Form H is the trade name for the ECFA certificate of origin, printed as Certificate of Origin under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement and filed as agreement code 14. China Customs or CCPIT issues it on the mainland side; Taiwan's customs authority accepts it at entry. This guide covers who can file, why the certificate has to exist before the export declaration, what the 12-month validity really covers, the 90-day retroactive window and its hard limits, the 8-digit Taiwan HS code that decides whether the claim lands, the 20-line cap, and the errors that turn a routine entry into an origin verification.
Form H is a preferential certificate of origin issued under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement between mainland China and Taiwan. Its job is narrow: certify that the goods meet the ECFA origin rule, so the importer in Taiwan can declare the agreement rate instead of the MFN rate. It is agreement code 14 on the export declaration, and the certificate type code is H — hence the nickname.
It is not a blanket zero-duty pass. What you save depends on whether the Taiwan tariff line is on the current eligibility list, and on whether the goods clear the origin test. Lines caught by the 2023 and 2024 suspensions are dutiable again with a valid certificate in hand. The certificate also does nothing for business tax or commodity tax, which are assessed on customs value plus duty.
Who files: the exporter or the producer, or an agent holding a signed power of attorney. When: before the export declaration; after that, only a retroactive certificate inside 90 days of the actual export date. Cost: no visa fee, only the agent's service fee. And three rules that trip people up: the form is completed in Chinese, the HS code goes in at Taiwan's 8-digit level, and one certificate carries no more than 20 lines.
The agreement behind this certificate is not a full free trade agreement. It started with a list of products that were cut first, and that list is still the boundary of what the certificate can do.
Mainland China and Taiwan signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement on June 29, 2010, and it took effect on September 12, 2010. Instead of opening everything at once, the two sides picked a first batch of products and cut tariffs on those alone — the early harvest program, which started on January 1, 2011. On the 2009 tariff schedule the list ran to 806 products: the mainland cut duties on 539 Taiwan-origin products (557 eight-digit lines in the 2011 tariff), and Taiwan cut duties on 267 mainland products (268 eight-digit lines). The cuts came in three steps — straight to zero where the rate was 5% or less, 5% then zero for lines between 5% and 15%, and 10%, then 5%, then zero above that. By January 1, 2013, all 806 early harvest lines were at zero.
Two instruments run the filing side. The Measures on the Administration of Origin for Import and Export Goods under the ECFA, issued as GACC Order No. 200 and in force January 1, 2011, 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.
Origin is settled one of three ways, and box 12 has to say which. Wholly obtained in the exporting side — grown, harvested, mined, caught — is WO. Goods produced entirely from originating materials of one or both sides are WP. Everything else has to meet the product-specific rule for its line, shown as PSR, usually through a regional value content test — (FOB value − value of non-originating materials) ÷ FOB value × 100 — a required change in tariff classification, or a specific manufacturing process. The threshold belongs to each product line, not to the agreement as a whole.
Four supporting rules decide the arithmetic. Cumulation: mainland material used in Taiwan counts as Taiwanese, and the reverse. De minimis: non-originating material that fails the tariff-shift test but stays at or under 10% of the FOB value does not disqualify the goods. Minimal operations: handling to preserve the goods in transit, simple packing, labeling and display do not confer origin. Neutral elements: fuel, tools and molds consumed in production are not counted as materials. The goods must also move directly, and box 12 can carry the markers ACU, DMI or FG where cumulation, de minimis or fungible materials were relied on.
Box 2 can list every producer behind the shipment, or say “available to the verifying authority upon request” where the identity is commercially sensitive. That choice is made before filing, not after a verification letter arrives.
Your broker files the entry and the origin document decides which duty column the goods land in. Miss it at declaration and the same cargo is assessed at the MFN rate — and the difference is not refunded later.
A valid Form H lets the entry go in at the ECFA rate. Without it, the same tariff line is assessed at MFN, or at the general rate for lines that carry one. On machinery, chemicals or textiles, that gap is usually the whole margin on the deal.
This is the expensive one. Once duty has been assessed and the cargo released, presenting the certificate later is refused, and the duty already paid is not adjusted. A certificate that arrives a day late can leave the entire preference sitting at the border.
If the certificate is not in hand at declaration, the importer may supplement the origin declaration before the entry is closed, and the authority may release the goods against a deposit equal to the duty at stake. Submit a valid certificate within one year of the deposit and it is refunded; after that it converts to duty.
Along with the original certificate, the entry package carries the commercial invoice, the packing list and the transport document. Where the cargo moved through a third territory, the through bill of lading and that territory's customs proof are added.
Credits opened in Taiwan often list the ECFA certificate of origin as a required document. A shipper name, certificate number or issue date that does not match the invoice is a discrepancy, and payment waits until it is waived.
Taiwan's customs authority can verify a preferential entry after release, through the origin verification contact points, against the issuing office and the exporter. A finding follows the importer and the supplier, and it raises the odds of examination on later shipments.
On the mainland side, ECFA certificates come from China Customs or from CCPIT and its local branches. Taiwan's customs authority accepts either. Which one you use is a commercial question — what the credit says, what the buyer's broker expects, and where your filing already lives.
| Channel | What it is | Where you file | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| China Customs | Official issuing office (local customs houses) | China International Trade Single Window → Certificate of Origin → China Customs certificates → ECFA; or the “Internet + Customs” portal | Credits or buyers that call for an official certificate; filings that should stay linked to the export declaration |
| CCPIT | Chamber of commerce issuing body (CCPIT and local branches) | CCPIT certificate of origin system, or the CCPIT module inside the single window | Buyers who want a chamber certificate, or companies already filing through CCPIT |
Filing is electronic. You submit through either portal, the issuing office reviews, and once approved the certificate can be self-printed with the customs seal and the authorized signer's signature already applied — no counter visit. Before the first self-print, the company seal and signature have to be created and authorized in the single window self-print module. If you prefer the counter, one visit covers it.
Review time is short: two business days by statute, half a working day under the published service commitment. In practice the constraint is not the queue, it is the file — an unsettled origin criterion or an 8-digit code that does not match the buyer's entry will hold a certificate longer than any backlog.
There is no geographic restriction. Any local customs house or CCPIT branch can accept an online filing. For cargo out of Shenzhen and the Pearl River Delta, the local offices are the natural choice; for cargo out of Xiamen, Fuzhou or Pingtan, filing where the goods actually load keeps the transport details consistent with the bill of lading.
The rule is plain: the exporter or the producer may file, or an agent holding a signed power of attorney. That gives three workable arrangements, and one line you should not cross.
Three boxes carry the parties, and all three are checked: box 1 for the exporter, box 2 for the producer, box 3 for the importer, each with the name, address, telephone, fax and email registered on the respective side. No fax or email means the word “None”. Where the producer and the exporter are the same company, box 2 says “Same as above”. A certificate covering several producers lists them all, or attaches a producer list when the box runs out. Where the identity is commercially sensitive, box 2 takes the wording “available to the verifying authority upon request”. All of this is decided at filing; it cannot be retrofitted once a verification letter lands.
The certificate has to be issued before the goods are declared for export. File after that and you are in the retroactive lane, where the window is 90 days and the certificate is stamped as such. This is not the Form E timetable, and borrowing it is how shipments lose the preference.
Departure date, vessel or flight, ports of loading and discharge settled; invoice, packing list and the Taiwan 8-digit line in hand.
Eligibility list checked, origin criterion settled, form completed in Chinese, filing submitted and approved before the cargo is declared.
Approval inside the service commitment, then self-print with the seal and signature, or collect at the counter. PDF to the broker immediately.
Retroactive issuance only, on one of three grounds, marked as issued retroactively, and valid for 12 months from the actual export date.
Three situations allow a retroactive certificate, all inside the same 90-day window: force majeure or another legitimate reason prevented an application before the export declaration; a technical error in drafting or issuance required the earlier certificate to be cancelled; or the certificate was lost or destroyed without ever being used. The replacement carries the retroactive marking, and where the lost original had already been used, the replacement is void.
Ninety days is a deadline, not a target. A certificate dated after the export declaration is exactly what Taiwan's customs authority and the issuing bank compare, and credits that name the certificate as a document may refuse a retroactive one outright. If it can be filed before export, file it before export.
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. Two steps come before the portal opens: the eligibility check and the origin test.
Take the 8-digit code your broker will declare and check it against the current eligibility list. Confirm it is not among the suspended lines. If it fails here, stop.
Is there a product-specific rule for the line? Run it. If it is a value test, calculate the regional value content and keep the bill of materials that supports the number.
Commercial invoice, packing list, and bill of lading or air waybill. Reconcile invoice number and date, value, package count, gross and net weight and marks.
Goods description in Chinese with English after it, 8-digit Taiwan code per line, no more than 20 lines, box 12 stating the criterion plus ACU, DMI or FG where used.
Submit through China Customs or CCPIT and respond to corrections. Most returns are about code length, description wording or party details.
Self-print with the customs seal and authorized signature, check the certificate number, page numbering and every box against the invoice before it leaves the office.
PDF first so the broker can pre-file, original with the documents or by courier. Keep the copy and the filing file for at least three years.
The list is short, and three items on it are specific to this certificate: the Taiwan 8-digit line, the Chinese goods description, and the origin criterion. Getting those wrong is harder to fix than a missing attachment.
Two numbers, and they are not the same number: the official charge, which is zero, and the agent's fee, which buys the work in front of and behind the filing.
China Customs publishes no charge for certificate of origin issuance, and CCPIT's service listings carry the same zero. Review, certificate stock or self-print authorization and the seal are not billed to the applicant.
What we charge covers the eligibility check, the origin determination, the Chinese drafting, the three-way document cross-read, filing, follow-up on returns, printing and delivery. One certificate, one price, itemized on the quote.
Three mix-ups account for most of the wrong paperwork on this lane: a plain CO filed as if it were preferential, RCEP assumed to cover Taiwan, and the agricultural zero-tariff arrangement mistaken for an ECFA certificate.
| Document or arrangement | Code | Direction | Duty effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| ECFA certificate of origin (Form H) | 14 | Mainland cargo to Taiwan; Taiwan cargo to the mainland | Yes — ECFA rate, where the line is eligible |
| Plain certificate of origin (CO) | CO | Any destination | No — proves origin, supports the MFN rate |
| Taiwan agricultural zero-tariff arrangement | 06 | Selected Taiwan agricultural goods to the mainland | Yes — a separate arrangement, not an ECFA certificate |
| RCEP certificate of origin | 22 | Between the 15 RCEP members | Not available for this lane — Taiwan is not a member |
Taiwan is not an RCEP member, and there is no other goods agreement between the two sides. For mainland cargo entering Taiwan, the preferential route is ECFA — and only for lines on the eligibility list that clear the origin rule. For selected Taiwan agricultural goods entering the mainland, the zero-tariff arrangement applies on its own terms and does not run through Form H. Everything else is a plain CO or no certificate at all, assessed at MFN.
In the other direction, Taiwan-origin goods entering the mainland claim the ECFA rate on a certificate issued in Taiwan, checked against the same origin measures. That certificate is drafted in Chinese as well, and carries the same 12-month validity, 20-line cap and direct transport rule.
Issuance is the start, not the end. Preferential entries are verified after release, and the questions are rarely about whether a certificate exists. They are about whether the form was completed correctly and whether the origin arithmetic holds.
Box 8 takes Taiwan's 8-digit code. A 6-digit subheading, a 10-digit mainland code, or a code that is not the one on the entry leaves the broker unable to claim the rate.
The annex requires Chinese, with English as a supplement. An English-only certificate fails the format check and, on its own, is enough to lose the preference.
Twenty is the cap, and the lines must belong to one shipment matching one entry. Compressing a 30-line shipment into one certificate guarantees a mismatch at declaration.
Claiming WO on goods made from imported material, or a value test that does not reach the line's threshold, is traceable to the bill of materials and the cost build-up. This is the finding that costs the most.
Invoice number, date, value, package count, weights and marks have to agree across invoice, packing list, bill of lading and the certificate. Any gap is where a verification starts.
Cargo that stayed more than 60 days in a third territory, or lacks that territory's customs proof, fails direct transport. Through Hong Kong or Macau without the transit confirmation carries the same risk.
The measures list the situations in which the agreement rate does not apply. Origin not established; the direct transport rule not met; the certificate not completed, signed or sealed in the prescribed format; the certificate content inconsistent with the documents filed; no certificate and no supplemented origin declaration; the goods description, 8-digit line, quantity, weight, marks or packages inconsistent with the entry; and a verification answer that does not arrive within the period the agreement allows or does not establish the facts.
Any one of them withdraws the preference for that entry. Taiwan's customs authority can ask for supporting documents, route the question through the origin verification contact points to the issuing office and the exporter, or hold the cargo, take a deposit, or assess at the general rate while the answer is pending. The duty difference is then collected, and the entry stays on the record.
For the exporter there is one defense that works: settle the Taiwan line, settle the origin criterion, and align the three document sets before anything is filed. That is why our routine starts with the 8-digit code and the bill of materials, and ends with a cross-read of invoice, packing list and bill of lading — not with the filing screen.
The thirteen questions that come up most often from buyers and brokers in Taiwan, answered with the rule rather than the sales pitch.
Form H is the preferential certificate issued under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement. It is filed as agreement code 14 on the export declaration, and its certificate type code is H, which is where the nickname comes from. A plain CO is non-preferential: it proves the goods are Chinese, supports the MFN rate and trade statistics, and grants nothing under ECFA. The two come from the same offices, but the origin test, the drafting language and the duty outcome are different.
No. It depends on your contract, the letter of credit, what your broker needs for the entry, and whether the Taiwan tariff line sits on the current eligibility list. If the buyer is content with the MFN rate, a plain CO can be enough. To declare the ECFA rate, a valid Form H is the document that works. Lines that lost their concession in the 2023 and 2024 suspensions do not benefit from a certificate at all.
No. Early harvest lines were cut to zero by January 1, 2013, but the State Council Tariff Commission suspended ECFA concessions on selected lines in December 2023 and again in May 2024, the second batch covering 134 lines from June 15, 2024. Those lines are dutiable again even with a valid certificate. The rate depends on the Taiwan tariff line; eligibility depends on the origin rule. Business tax and commodity tax are assessed separately and are not reduced.
The review is completed within two business days by statute, and the published service commitment is half a working day. With a clean file and a settled origin criterion, most certificates clear the same day. Once approved, the certificate can be self-printed with the customs seal and the authorized signature already on it, so no counter visit is needed.
The issuing office charges no visa fee, and both China Customs and CCPIT publish a zero charge. What you pay is the agent's service fee, quoted per certificate and itemized by rush handling, amendments, extra originals, split certificates and courier cost.
The exporter or the producer, or an agent appointed with a signed power of attorney and an entrustment recorded in the e-port system. When we file on your behalf, the certificate still carries your name or your supplier's name. We do not issue certificates in our own name, and we do not buy or sell them.
Yes. The company profile has to exist in the filing system, with the unified social credit code and the Chinese and English names and addresses. Companies already registered as importers and exporters with China Customs can pull that record across. An agent also has to establish an entrustment relationship with the filing company before it can lodge on their behalf.
The annex to the agreement requires the certificate to be completed in Chinese, with English permitted as a supplement but not as a substitute. The goods description must match the exporter's invoice and the Harmonized System wording, and English may follow the Chinese name. This is the opposite of Form E, which is drafted in English, and it is the field where export desks used to English paperwork most often slip.
Twenty, and they must belong to the same shipment, with one certificate matching one import entry. Above twenty lines you split the certificate: number the items, and where the split follows one invoice, mark the invoice numbers with suffixes such as -1 and -2. The HS code is entered at the Taiwan 8-digit level, line by line. Continuation pages carry the same certificate number and are marked Page X of Y.
Yes, but only inside 90 days of the actual export date. Retroactive issuance is available where force majeure or another legitimate reason prevented an application before the export declaration, where a technical error in the earlier certificate required it to be cancelled, or where the certificate was lost or destroyed without being used. The certificate is marked issued retroactively and is valid for 12 months from the actual export date. Where the lost original had already been used, a replacement is void.
Twelve months from the date of issue, and twelve months from the actual export date for a retroactive certificate. A lost or destroyed certificate that was never used can be replaced inside the 90-day window. If the content is wrong, apply to the issuing office for an amendment and return the original; once the original has gone to Taiwan's customs authority, getting it back is impractical and the amendment usually fails.
Yes, if the direct transport rule holds. The cargo must move from the mainland to Taiwan without entering trade or consumption in a third territory. Where a third territory is unavoidable for geographic or transport reasons, the goods may only be unloaded, stored, split or repacked there, must stay under customs supervision, and may not remain longer than 60 days from arrival. For Hong Kong and Macau, a transit confirmation from the local customs authority is also required, with the seals intact.
For Taiwan-origin goods moving to the mainland, the certificate is issued in Taiwan by the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection and by approved industry associations, chambers of commerce and industrial federations; the current list follows the annex to the agreement and the authorities' published roster. For mainland goods moving to Taiwan, the issuing offices are on the mainland side: China Customs or CCPIT. The direction of the shipment decides who signs.
We check the eligibility list, run the origin test, and quote a per-certificate fee with the work itemized. Filing through China Customs or CCPIT, self-print or counter collection, originals couriered to your broker.