Form CA is the preferential certificate of origin under the China–Cambodia Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA). China Customs or CCPIT issues it, and Cambodian Customs accepts it at the port of entry. This guide covers who can file, the issue window, what the 12-month validity really covers, how the origin test is run, when third-party invoicing has to be declared, and the errors that turn a routine entry into a verification.
Form CA — printed as Certificate of Origin Form CA — is the preferential certificate of origin under the China–Cambodia Free Trade Agreement. China Customs, or CCPIT and its local branches, issue it. Its job is narrow: certify that the goods meet the CCFTA origin rule so your broker can declare the agreement rate instead of the most-favored-nation (MFN) rate. On a Chinese import declaration the agreement code is 23; that code belongs to the import side and is not entered on the export declaration.
It is not a discount coupon. What your company saves depends on Cambodia’s tariff schedule for that HS line and on whether the goods clear the origin test — the product-specific rule for the heading, or a regional value content of at least 40% where no specific rule applies. It also does not touch VAT or specific tax: those are assessed separately on the customs value plus duty.
Who files: the exporter or the manufacturer, or an agent holding a signed power of attorney. When: before or at the time of shipment. Where force majeure prevented that, the certificate may still be issued within 3 days of shipment; anything later is a retroactive certificate, available within 12 months of the shipment date and marked as such. Cost: the issuing office charges nothing; you pay the agent’s service fee.
The China–Cambodia Free Trade Agreement has been in force since January 1, 2022. It is Cambodia’s first bilateral free trade agreement, and China’s first with a least-developed country.
China and Cambodia signed the agreement on October 12, 2020, and it entered into force on January 1, 2022. On the Chinese side, duties go to zero on 97.53% of tariff lines for Cambodian goods. On the Cambodian side, the final schedule eliminates duties on 90% of lines for Chinese goods; the rest phase down over time, and a small number stay outside the schedule.
The filing rules sit in two instruments. The Measures on the Administration of Origin for Import and Export Goods under the China–Cambodia Free Trade Agreement, published as GACC Announcement No. 107 of 2021, set the origin tests and the certificate requirements. The Measures on the Administration of Certificate of Origin Visas for Export Goods (GACC Order No. 270, in force September 1, 2024) govern acceptance, review, retroactive issuance and amendments.
On a Chinese import declaration, the agreement code is 23. That entry is made when Cambodian goods are imported into China; it does not go on the Chinese export declaration. Cambodian Customs handles the import side under its own procedure and declaration code.
Origin is decided in one of three ways. Wholly obtained in China or Cambodia, shown as WO in box 8. Produced entirely from Chinese or Cambodian originating materials, shown as PE. Otherwise, the goods must meet the product-specific rule for their heading (PSR) — commonly a regional value content of at least 40%, calculated as (FOB value − value of non-originating materials) ÷ FOB value × 100 — or a required change in tariff classification. For goods in chapters 25, 26, 28, 29 (except 29.01 and 29.02), 31 (except 31.05), 39 (except 39.01, 39.02, 39.03, 39.07 and 39.08), 42–49, 57–59, 61, 62, 64, 66–71, 73–83, 86, 88 and 91–97 that are not listed in the PSR schedule, a four-digit change in tariff heading (CTH) is enough.
Four supporting rules decide the outcome. Cumulation: material originating in China or Cambodia counts as originating when used in the other party — no third country is included. De minimis: non-originating materials that fail the tariff shift are tolerated up to 10%, by weight for textiles and by value for other goods. Minimal operations: handling needed to preserve the goods in transit, simple packing, labeling and display do not confer origin. Direct consignment: the cargo has to move from China to Cambodia without entering trade or consumption in a third country.
Box 8 is the criterion, box 9 the FOB value when the value test is used. Simple assembly of imported parts, repacking and relabeling do not earn origin, and no amount of paperwork fixes that.
Your broker files the entry with Cambodian Customs, and the origin document is what decides which duty column the goods land in. Without it, the same cargo is assessed at the MFN rate — and an entry filed at the CCFTA rate without support gets amended, held or liquidated at the higher rate.
With a valid Form CA, the entry goes in at the CCFTA rate. Without it, the same HS line is assessed at MFN. On a full container of appliances, textiles or building materials, the difference between those two columns can be most of the margin.
Ninety percent of Cambodia’s lines go to zero for Chinese goods, but the other ten percent still carry a reduced rate, a phase-down schedule or no preference at all. Check the line, not the headline.
The certificate number, seal and signature have to match the specimen on file; the description, six-digit HS code and value have to line up with the invoice, packing list and bill of lading. One mismatch and the entry stops, the container goes to examination, and the broker amends the declaration.
Credits opened for Cambodian imports often list “Certificate of Origin Form CA in one original.” A different shipper name, an issue date after the on-board date or a value that does not match is a documentary discrepancy, and payment sits until it is waived.
Cambodian Customs runs post-entry origin checks and can send a verification request to China. Anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard cases can turn on origin too, so the certificate is the first document pulled when a case file is opened.
Write “Form CA, one original, issued before shipment” into the purchase order or the credit. That moves the duty benefit into the deal and puts the delivery risk on the supplier — where it belongs — instead of leaving your company to chase the certificate after the vessel sails.
Form CA is issued in China. Cambodia only checks it at the border. You do not apply for it in Phnom Penh, but you do need to know which office your supplier used and whether the certificate matches the shipment.
| Channel | What it is | Where the supplier files | Choose it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| China Customs | Government issuing authority — the customs house at the port of export | Single Window at singlewindow.cn → origin certificates → China–Cambodia FTA certificate, or Internet + Customs at online.customs.gov.cn → tax and fee services → origin certificate issuance | The buyer or the credit wants a government-issued certificate, or the certificate needs to tie into the declaration data and the origin data exchange |
| CCPIT | Chamber-of-commerce issuer — the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and its local branches | CCPIT origin certificate system at co.ccpit.org or declare.ecoccpit.net | The buyer specifies a chamber certificate or a chamber stamp, or the supplier already files everything through the CCPIT system |
Issuance is electronic end to end. The supplier files in one of the systems above, the authority reviews it online, and once it clears the certificate is printed. Since September 16, 2026, certificates for shipments to Cambodia can be self-printed on A4 in color, two-sided, with the electronic seal and signature; they carry the same legal effect as a certificate issued at the counter. For other destinations, the certificate is printed on controlled stock and completed at the issuing office.
The filing follows the port of export, not the company’s registered address. An exporter based inland can file with the customs house or CCPIT branch that matches the port. Cargo out of Shenzhen and the Pearl River Delta is usually filed with Shenzhen Customs or CCPIT Shenzhen. Cargo moving through Guangzhou, Nansha, Huangpu, Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Tianjin or Xiamen is filed with the office that matches the port of export.
Cambodia’s main gateways are the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (PAS) on the coast, the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP) on the Mekong, and the airports at Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.
The certificate is issued in one original and two copies: the original goes to the importer for the entry, the second copy stays with the issuing authority, and the third copy stays with the exporter. Put “one original” in the credit or purchase order, and make sure it travels with the shipping documents rather than in a separate courier envelope.
The traffic runs both ways. Cambodian goods entering China at the CCFTA rate need a Form CA issued by the Cambodian authority, checked under the same rules; it is completed in English, carries a unique number and is valid for 12 months from issue.
The rule is short. The certificate is issued on the application of the exporter or the manufacturer, and either can appoint an agent with a signed power of attorney filed with the issuing office. In daily practice that gives you three arrangements.
The manufacturer registers, keeps its profile current and files its own certificates. Tightest control over the origin story, and it works best when the product range is narrow and there is a documents desk on site.
The exporter applies in its own name, so the name on the certificate matches the invoice and the bill of lading it issued. The sensible route for high-volume shippers with a dedicated documents team.
We file on the supplier’s behalf and the certificate still carries the exporter’s or manufacturer’s name — never ours. The usual route for companies with a thin documents desk or cargo spread across several ports.
China Customs eliminated the export-origin enterprise filing requirement on November 1, 2023, so a first-time applicant can file directly through the Single Window, Internet + Customs or the CCPIT system. The company profile still has to exist: unified social credit code, Chinese and English name and address, contacts. Self-printing also requires uploading the company seal and the declarant’s signature and having them authorized. When an agent files, the power of attorney is uploaded and the entrustment recorded in the system.
Put the requirement in the purchase order or the credit in plain terms: Certificate of Origin Form CA, issued by China Customs or CCPIT, one original, issue date no later than the shipment date, scanned copy before departure and the original with the shipping documents. The more specific the clause, the less room there is to argue later.
The agreement is explicit: the certificate is issued before or at the time of shipment. Where force majeure prevented that, it may be issued within 3 days after shipment. Past that, the only route is retroactive issuance. The form carries the departure date, vessel and voyage or flight number and the port of discharge, none of which is fixed until the booking is confirmed.
Departure date, vessel or flight and discharge port are locked. Pull the invoice, packing list, six-digit HS codes and the origin support for the goods.
Check the product-specific rule for the heading. If there is one, run it; if not, build the 40% value calculation and keep the bill of materials behind it.
Filed in the Customs or CCPIT system, description taken from the commercial invoice. Review takes two business days; a clean file often clears the same day.
PDF first, so the Cambodian broker can pre-file, then the original with the shipping documents or by courier. The certificate number has to match the entry.
Issuance within 3 days of shipment is an extension of the normal window, available where force majeure stopped the supplier from filing before or at shipment. Box 13 is not marked retroactive. Beyond those 3 days, the certificate is issued retroactively: where time was missed because of an inadvertent error, negligence or another reasonable cause, the issuing office may issue it within 12 months of the shipment date, and box 13 is marked ISSUED RETROACTIVELY.
Expect the date to be questioned. A certificate issued after the on-board date is what a Cambodian bank reads against the credit, and some credits refuse retroactive certificates outright. If it can be filed on time, file on time.
Self-filing and agent filing walk the same official path. What changes is who fills the form, who checks it, and who does the rework when a field is wrong. Form CA carries one extra step a plain CO does not: settling the origin criterion before anything is typed.
Check Cambodia’s CCFTA schedule for that HS line, then compare Form E and RCEP. Pick the certificate that actually pays at destination.
Is there a product-specific rule for the heading? Run it. If not, calculate the regional value content or the tariff shift. Keep the bill of materials that supports the number you type.
Commercial invoice, packing list, and bill of lading or air waybill. Reconcile invoice number, date, value, package count, gross and net weight, and marks.
Box 7 takes the six-digit subheading. Cambodia declares at eight or ten digits; the first six have to agree, and the national suffix has to be the one your broker will file.
Enter company and goods details. The description follows the invoice line by line, and box 8 states the criterion actually used, with box 9 when the value test applies.
The authority responds within two business days; corrections usually come back in one pass. Then self-print on A4 in color, two-sided, or complete the controlled stock at the counter.
PDF first so the broker can pre-file, original with the shipping documents or by courier. Ask the broker to check the certificate number against the entry.
Certificate copy and application file are kept at least three years from issue — that is the file you produce when a verification request lands.
The list is short, and two items are Form CA specific: the origin criterion and the box 13 declarations — retroactive issuance, third-party invoicing or exhibition. Getting those wrong is harder to fix than a missing attachment.
Two separate numbers, paid to two different parties: the official fee charged by the issuing office, and the fee charged by whoever prepares and files the certificate.
China Customs publishes no charge for origin certificate issuance, and the CCPIT system publishes the same. Certificate stock, review and the electronic seal are not billed to the applicant.
What we charge covers the work: running the origin test, assembling the file, reconciling the three document sets, filing, chasing the review, printing and delivering, and reworking an error. One certificate, one price.
Shipping to Cambodia does not mean one certificate. The same shipment can sit inside the CCFTA schedule, the ASEAN schedule and the RCEP schedule at the same time. The rules and the rates are not the same. The code column is the agreement code used on a Chinese import declaration; Cambodian Customs applies its own entry code.
| Certificate | China code | Covers | Works for a Cambodian entry? |
|---|---|---|---|
| China–Cambodia FTA — Form CA | 23 | Cambodia only | Yes, at the CCFTA rate |
| China–ASEAN FTA — Form E | 02 | Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam | Yes; Cambodia is a member |
| RCEP | 22 | The ASEAN ten plus China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand | Yes; the schedule differs, and some lines are lower |
| Certificate of origin — CO | CO | Any destination, no agreement needed | No preference; proof of origin only, MFN rate |
Cambodia is a member of both the China–ASEAN FTA and RCEP, so Form E and RCEP can also support a Cambodian entry. Choose on three tests only: is the product in that agreement’s Cambodian schedule, does it pass that agreement’s origin rule, and which schedule gives the lower rate at destination. Picking the certificate you file most often is not a strategy — it is usually the one that costs your company the most.
The rules are not interchangeable. CCFTA cumulates only Chinese and Cambodian materials; RCEP cumulates across all fifteen parties; the ASEAN agreement applies its own rules. The same bill of materials can qualify under one and fail under another.
Issuance is the easy half. Cambodian Customs examines preferential entries after release, and the question is rarely whether a certificate exists — it is whether the certificate holds up against the invoice, the tariff code and the production record.
Declared wholly obtained while using imported materials, or a value test claimed without a cost build-up behind it. This is the most common and the most expensive problem, and it can be checked years after the entry.
“Machinery,” “parts,” “goods” describe nothing. The description box has to follow the invoice line by line — product name, model, quantity, tariff code — and name the producer where the form asks for it.
Box 7 takes six digits; Cambodia declares at eight or ten. The first six should match and the national suffix must be the one your broker files. A code that disagrees with the invoice takes the goods out of the schedule the certificate relied on.
Invoice number, date, value, package count, gross and net weight, marks — any mismatch against the packing list, bill of lading or entry opens the door. Correcting a filed entry costs more than getting the invoice right the first time.
Where a Hong Kong or other intermediary company bills the buyer, box 13 has to be ticked Third Party Invoicing and box 10 has to carry that invoice number. Miss the tick and the entry can be refused the preference outright, whatever the goods are.
Cargo routed through Hong Kong or another hub has to stay under customs control, out of trade or consumption, and free of processing beyond handling. An itinerary decided at booking decides this, not the paperwork afterwards.
Cambodian Customs can ask China to confirm the certificate and the origin of the goods. Under the CCFTA verification rules, the responding authority is expected to answer within 90 days, with one written extension of up to 90 days; the whole process can run up to 270 days. If no satisfactory answer arrives, the preference is withdrawn for that consignment.
While the request is open, release may be held, a security deposit demanded, or duty assessed at the MFN rate up front. If the goods still fail the origin test, the duty difference is collected with interest. For the exporter there is one effective defense: settle the origin criterion, then align the three document sets, before anything is filed.
The twelve questions that come up most often from buyers and brokers in Cambodia, answered with the rule rather than the sales pitch.
Form CA is the preferential certificate of origin under the China–Cambodia Free Trade Agreement, printed as Certificate of Origin Form CA. A regular CO is non-preferential: it proves the goods are Chinese, supports the MFN rate and trade statistics, and grants nothing under the agreement. The issuing offices are the same, but the filing content, the origin test and the duty outcome are not.
No. It depends on your contract, the letter of credit, what your broker needs for the entry, and whether the goods sit in Cambodia's CCFTA tariff schedule. Form E and RCEP are also options. For goods imported into China, a consignment with an FOB value of USD 200 or less is exempt from the certificate; that threshold does not apply to imports into Cambodia, and splitting a shipment to stay under it does not work.
Not automatically. Cambodia's final schedule eliminates duties on 90% of tariff lines for Chinese-origin goods; the rest phase down over time or stay outside the schedule. The rate depends on the HS line in Cambodia's schedule, and eligibility depends on the CCFTA origin rule. VAT, now 10%, and specific tax are assessed separately and are not reduced by the certificate.
The issuing office completes its review within two business days of accepting the filing. With a clean file and a settled origin criterion, most certificates are issued the same day or the next. Since September 16, 2026, shipments to Cambodia can be self-printed on A4 in color, two-sided, with the same legal effect as a counter-issued certificate.
China Customs and CCPIT charge no visa fee. What you pay is the agent's service fee, quoted per certificate and itemized by certificate type, rush handling, amendments, extra originals and any chamber stamp or legalization.
The exporter or the manufacturer, or an agent appointed with a signed power of attorney. You, as the consignee in Cambodia, cannot apply there. When we file on your supplier's behalf, the certificate stays in the exporter's or manufacturer's name; we never issue one in our own name.
On the Chinese side, no export-origin enterprise filing is required. China Customs eliminated that requirement on November 1, 2023. The company profile still has to exist in the filing system, and self-printing requires the company seal and the declarant's signature to be uploaded and authorized. Companies filing through CCPIT follow its registration process.
Three routes: wholly obtained in China or Cambodia (WO); produced entirely from Chinese or Cambodian originating materials (PE); or meeting the product-specific rule for the heading (PSR). Where no specific rule applies, the goods need a regional value content of at least 40%, or a four-digit change in tariff heading (CTH) for the chapters listed in the agreement. De minimis is 10%, and minimal operations do not confer origin.
Within limits. The certificate is meant to be issued before or at shipment. Where force majeure prevented that, it can still be issued within 3 days of shipment; beyond that it is a retroactive certificate, available within 12 months of the shipment date where the delay came from an inadvertent error, negligence or another reasonable cause. Box 13 is marked ISSUED RETROACTIVELY. Some letters of credit refuse a retroactive certificate, so file on time.
Twelve months from the date of issue, and it has to be presented to Cambodian Customs inside that window. A retroactive certificate is also valid for 12 months from its issue date, but the application itself must be made within 12 months of shipment. A certified true copy is available inside the validity period if the original has not been used.
They can still qualify if the third country did no more than unload, reload, repack, relabel to meet the importer's requirements, split the consignment or preserve the goods in condition; if the cargo never entered trade or consumption there; and if you can produce the non-manipulation evidence Cambodian Customs asks for. Decide the routing at booking, not after the certificate is filed.
Three tests: is the product in that agreement's Cambodian schedule, does it pass that agreement's origin rule, and which schedule gives the lower rate at destination. CCFTA cumulates only Chinese and Cambodian materials; RCEP cumulates across all fifteen parties. The same bill of materials can qualify under one agreement and fail under another.
We are a freight forwarder and documentation desk in Shenzhen, working out of Futian. Export declarations, origin certificates, fumigation, commodity inspection and legalization for one order are delivered through one window wherever the rules allow it.
The product-specific rule is checked, or the value calculation is built, before the filing screen is opened. A wrong origin criterion is an amendment at best and a verification at worst.
Cambodia sits in CCFTA, the ASEAN agreement and RCEP. We compare all three schedules and origin rules before filing, so the buyer gets the lower rate rather than the more familiar document.
Cargo out of Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Nansha, Huangpu, Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Tianjin or Xiamen is filed with the office that matches the port of export, including road moves through Guangxi.
The PDF goes out the moment it clears so the Cambodian broker can pre-file. The original travels with the bill of lading or by courier, and the file is archived for the three-year retention period.
Tell us what the goods are made of and when the vessel or the truck loads. You get an origin assessment, the certificate type that pays at destination, the issue date we can hold, the document checklist, and an itemized quote for the filing — from Shenzhen, for cargo out of any China port or land border.
