CEPA Agreement (Free Trade Agreement):- Benefits, Procedure and Eligibility

Updated on October 08, 2025 04:57:44 PM

The process for CEPA Registration involves several key steps to ensure the authenticity and compliance of your products for export. These steps are outlined as follows:

1 - Account ID creation:- An account will be created on the DGFT site using DSC or any other recognized government portal to apply for CEPA certification.

2 - Documentation:- When applying, the applicant must provide verifiable documents and any pertinent paperwork to corroborate the authenticity of their products.

3 - Verification & authorization:- The issuing authority will assess and conduct a full inspection through a risk management system to verify & authenticate the origin of the Product.

4 - Certification:- Once the approval has been given following verification and inspection. Authorities will issue a CEPA certificate, also known as a Certificate of origin. As per the CEPA agreement's established norms certificate should be in English. The certificate must contain all the necessary information about the Product and the exporting entity.

If the Product meets the following criteria, it will be considered to have come from a contracting nation and be eligible for preferential treatment.

Wholly Obtained Or Produced Products such as

1. Live animals
2. Agri products
3. Products made of animals
4. Products made of Marine animals
5. Products made of natural resources
6. Product produced in the territory of the country exclusively
7. Products have undergone sufficient working or production according to the Product Specific Rules

Note:- Exporters must provide a certificate of origin for their Product to establish the authenticity as per the agreed CEPA free trade agreement among the participating parties.

Under the CEPA Certificate, exporters have specific responsibilities to ensure compliance throughout the certification process. These responsibilities include:

• The exporters are responsible for providing asked documents during the CEPA certification process.
• Exporters proving misleading information and documents are liable to be punished or penalized.
• Exporters need to keep minimum information & supporting documents of their products for 5 years from the expiry date of their CEPA certificate.
• The exporter shall keep appropriate accounting records of the production supply of the products.
• The exporter shall notify the issuing authority, custom authority, and the importer of any chances that could affect the accuracy or validity.

Non-compliance with the CEPA Certificate of Origin regulations can lead to significant penalties. The following outlines the consequences for non-compliance:

1. Customs duties will be charged if the Product's certificate of origin shows that it doesn't meet the rules of origin of CEPA.
2. Each Party must also ensure civil and administrative laws are to be followed. When necessary, it will use criminal punishments for people who break its customs laws.

India has enhanced its market access commitments for neighbouring service providers. These commitments provide companies with an opportunity to build market expertise and grow by international expansion. Under Free or Preferential Trade Agreement there are multiple options where certificate of origin can be generated from India for import benefits to importing companies:-