Obtaining a Certificate of Origin

[Mickmac]

Hi,

I am about to send some cotton bags to a customer in the UK, 60 or so, and I am told I need a certificate of origin to go with the shipment. Our business is registered in Thailand, in my wife's name. Any idea what the easiest way to obtain these forms, is it a matter of just going to the local Department of Foreign Trade and applying ?
I am told the "rules" change a lot here, surprise, surprise

Thanks, Mickmac

[superman]

Try this site. Customs English

[Mickmac]

Thanks sm

[amazon777]

The CoO is usually only required if you are claiming preferential tax/ duty.
That means if your shipment has a lower import duty because of a free trade agreement between the two countries - or something similar.
If there is no tax benefit, or you don't want to claim, as the process of obtaining an CoO can take one person best part of a working day, especially if you have to travel to reach the issuing office. (The process itself is straight forward and not difficult.)
And don't forget, while not expensive to obtain, it's not free, never mind the associated cost like labour, travel, etc.
So, a CoO for 60 cotton bags seems a bit of overkill, unless of course they are from the new line of Paris Hilton or Justin Bieber and sell for 1.000$ a piece...

[Mickmac]

I read a post on a UK business forum about some guy who imported 500 golf shirts from China into the UK with UPS. Seems the Chinese shipping agent did not include a COO and UPS would not release the goods, charged the guy about 10 quid a day per carton for storage fee. Did not want a similar thing to happen to my customer.
I went to the Dept of Foreign Trade in Chiang Mai yesterday and had a talk to them, seems like not too much hassle to obtain an export license so will do that, think you have to have one of them to be able to obtain COO forms.

[amazon777]

I went to the Dept of Foreign Trade in Chiang Mai yesterday and had a talk to them, seems like not too much hassle to obtain an export license so will do that, think you have to have one of them to be able to obtain COO forms.

Yes, that's correct and it is indeed not difficult.
Having the export license as well as the "know-how" to obtain the CoO will help you when orders become bigger. So no waste here.

But that story with the shirts sounds strange.
We are ex- or importing a container a week on average. And we only deal with CoO if we (on Import) or the customer (on export) try to go for preferential Duty levels.
I also never heard of a CoO being required for a courier service. (But that doesn't mean it's impossible.)

[Mickmac]

Here is the link to the forum page where I read that story -
certificate of origin - UK Business Forums

It is on the UK Business forum.

[amazon777]

Here is the link to the forum page where I read that story -
certificate of origin - UK Business Forums

It is on the UK Business forum.

Just had a read and since that wavecrest guy is in the business he should know what he's talking about.
Better safe than sorry, get that CoO!
I'm just as surprised as the other guy, posting that he never needed a CoO.
Seems that clearing customs in the UK is as unpredictable as here in LoS.

[nigelandjan]

I once recieved a pack of slightly soiled ladies undercrakers through the post , with a strage looking far eastern stamp ,, no coO inside allthough a rather tunaesque aroma expunged into the room

[DrAndy]

thanks Jan

[Marmite the Dog]

I was talking to someone last night about UK customs. It seems they're just a shit as the Thai customs. This guy sent 3 identical packages to the UK and 1 had no duty to pay, one paid about 30 quid and one paid over 50 quid.

[DrAndy]

duty or VAT?

[Little Chuchok]

Any customs broker/freight forwarder will have the appropriate forms.

[Mickmac]

I found out that once we have the export license we can apply for our own Certificate of Origin forms, the Dept of Foreign Trade will charge us 30 baht each for them. The shipping companies charge 500 baht for this piece of paper, no wonder they were so keen to issue one to me. Seems like we don't need too much to get the export license, business registered, invoice with company letterhead, business cards, waybill etc. then it costs the grand total of 200 baht and lasts for 2 years. Will jump through some hoops tomorrow.

[Ratchaburi]

I think that it is not as easy as you think.
You need a freight forwarder to do a export entry then you
need to goto the Ministry Of Commerce & fill out all the details
the product that goe's into manufacturing.
Where the raw material comes from & costs.

Anyway good luck

[forreachingme]

The CoO will cost you about 1500 Thb.

And if it is a product that you manufacture, each product has to be registered, with all that there is around, where you buy raw mat, how do you process, step by step, where you send, in details, all you fabrication secret and source of goods given to government, fun... I was producing stuff with extreme details of process to control the production, but we always made another somehow less detailed sheet for this...If your product is always the same item, fine works well, if you have new stuff all the time, what a hassle ! Well it is a bit around the globo the same they want to have good datas about what is exported where and where it comes from...

Each new product take them ages ( few weeks) to register it, you have at the end to send docs by Fedex or UPS, DHL whatever quick that the goods already arrived abroad can be cleared, off another 2000Thb.

For a container i always offered it to customer, but for small shipment at less then 2000 Usd it is a charge for the customer.
Good to always propose Ex Works, so insurance and ll transport goes to customer, as this has lots of variables all the time..