India, UAE work on trade niggles

India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are set to begin talks to resolve exporters’ concerns regarding exhaustive details of manufacturing and procurement being sought by customs of both countries to enforce rules-of-origin requirements agreed under the free trade pact last year, two people aware of the development said.

- Ravi Dutta Mishra

The two nations also decided to boost non-oil trade amid the global downturn in commodity prices following the maiden review of the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) last week.

“The rules of origin requirement is putting pressure on Indian exporters. The challenge is that the tariffs in the UAE are not that high, so exporters are weighing whether going through the compliance burden is worth it or not. Exporters have raised these concerns with the commerce ministry," one of the two people said on the condition of anonymity.

Rules of origin requirements are used to determine the country of origin for goods. They establish the eligibility of goods to receive preferential treatment, such as tariff reductions or exemptions, under free-trade agreements.