In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,-

(a) "Agreement on Customs Valuation"

means the agreement on implementation of Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994, contained in Annex 1A to the World Trade Organisation Agreement.

(b) "beneficiary country"

means the country notified in the Schedule to the notification of the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, No. 96/2008  Customs, dated the 13th August, 2008, published vide number G.S.R. 590 (E), dated the 13th August, 2008 as amended from time to time;

(c) "carrier"

means any vehicle for transportation by air, sea or land;

(d) "CIF value"

means the price actually paid or payable to the exporter for a product including the cost of the product, insurance, and freight necessary to deliver the product to the named port of destination and the valuation thereof shall be in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962);

(e) "customs authority"

means, the authority that is responsible for the administration and application of customs law for the time being in force;

(f) "determination of origin"

means a determination as to whether a product qualifies as an originating product in accordance with these rules;

(g) "ex-works value"

means the price of the product for delivery at the factory or any other place of manufacture of the product, paid or payable to the manufacturer in the beneficiary country, in whose undertaking the last working or processing is carried out:

Provided that the price shall not include the internal taxes which are paid or payable on the products and the cost involved in loading onto the carrier;

(h) "FOB value"

means the price actually paid or payable to the exporter for a product when the product is loaded onto the carrier at the named port of exportation, including the cost of the product and all costs necessary to bring the product onto the carrier and the valuation shall be made in accordance with the Agreement on Customs Valuation;

(i) "issuing authority"

means a Government Authority that, according to the law of the beneficiary country, is responsible for the issuing of a certificate of origin and in the case of India, the Export Inspection Council established under section 3 of the Export (Quality Control and Inspection) Act, 1963 (22 of 1963);

(j) "products"

means any merchandise, product, article or material;

(k) "Harmonised System"

means the nomenclature of the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System defined in the International Convention on the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System including all legal notes thereto, as adopted and implemented by the respective countries under their respective tariff laws;

(l) "identical products"

means products that are same in all respects, including physical characteristics and quality, irrespective of minor differences in appearance that are not relevant to the determination of origin of the products under these rules;

(m) "materials"

means ingredients, raw materials, parts, components, sub-assemblies and products that are used in the production of products and are physically incorporated into the products;

(n) "non-originating materials used in production"

means any materials, the country of origin of which is other than the beneficiary country and any materials, the origin of which cannot be determined;

(o) "originating materials"

means materials that qualify as originating under these rules;

(p) "packing materials and containers for shipment"

means products used to protect products during their transportation, other than those containers or materials that are used for their retail sale;

(q) "preferential tariff"

means the rate of customs duties applicable to an originating product under the notification of the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, No. 96/2008  Customs, dated 13th August, 2008, published vide number G.S.R. 590 (E), dated the 13th August, 2008, as amended from time to time, when imported into India from a beneficiary country;

(r) "producer"

means a person who grows, mines, raises, harvests, fishes, reproduces and breeds, traps, hunts, manufactures, processes, assembles or disassembles products;

(s) "production"

means the method of obtaining products including growing, raising, mining, extracting, harvesting, fishing, producing, reproducing and breeding, trapping, gathering, collecting, hunting and capturing, manufacturing, processing, assembling or disassembling;

(t) "simple"

in reference to the processes or operations on products, generally describes activities which need neither special skills nor machines, apparatus or equipment especially produced or installed for carrying out the activity;

(u) "used"

means utilised or consumed in the production of products.