Release of Customs Notification on 3rd party invoicing under ASEAN-China FTA

(36/2010)

Following our Flash report#35/2010  regarding the 3rd country invoicing possibility under the ASEAN-China FTA (ACFTA) , Thai Customs released Notification no. 106 / 2553 on 29 December 2010.  

As such, it has been officially confirmed that Thai Customs will accept 3rd country invoicing from 1 January 2011.  Therefore, importers who were previously not able to claim the preferential ACFTA duty rate due to the restriction on 3rd country invoicing, are now able to claim the ACFTA duty rate for their China imports as of 1 January 2011.  

To gain the benefit from this amendment, importers need to submit the new format of the Certificate of Origin (Form E) and attach a copy of the 3rd country invoice to the new Form E when presenting the goods to the Customs Authority at the port.

According to the Notification, Thai Customs will still accept the ‘old’ Form E during the transition period until 28 February 2011.  However, importers claiming the ACFTA duty rate based on the old Form E will not be able to use the 3rd party invoicing possibility or other benefits of the revised ACFTA rules (e.g. back-to-back Form E).  After the transition period, Thai Customs will no longer accept old Form Es.