If you ARE the manufacturer,

Get a bill of materials for your final product and determine whether it contains any non-NAFTA foreign materials or parts at all.

If there are absolutely no non-NAFTA foreign materials in your product,

  • Fill out a NAFTA Certificate of Origin.

If your product contains any non-NAFTA foreign content,

  • Determine whether the non-NAFTA foreign content contained in your final product meet its applicable rule of origin.
  • Consult the NAFTA Rules of Origin which are contained in General Note 12(t) of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, page 37.
  • To determine the rule that applies to your product, find the chapter (first 2 digits of HS or Schedule B number) that applies to your product. Next find the range at the 4 to 6 digit level within which your product’s HS or Schedule B number falls.
  • The rule of origin describes the tariff shift or change that must occur to any non-NAFTA foreign materials in order for your final product to qualify and may or may not include a regional value content requirement (that at least a certain portion of the final product’s value come from the NAFTA region).
  • Determine the HS or Schedule B number of all parts for which you do not have documentation proving that they are of U.S. origin and determine whether the change in their HS numbers is sufficient to meet the rule of origin (see example below).
  • If the rule of origin has a regional value content requirement, determine whether there is enough regional value content in the final product for it to qualify.

If all of the foreign materials or parts meet the requirements in the rule of origin, fill out a NAFTA Certificate of Origin. If any of the foreign component parts DO NOT meet the product's rule of origin, then the product does not qualify for NAFTA and the exporter should NOT fill out a NAFTA Certificate of Origin.

Please note that regional value-content can only be applied if the specific product's rule of origin requires it.