Country of Origin certification and its verification issue in EUand Japan EPA has not been solved at all even though Japan Customs is startedaccepting origin statements signed by exporters/manufacturers almost withoutasking their accuracy and correctness.
While importers in Japan are not at ease with using those originstatements for certification, probably because they are not confident enough tothe signers’ knowledge on the origin rules and maintenance of origininformation on raw martial and parts thereof in some cases.
Importers in Japan are worrying that they might lose the benefitsgiven at the clearance if their origin status is disqualified by customs withproofs a few years after.
EU seemed to succeed in forcing Japan Customs to close its eyeswhen the origin documents are under their noses. But that is only a stopgap andduty payers are well aware of the underlying uncertainty and risk.
