Japan sign EPA with India

According to press release of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japanese government decided to sign EPA with India. To sign this agreement is expected on Feb 16 in the meeting of Mr. Seiji Maehara, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Mr. Anand Sharma, Minister of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of India.

The talk of EPA Japan - India was started in January 2007 and the negotiation was agreed in October 2010. The implementation is expected in sometime in 2011.

One noteworthy point in this JPN-India ETA would be rule of origin. This EPA have both general rule and PSR (Product Specific Rule) in origin rule. In general rule, the qualification of origin is described as, "CTSH (6 digits level change of HS code) AND Value add 35%".
This "AND" is big one, because this means "cover both". I remember Japan - Asean EPA general rule is "either" HS code change or value add.
Japan - India EPA require much more challenging in rule of origin qualification. Actually, Asean - India FTA have same general rule, which is likely to be the request by India side.


(Source: MOFA web site: http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/india/epa201102/index.html
METI web site: http://www.meti.go.jp/policy/trade_policy/epa/html2/2-torikumi3-india.html )