Products wholly obtained

Products acquire originating status if they are either wholly obtained or sufficiently worked or processed.

Wholly obtained products include agricultural goods, fish, minerals, and waste and scrap obtained entirely in one party, for example through agriculture, fishing or mining, including products made from such materials. 

For these products it is understood that:

• vegetables originate in a country where they have been harvested;
• animals originate in a country where they were born and raised; 
• minerals originate in a country where they were extracted from the soil, subsoil or from their seabed;
• waste and scrap originate in a country where it was the result of manufacturing operations conducted or where it derived from used products for the recovery of raw materials;

For fish products, the EU rules of origin distinguish between:

• fish caught within the territorial waters of a trading partner country – these are considered as originating without any additional conditions;
• fish caught beyond the territorial waters of the partner country – these are only considered as originating only if they were caught by a vessel that:
  • flies the flag of the EU or the partner country ;
  • is registered in the EU or in the partner country;
  • is owned by an EU or partner country national or by a companies which have their main place of business in the EU or the partner country and are at least 50% owned by EU or partner country nationals;

In some cases, it is also required that at least 50% of the crew are also nationals of the EU or the partner country.

For full details see the protocol on rules of origin of the relevant preferential trade arrangement.