Customs Advisory

Preferential origin
turned into duty savings.

We help you decide where preferential origin is realistic, collect the supplier evidence to back it up, and keep your long-term supplier declarations under control.

Talk to a customs consultant

In context

What it is, where it applies, how we help

What it is

Preferential origin (präferenzieller Ursprung) decides whether a product qualifies for reduced or zero duty under a free trade agreement, for example EU-UK TCA, EU-Korea, EU-Japan, EU-Canada CETA, Pan-Euro-Mediterranean, or one of the GSP arrangements. The proof is built per tariff code: you have to apply the specific list rules, document the manufacturing process and back it up with supplier evidence such as long-term supplier declarations (LLEs / LTSDs) and, for higher volumes, the REX (Registered Exporter) system or movement certificates like EUR.1.

Where it applies

It is relevant the moment your company sources, produces or sells into a country covered by an EU trade agreement and is still paying duty today. The savings are hidden line by line in your customs declarations and only become visible once origin is actively managed across the whole portfolio. Without that, suppliers issue declarations defensively, exporters claim origin without evidence, and the same risk shows up at every customs audit.

How we work on it

We start with an FTA utilisation screening of your product portfolio against the agreements that actually matter for your trade lanes. From there we set up a repeatable supplier outreach with ready-made templates in the right languages, build a structured LLE / LTSD process so every declaration is linked to clean evidence, and align the result with your customs data and any REX or approved-exporter status. The outcome is lower duty cost that holds up in audit, instead of opportunistic claims that come back as findings.

Common challenges

Why preferential origin is hard to capture

The savings are real, but only if origin is determined and documented properly.

Origin rules vary across agreements and supply chains

Unclear which products actually qualify for preference

Manual product-by-product checks burn weeks of work

Issuing LLEs is time-consuming and error-prone

Supplier and material data is missing or inconsistent

Wrong origin claims expose the business to compliance risk

What we do

How we support you

We combine advisory and structured execution so origin stops being a heroic effort.

Portfolio screening

Preference eligibility analysis

We screen your product portfolio against the relevant free trade agreements and tell you, line by line, where preferential origin is realistic.

Audit-ready evidence

Supplier evidence, organised

We define exactly what evidence you need from each supplier, draft the requests and structure the responses so they hold up in an audit.

LLE management

LLE issuance and renewal

We help you issue long-term supplier declarations to your customers and keep an overview of validity dates, so renewals never slip.

How it works

How the engagement runs

From portfolio screening to ongoing LLE management, without the chaos.

Portfolio screening

We map your products and lanes to the relevant origin rules and rank where the duty savings are largest and easiest to capture.

Evidence collection

We coordinate the data collection from your suppliers and structure the answers, so origin determination is repeatable, not heroic.

Ongoing LLE management

We help you issue customer LLEs and keep a clean overview of supplier and customer declarations, including renewals and changes.

Who this is for

Built for importers and exporters leaving preferential savings on the table

Especially relevant for businesses with international supply chains and preferential trade agreements in play.

  • Companies with international trade flows
  • Businesses with complex multi-tier supply chains
  • Industrial companies exporting to preference countries
  • Manufacturing
  • Automotive
  • Textiles
  • Mechanical engineering

What you get

What changes for your business

Lower duties, less manual work, and much better evidence when customs comes knocking.

Lower duty cost

Use the trade agreements you already have access to, and capture the savings that show up on your customs bill.

Less manual work

Structured collection beats scattered emails. Your team spends less time chasing suppliers.

Compliance under control

Origin claims are backed by structured evidence, not by hope or memory.

Clear preference status

A single overview of which products qualify, which don't, and which still need supplier input.

FAQ

Preferential origin questions, answered

Not necessarily. We start from your existing systems and processes, and only recommend tooling where it pays off. Many companies make significant progress with a structured methodology and a clean overview before adding software.

Yes. We design the supplier outreach, prepare templates, and structure the responses. Your team stays the formal counterpart, but the operational load is taken off your plate.

That is the normal starting point. We focus first on the products and lanes with the largest savings potential, build a defensible evidence base there, and expand from there.

We work across the EU's preferential trade agreements, including the most relevant bilaterals. We can also support EUR.1, EUR-MED, and statements on origin from approved exporters.

Capture preferential origin without the risk.

Talk to a customs advisor about where your portfolio could save duty under the trade agreements you already have.

Talk to a customs consultantOr send us a quick message