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India and MERCOSUR signed the First Additional Protocol to their Preferential Trade Agreement, giving electronic Certificates of Origin the same legal validity as paper ones.
The Protocol amends Article 16 of Annex III (Rules of Origin) of the India-MERCOSUR PTA, which was signed on 25 January 2004 and took effect on 1 June 2009.
On the same day both sides announced the launch of negotiations to expand the PTA, with Terms of Reference being finalised.
The PTA currently covers tariff concessions on 450 tariff lines offered by India and 452 by the MERCOSUR side.
South American customs union with a common external tariff. Founders: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay; Bolivia acceding; Venezuela suspended since 2017. The chair rotates as the Pro Tempore Presidency.
Attached office of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry; administers the Foreign Trade Policy and runs the Common Digital Platform for Certificates of Origin (2019), a single window for CoOs under all of India's trade agreements.
The agreement's standing body, which reviews implementation and originates amendments; its fourth and fifth meetings produced this Protocol.
Liberalise trade among developing countries of the Asia-Pacific through exchanged tariff concessions.
Key: Signed in 1975 as the Bangkok Agreement, the region's oldest such arrangement. Members: Bangladesh, China, India, Republic of Korea, Lao PDR, Sri Lanka - the only preferential arrangement linking India and China.
Deepen India's trade with Latin America through tariff concessions on an agreed list of products.
Key: Signed 8 March 2006, implemented 11 September 2007; with the MERCOSUR PTA, one of India's two preferential arrangements in South America.
Give Afghan products preferential access to the Indian market, and Indian products reciprocal access.
Key: Signed on 6 March 2003.
A South-South arrangement under which developing countries exchange tariff concessions among themselves.
Key: India is a participant; with APTA, SAPTA and the bilateral PTAs it completes the six preferential - as distinct from free - trade agreements India operates.
| Feature | Preferential Trade Agreement | Free Trade Agreement | Customs Union |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depth of tariff cut | Lower duty on an agreed, limited list of tariff lines | Duties removed on substantially all trade between members | Free internal trade plus a common tariff wall |
| Tariffs on non-members | Each member sets its own | Each member sets its own | A Common External Tariff, set jointly |
| Rules of origin | Essential, to stop goods being routed through the lowest-tariff member | Essential, for the same reason | Less critical once goods have cleared the common external tariff |
| Example | India-MERCOSUR PTA (2004) | South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) | MERCOSUR itself |
Rules of origin decide which country a good legally comes from. A Certificate of Origin proves it, so that only genuinely originating goods get the lower duty and a third country cannot route exports through a member state to capture a concession it never earned.
Simple Analogy: A passport for cargo: it decides which queue the goods stand in at customs.
GS Paper 2 > International Relations > Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings Involving India
General Awareness > International Organisations and Trade Agreements
The 26 March 1991 treaty by which Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay created MERCOSUR.
MERCOSUR's rotating chair, held by a member state for a fixed term to represent the bloc.
The document certifying the country in which goods were produced, on which preferential tariff treatment depends.