Bilateral accumulation with Ecuador towards the European Union

By Mayora IP

With the aim of taking better advantage of raw materials produced in Guatemala, representatives of the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment signed with Ecuador a new agreement on rules of origin that contemplates bilateral accumulation, a mechanism that allows to consider non-originating materials used or processing carried out in another country as originating in your country or carried out in your country.

Signed on May, the agreement complies with the European Union Central American Association Agreement (EU-CAAA), a free trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Central American Common Market. From now on both countries commit themselves to "accumulate raw material of Ecuadorian origin, then process it in Guatemala and export it to the European Union" or vice versa "accumulate raw material of Guatemalan origin, then process it in Ecuador and export it to the European Union".

“Through the agreement we will have the possibility of creating value chains that can be used by Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)”, said Julio Dougherty, Guatemala’s Ministry of Foreign Trade. Dougherty recalled that the government is committed to supporting Guatemalan producers and businessmen to take advantage of this type of mechanism, which will help them to expand their commercial operations.