Country confusion

Almost all shipping documents mention the countries of origin and destination (I say almost all because I have seen shipping invoices with complicated addresses that somehow missed off the country altogether!).   

Most adults would tell you that the country of origin was where the goods came from and the country of destination was where they were going to.   

Ask some school children where things come from and they will tell you the name of the local supermarket!

Ask a procurement person and they will probably tell you the origin was the country from which they bought the goods.  

But in the world of Customs, origin means the country where the goods were actually made and in today’s global market that does not necessarily mean the place they were bought nor does it mean the place where they were shipped from.  Documentation does not always make this clear.  Of course items that were assembled in several different countries bring their own special issues!

Why does it matter?

Some ‘origins’ can confer a significant discount in import duty and tax if certain criteria are met.

So next time you glance at a document and copy down the ‘origin’ of the goods you might pause to wonder if you are wasting an opportunity to save money.

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