of the certificate of origin and the request form for its issuance. The forms comply with the international standards of format and specification of the document, such as size, paper weight, raster background, colour design.

The Certificate of Origin is validated by BCCI in 1 original and 3 copies, at the request of the exporting company. It has to be filled-in legibly in English, French, German or Russian, depending on the requirements of the client.

Each issued certificate includes a printed reference number and a unique, official serial number, affixed with the certification of the document.

For each separate shipment only one certificate of origin is issued. If a product is exported for example by 3 trucks, the goods in each truck should be accompanied by a separate Certificate of Origin.

All printing errors and changes in the certificates should be corrected by crossing out the incorrect data and entering the emendations, after which the issuing body verifies by signing and stamping that the “change has been approved“. Corrections made by deleting or using correction fluids are not allowed.

The Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry validates Certificates of Origin of Goods issued by all kinds of Bulgarian tradesmen, whether they are members of the Chamber, or not.

The documents are received and processed by the BCCI experts working in Sofia and by the BCCI experts stationed in the Regional Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

REQUIREMENTS FOR ENTRIES TO BE MADE IN THE CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN

EUROPEAN COMMUNITY

  1. EXPORTER: exact name of the Bulgarian exporter-company, UIC / BULSTAT, full address (postal code, city, street, No) is to be entered;

    on the same line,  at the right top: No ........./ date ......: this box should not be filled-in by the exporter. Ref. No and date of validation of the certificate by the BCCI are entered here ;

  1. CONSIGNEE: exact information about the name and the full address of the consignee is to be entered.

Note:

If, in compliance with the terms of the letter of credit or upon the explicit written request of the consignee this box is not to be filled in, only the text “to order” is to be entered here;
  1. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: this is the most important box, as the description of the origin is the main function of the certificate - the country where the goods are manufactured (the country of origin is to be entered;

Note:

 
- The rules of the European Union provide for the goods originating in the Community to be labeled with the origin “European Community“. The possibility is also provided for, if necessary for trade purposes, to extend the declaration, e.g. “European Community – United Kingdom“. When the goods are manufactured throughout activities in two or more EU Member States, then in box 3 only the text “European Community” is to be entered, without adding a country.
- For goods originating outside the Community the proper labeling is the name of the corresponding country of origin.
- Use of abbreviations when labeling the origin, e.g. “EU – UK” is not allowed.
- If a certificate describes goods of different origin and there is no enough space in box 3, the text therein should include: “as inscribed in box 6“. Then, in box 6, after describing each position, the corresponding country of origin is to be entered.
  1. TRANSPORT DETAILS: the way of transportation of the goods: by train, by sea, by air, by car etc. is to be entered; MEANS OF TRANSPORT: the kind of transport and if possible of the registration number of the vehicle of transportation of the goods is to be entered. NOTE: make an entry only if necessary.
  1. NOTE: this box is left empty . It should be filled-in in case of issuing a duplicate, cancellation or replacement of a certificate or, when the latter shall be issued after the goods have left the territory of the country - “ retrospectively “. In addition to the general requirements of the form information should be entered thereto, e.g. № of the letter of credit and name of the issuing bank , № and date of contract , import permit etc .

Note: if there is no enough space in box 6 for the information related to the description of the goods (which usually occurs when the certificate covers shipments of more types of goods) , an extra sheet/s is/are to be added following each form/s containing the same unique number and validation date.  It is occasionally allowed to inscribe in box 6 the text “as per the invoice enclosed herein” or “according to specification enclosed herein “, which are constantly and always enclosed to each form of the certificate set.

  1. MARKS, NUMBER AND KIND OF PACKAGES, DESCRIPTION OF GOODS (IN CODE AND/OR IN FULL): the designated mark on the package is to be entered, as well as the number and the kind of the packages. Description of the product/goods: includes a thorough description of the product/goods in such a way as to enable the products to be identified by the customs officer examining them or to be labeled with the customs code;
  1. QANTITY: the quantity of the exported goods in accordance with the export invoice by using the three-letter code of the relevant unit of measure is to be entered;
  1. Box 8 of the EU Certificate of Origin is not to be filled-in by the applicant. It includes the text: “The Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry hereby certifies, after control of the present documents, that the goods described above originate in the country shown in Box 3" . The signature of an authorized officer and the stamp of the Chamber are affixed thereto.
  1. APPLICATION FORM: is to be filled-in in the same way as the certificate of origin – boxes 1 to 7 including . Box 8 , however, differs from the one in the certificate . It should be filled-in by the applicant , as it is his/her formal request for issuing the document. It contains a declaration that the information in the application and the certificate, as well as in the accompanying (evidence) documents , submitted at the BCCI, are true and correct, and the goods to which this information and documents refer to, are those described in box 6 and originate in the country/countries indicated in box 3. It is to be declared that for furnishing untrue information the declarer shall be liable to legal penalties . The declaration is signed by the legal representative of the applicant entered into the Unified Trade Register of the BCCI or by specifically authorized by him/her person, who is also entered into the Unified Trade Register of the Chamber and stamped with the company’s seal.
  1. The original is stamped with special stamps of the Chamber according to the Tariff of Rates of Services rendered by the Chamber (art. 3 p.1 - 4). The cost of the stamps depends on the cost of the exported goods in the certificate. The Tariff of Rates of Services is published on the website of the BCCI: www.bcci.bg.
  1.  Exceptionally, when submitting the certificate for validation at the BCCI, it is not possible to fill-in any information about the quantity of the goods, the vehicle etc., to the above declaration in the application form the following text is to be included: "The missing information will be filled-in before the goods leave the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria.”

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ISSUANCE OF CERTIFICATES OF ORIGIN

A. 

FOR COMPANIES WHICH ARE REGISTERED WITH BCCI

 

The Chamber’s employee verifies routinely using the computer-based system of the Trade Register the accuracy of the information provided and the authenticity of the specimen of the signature laid. If there is a change in any of the circumstances, the information on the file is updated and the certificate is validated.
 

B.

FOR COMPANIES WHICH ARE NOT REGISTERED WITH BCCI 

 

 Certificates are validated upon presentation of the following documents:

  • Document for actual status of the company issued by the Registry Agency;
    • If the representative according to registration is submitting the documents for validation, he/she shall lay his/her signature before an employee of the Trade Register Directorate of the BCCI on a specimen declaration form printed by the Chamber. The signature specimen is kept in a special file of the trader and is not further required at later validations of certificates of origin of goods;
  • If the certificates of origin are submitted for validation by another person and they have been signed by the representative according to registration, an original of the signature specimen of the representative according to registration attested by a notary public, or a certified copy of it, has to be submitted ;
    • If the certificates of origin submitted for validation have been signed by a person, who is not representative according to registration, an original power of attorney attested by a notary public and signed by the representative according to registration must be presented, or a certified copy of this power of attorney. If the power of attorney has a fixed duration, after its expiration a new power of attorney has to be presented ;
    • If an authorized representative is submitting the documents in person to the BCCI, he/she shall lay his/her signature before an employee of the Trade Register Directorate of the BCCI, on a specimen declaration form of the Chamber.
    • If the authorized representative is not submitting the documents in person to the BCCI, an original signature specimen, attested by a notary public has to be presented .

NOTE:
The registration with the BCCI Trade Register facilitates a lot the procedure because the relevant informationabout the company is already uploaded into the computer system and the check -up may be conducted ex officio. Thus, the above listed documents are not required for each validation of a certificate .

DOCUMENTS PROVING THE ORIGIN OF GOODS
Depending on the kind of the goods, the document may be:

  • Declaration by the manufacturer describing the end product and the origin of the input raw and other materials, so thus, depending on the goods, to record the sufficient level of processing /treatment in specially equipped for this purpose premises/plant departments, the value of the input raw materials from third countries etc., in compliance with the standard international regulations on identifying the origin of the goods ;
  • Factory invoices ;
  •  Copy of a customs declaration for the importation of the goods, certificate "EUR.1" or another certificate of origin, issued by a competent foreign institution (for proving the foreign origin), or Declared origin on the Invoice ;
  • Quality certificate, or Phytosanitary certificate (for exports of goods of vegetable origin ), or a Veterinarian certificate (for exports of goods of animal origin), or Analysis or Laboratory certificate (for exports of medicines, cosmetics, chemical preparations, etc.), made by the relevant authorized laboratories;

At the validation of the Certificates of Origin, the typical activities of the company, that are entered into its subject of activity or which are being declared by the company as main for business contacts in the Unified Trade Register of the BCCI, are taken into account.

In cases when necessary, an on-site visit may be carried out by the BCCI. The operating system of the Head Office in Sofia and the rest of 28 regional chambers allow obtaining direct information and identification of the activities of most of the companies, who have requested issuance of Certificates of Origin.