RULES OF ORIGIN IN FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS: THEORY AND APPLICATION: Includes a basic learning course and thirty comparative application exercises in: NAFTA, CAN, Andean countries with US, and with EU

On the other hand, compliance with the rules of origin indicates that the goods that are traded between the countries that sign a certain trade agreement are produced and consequently are classified as originating from any of the signatory countries of the aforementioned trade agreement.

Therefore, the trade of such goods between these countries is free of tariffs or has a preferential tariff with respect to the tariff used with countries with which it does not have a signed trade agreement.

Due to these reasons, it is very necessary for people involved in international trade to know the basis for the various criteria and the variations in their application, depending on the trade agreement signed.

For these purposes, a format has been designed that gives us answers to the reason for the existence of the rules of origin, to the various forms of their compliance and explains why such compliance implies a substantial transformation of the inputs to become a final merchandise .

Consequently, the relationship between the substantial transformation and the criteria used to test said transformation is also explained.

This approach to the subject goes through a basic course in the application of the rules of origin and later through a more detailed explanation of said criteria, the various ways in which they are applied and also the ways in which such criteria are expressed, in the different trade agreements that exist. The latter is complemented by comparative tables included in Annex 3, in which the criteria in five trade agreements are shown, including among those mentioned, an integration process.

To complete the scenario, an explanation is given of the complementary elements that intervene in the rules of origin, highlighting the issue of accumulation, not only of goods but also of processes, a subject very little discussed and with some gray spaces in its application.

It is important to note that chapter V includes, in a comparative table, the application of the rules of origin, to thirty products or goods, in five free trade agreements.

I hope that the information presented is useful, both for educational and practical purposes as well as for discussion on the subject.