Jordan requests more facilities under relaxed rules of origin from EU

AMMAN — Jordan has submitted a request to the EU demanding the inclusion of more facilities under the relaxed rules of origin on the Kingdom's exports to Europe, a government official said Sunday.

The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply submitted the request to enhance Jordan's benefit from the 2016 deal and is also in the process of revisiting the agreement as a whole, Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply Yarub Qudah told The Jordan Times on Sunday.

In the request, Jordan asked the EU to increase the number of zones benefiting from the agreement. Jordan also requested reviewing one of its conditions related to employing  a certain percentage of Syrian refugees for a factory to be eligible to export to Europe, said the minister.

The ministry also requested extending the duration of the agreement, Qudah added.

The minister added that they expect a meeting to be held in Brussels next month during which there will be a response to Jordan's request.

In July 2016, the EU and Jordan signed a deal under which manufacturers in the Kingdom can import up to 70 per cent of the raw materials used in production, and still label the finished products as" Made in Jordan", qualifying them for trade concessions.  

The agreement is valid for 10 years.

Under the deal with the EU, parties designated a total of 18 industrial and developmental zones as beneficiaries, while the relaxed rules will also be applied to other industries across the Kingdom as soon as 200,000 jobs are created for Syrian refugees, after they are issued work permits. 

For Jordanian industries to be able to benefit from the simplified rules of origin by the EU, each factory needs to have Syrian employees constituting no less than 15 per cent of its manpower. The rate will be increased to 25 per cent in the third year of the agreement, according to the Amman Chamber of Commerce.