2013 CO Survey Report

The Annual International Certificates of Origin (CO) survey is an important benchmark for chambers to share confidentially with WCF the state of CO issuance within their market, and help align at an international level, common trends and issues that need to be addressed.

Key survey highlights this year:

• The ten biggest issuing countries for non-preferential CO are China, Germany, Turkey, Italy, United Arab Emirates, South Korea, France, United Kingdom, Vietnam, and Spain. Data for the USA, Canada, India and South Africa are not accessible due to a decentralized CO issuance structure. First statistics for South Africa are based from a joint national survey undertaken by WCF with the support of the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with US data estimated by the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE).

• Chambers are gradually adapting to business needs with 36% of responding countries providing electronic Certificate of Origin (eCO) services. Within these countries, South Korea, France, United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium have reported significant levels of eCO processing increasing annually.

• Chambers of commerce in more than 40 countries are now working closely with their customs agencies and expanding their competencies through issuing Preferential Certificates of Origin (PCO). Chambers from Russia, Brazil, United Kingdom, Turkey and Vietnam have reported the largest PCO issuing volume.