India-UK CETA duty benefits to require CBIC digital authentication

New Delhi: India will allow preferential duty benefits under the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) only after customs digitally authenticates a UK exporter's self-certified origin declaration and issues a Unique Reference Number (URN), introducing a new pre-clearance verification layer as the trade pact comes into force on July 15.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on Monday operationalised the mechanism through a circular that replaces the conventional government-issued certificate of origin with a self-certification regime backed by electronic authentication. Importers must quote the URN in the Bill of Entry to claim lower CETA tariffs. The framework is intended to prevent impersonation, duplicate use of declarations and fraudulent preferential duty claims without reverting to government-issued certificates.

Under the new process, a UK exporter or producer must email the Origin Declaration simultaneously to a designated CBIC nodal email address and to the Indian importer's ICEGATE-registered email address. Indian customs will authenticate the declaration against exporter data shared by UK customs authorities. Only after successful authentication will a URN be generated and communicated to both the exporter and importer, enabling the importer to claim CETA benefits.


CBIC clarified that customs authorities may still independently verify whether the goods satisfy the agreement's Rules of Origin before allowing preferential treatment. The circular also provides relief for goods already in transit or under customs control.