CHEMEXCIL
Basic Chemicals, Cosmetics & Dyes Export Promotion Council
(Set-up by Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt of India)
Jhansi Castle, 4th floor, 7-Cooperage Road,   Mumbai - 400 001.

Tel  :+91-22-69821200 to 206 Fax No : 22-69821226 / 37
Twitter : @chemexcil
E-mail: info@chemexcil.in
Website: http://www.chemexcil.in

EPC:LIC:IND-EU:FTA:PSRs:PW:2024-25:1407                                                           21st Jan 2025

TO,

ALL THE MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL

Dear Members,

India is currently negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with the EU. As a part of this agreement, both the countries negotiate on a range of products that would be offered tariff concessions to each other under this agreement.

To ensure that benefits of tariff concession accrue to products that are sufficiently produced in either country, there are certain rules in place that ensure sufficient transformation of the products in the territory of both countries. Enclosed herewith are the tentative positions of PSRs of Chemicals.

Below are the details of processes, which are there in the EU-UK TCA (For reference purpose).

For the purposes of product-specific rules of origin, the following definitions apply:

(a)    "biotechnological processing" means:

(i)    biological or biotechnological culturing (including cell culture), hybridisation or genetic modification of micro-organisms (bacteria, viruses (including phages) etc.) or human, animal or plant cells; and

(ii)    production, isolation or purification of cellular or intercellular structures (such as isolated genes, gene fragments and plasmids), or fermentation;

(b)    "change in particle size" means the deliberate and controlled modification in particle size of a product, other than by merely crushing or pressing, resulting in a product with a defined particle size, defined particle size distribution or defined surface area, which is relevant to the purposes of the resulting product and with physical or chemical characteristics different from those of the input materials;

(c)     "chemical reaction" means a process (including a biochemical processing) which results in a molecule with a new structure by breaking intramolecular bonds and by forming new intramolecular bonds, or by altering the spatial arrangement of atoms in a molecule, with the exception of the following, which are not considered to be chemical reactions for the purpose of this definition:

(i)      dissolving in water or other solvents;

(ii)     the elimination of solvents including solvent water; or

(iii)    the addition or elimination of water of crystallisation;

(d)       "distillation" means:

(i)     atmospheric distillation: a separation process in which petroleum oils are converted, in a distillation tower, into fractions according to boiling point and the vapour then condensed into different liquefied fractions; products produced from petroleum distillation may include liquefied petroleum gas, naphtha, gasoline, kerosene, diesel or heating oil, light gas oils and lubricating oil; and

(ii)     vacuum distillation: distillation at a pressure below atmospheric but not so low that it would be classed as molecular distillation; vacuum distillation is used for distilling high-boiling and heat-sensitive materials such as heavy distillates in petroleum oils to produce light to heavy vacuum gas oils and residuum;

(e)    "isomer separation" means the isolation or separation of isomers from a mixture of isomers;

(f)      "mixing and blending" means the deliberate and proportionally controlled mixing or blending (including dispersing) of materials, other than the addition of diluents, only to conform to predetermined specifications which results in the production of a product having physical or chemical characteristics that are relevant to the purposes or uses of the product and are different from the input materials;

(g)     "production of standard materials" (including standard solutions) means a production of a preparation suitable for analytical, calibrating or referencing uses with precise degrees of purity or proportions certified by the producer; and

(h)     "purification" means a process which results in the elimination of at least 80 % of the content of existing impurities or the reduction or elimination of impurities resulting in a good suitable for one or more of the following applications:

(i)           pharmaceutical, medical, cosmetic, veterinary or food grade substances;

(ii)          chemical products and reagents for analytical, diagnostic or laboratory uses;

(iii)         elements and components for use in micro-electronics;

(iv)         specialised optical uses;

(v)          biotechnical use, for example, in cell culturing, in genetic technology or as a catalyst;

(vi)         carriers used in a separation process; or

(vii)        nuclear grade uses.

We request members to provide your inputs on above for the tariff lines pertaining to Chapter 28, 29, 32 and 3808 on ad.del@chemexcil.in;pw@chemexcil.in; with copy to  dg@chemexcil.in  latest by 27th January 2025.   

Thanks and Regards

Raghuveer Kini

Director General

CHEMEXCIL

 Encl : Tentative Position for DCPC