Proposal for a Council Decision on the position to be adopted on behalf of the European Union within the EU-Chile Association Committee relating to Appendix II to Annex III to the Agreement establishing an association between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Chile, of the other part, concerning the product specific rules

The Association Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Chile, of the other part, was signed in Brussels on 18 November 2002 and entered into force on 1 February 2003.

Annex III to the Agreement sets out the rules for originating products and Appendix II to Annex III provides the product-specific rules to determine the originating status of the products. The product-specific rules are based on a Harmonised System (HS) 2002 of classification of goods which is now outdated.

Chile and the European Union have agreed to update the product-specific rules by aligning them to the HS 2012, this being the most up-to-date classification. The aim is to ensure that the product-specific rules remain unchanged for those products that have been reclassified within the HS 2012. In cases where products move to a different chapter or heading the product-specific rules move with those products if the rules in the new chapter or heading are different from that of the old chapter or heading.

There are some minor precisions made to the product-specific rules in Chapter 72 relating to iron and steel. The rules applicable at the level of headings are not precise enough for determining the originating status of the products and, therefore, product-specific rules have been introduced at the level of the subheading.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)332: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2015:332:FIN

ESO: Key Source: Relations between Chile and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/relations-between-chile-and-the-european-union/

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