Shipping document
When a citrus load needs a certificate of origin
Inside the customs union there is no frontier to cross and no certificate is issued, so a load from Spain to another member state arrives without one and nothing is missing. The origin claim that does travel is printed on the package, because the marketing standard requires the country of origin to be marked there.
The figures
| Movement between member states | Goods in free circulation. No certificate of origin is issued |
|---|---|
| On the package | Country of origin is a marking requirement of the EU citrus marketing standard |
| Non-preferential origin | Determined under articles 59 to 62 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, the Union Customs Code. Certificates are issued in practice by chambers of commerce |
| Preferential origin | Proved by a EUR.1 movement certificate or a statement on origin made out by a registered exporter under the REX system |
| Our own export experience | None confirmed |
What it changes on an order
Your supplier questionnaire asks for one
That clause is almost always inherited from a supply chain that reached outside the Union. Asking a Spanish packhouse for a document the shipment cannot have makes the honest answer look like a refusal.
You re-export beyond the Union
Then origin becomes a customs question with duty attached, and the two versions of it run on different paperwork. Settle with your broker which one you need before the season starts, not with the load in motion.
You market the origin to your own customer
What you can state rests on the package marking and on the grower's records. Where a plot level claim matters to your marketing, ask for it in writing rather than reading it off a label.
What this note does not settle
- This explains which instrument applies where. It is not customs advice, and whether a particular consignment qualifies for preferential treatment is a question for a broker or a binding ruling.
- Rules of origin differ from one trade agreement to the next. A product that qualifies under one can fail under another with the same fruit in the box.
- We have no confirmed export experience, no registered exporter status and no customs arrangement. Anything beyond the Union would be new ground for us.
Source: Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, the Union Customs Code, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447
The other documents that travel with the load
Inside the customs union there is nothing to certify
Goods in free circulation move between member states without a customs frontier to cross, so no certificate of origin is issued and none is missing. When a purchasing template still asks for one, it has almost always been inherited from a supply chain that reached outside the Union, and nobody has revisited the form since.
The claim that the fruit is Spanish does still appear, though. It is printed on the package, because the marketing standard requires the country of origin to be marked there. A label is not a certificate and it is not meant to be one, but it is the statement the grower is accountable for.
What changes the moment the fruit leaves the Union
Then origin becomes a customs question with money attached to the answer, and there are two separate versions of it. One establishes where goods come from for general purposes. The other establishes whether they qualify for a reduced duty under a trade agreement, and that one runs on its own paperwork and its own registered exporters.
They get confused with each other routinely, and the confusion surfaces at the far border with the load already in motion. If your programme ships beyond the Union, settle which of the two your customs broker needs before the season starts. We have nothing confirmed on this and would be working it out with you.
Talk to the grower
Tell us the variety, the sizes and the delivery week you need. You get a delivered price and what we can commit to in writing, from the person who picks the fruit.
The grower handles enquiries. Response times are still to be confirmed.