Form HD is the preferential certificate of origin under the Early Harvest Arrangement between China and Honduras, in force since September 1, 2024. China Customs or CCPIT issues it in English, one certificate covers one consignment, and your Honduran broker uses it to declare the agreement rate instead of the MFN rate. This guide covers where it comes from, who may file, why the issue window sits before the vessel sails, how the one-year validity runs, and the one detail that sinks more applications than anything else: this arrangement recognises only two routes to origin, and imported components are not one of them.
Form HD — formally the Certificate of Origin under the Early Harvest Arrangement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of Honduras — is a preferential certificate of origin. China Customs, or CCPIT and its local branches, issue it in English against a specific consignment. Its job is narrow: certify that the goods meet the arrangement's origin rule, so your broker in Honduras can declare the agreement rate instead of the MFN column.
What is unusual here is the origin test. The arrangement recognises two routes and only two: goods wholly obtained or produced in China, or goods produced exclusively from originating materials. There is no regional value content threshold, no tariff-shift rule and no de minimis allowance. If your product carries imported components, a certificate under this arrangement is normally out of reach — and that conclusion is better reached at quotation than at the port.
Who files: the exporter or the manufacturer, or an agent holding a signed power of attorney. Your Honduran company cannot apply. When: before shipment or at the time of shipment — there is no grace period after sailing; a late certificate is a retroactive one, issued within one year of the shipment date and marked accordingly. Valid: one year. Cost: nothing at the counter, a service fee for the filing work.
China and Honduras opened diplomatic relations in March 2023. The early harvest arrangement followed, taking effect on September 1, 2024, and the administrative rules behind it were published as a single customs announcement. Those rules, not the agreement text alone, decide how your filing is judged.
The arrangement is an interim, limited-scope deal, not a full free trade agreement. It was negotiated ahead of the comprehensive agreement, and it liberalises a named list of products rather than the whole tariff book. That list is where the value sits: goods outside it are assessed at the ordinary rate whether or not you hold a certificate, so the first question is always whether your HS line is in the schedule at all.
The operating rules come from the Measures on the Administration of Origin of Import and Export Goods under the Early Harvest Arrangement between China and Honduras, issued as GACC Announcement No. 111 of 2024 (published August 19, 2024, effective September 1, 2024). Annex 1 of the announcement is the certificate format itself. Read the 2024 measures as the rulebook; earlier commentary on China–Central America trade does not apply to it.
In China's import declaration system, agreement code 27 identifies this arrangement, and the certificate carries type code HD — which is why the trade simply calls it Form HD. Code 27 belongs on an entry filed into China for goods of Honduran origin; it is not a field your Honduran broker keys in, and it should not appear on a commercial invoice as if Honduras required it.
The certificate is filled in English, carries a unique number, covers one consignment, states the basis on which origin is claimed, and has to be free of alterations and overprinting — the seal and signature must match the specimen the importing side holds. One certificate, one shipment, one entry.
Origin, the hard part. There are two qualifying routes. Wholly obtained or produced in China: grown, harvested, mined, caught, bred or manufactured there with no imported inputs. Or produced exclusively from originating materials — every input is itself Chinese or Honduran origin under the arrangement. Bilateral cumulation applies: Honduran originating materials used in production in China are treated as originating, and the reverse holds as well.
Everything else is excluded by design. There is no regional value content formula to fall back on, no tariff classification change rule, and no tolerance for a small share of non-originating material. The only listed carve-outs are supporting items that do not enter the product: fuel and energy, catalysts and solvents, plant and equipment, gloves, glasses and footwear, tools, dies and moulds, spare parts, and lubricants. Transport packaging and retail packaging are handled separately and do not affect origin either.
No value test, no tariff shift, no de minimis. If your bill of materials shows imported content, check the schedule and the origin rule before you promise your buyer a rate.
Your broker files the entry at Puerto Cortés or wherever the cargo lands, and the origin document is what supports the agreement rate when the line is on the schedule. The certificate is not a discount coupon — it is the evidence that lets your entry move out of the MFN column, and it is also the document your finance and compliance people will ask for later.
Where the HS line sits on Honduras's schedule for Chinese goods, a valid Form HD lets the entry clear at the agreement rate. Certificate number, description, HS code and value must match the invoice, packing list and bill of lading; a mismatch costs an amendment at best.
This is a limited-list arrangement. If your product is not on the schedule, the certificate changes nothing at the border and the ordinary rate applies. A five-minute check against the tariff line saves the fee, the filing time and the argument with your supplier.
Honduras charges its sales tax (ISV) on the duty-paid value of the import. Origin does not touch it: a preferential certificate can lower the duty line, and ISV is then assessed on the result. Budget for both, not just the tariff.
Credits opened for Central American buyers often name the certificate explicitly. A different shipper name, the wrong number of originals, an issue date after the on-board date or a value that does not reconcile is a documentary discrepancy, and payment waits until it is waived.
Tenders, origin-marking checks, brand authorization, bank files and anti-dumping inquiries can all call for a certificate from an official body. A plain CO and Form HD are used in different situations, and your compliance team usually knows which one it wants.
China and Honduras do not yet exchange certificate data electronically, which is why the customs announcement treats this as an agreement requiring the paper original. Plan the courier with the shipping documents, not after the container arrives.
Inside China there are two issuers — China Customs, and CCPIT with its local branches. Both are legally valid and both are accepted on the Honduran side. Which one you use is usually decided by the contract, the credit, or the preference of your supplier.
| Channel | What it is | Where you file | Choose it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| China Customs | Government issuing authority — the customs house at the port of export | Internet + Customs at online.customs.gov.cn (tax and fee services → origin certificate issuance), or the Single Window at singlewindow.cn → origin certificates → China–Honduras early harvest certificate | The buyer or the credit wants a government-issued certificate, or you want the certificate tied to the export declaration itself |
| 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 | Your buyer names a chamber certificate or a chamber stamp, or your supplier already files everything through the CCPIT system |
Issuance is electronic end to end. You file in one of the systems above, the authority reviews it online, and once it clears, the certificate is printed on A4 in color with the electronic seal and signature. That self-printed original carries the same effect as controlled certificate stock, so there is normally no reason to visit a counter.
There is no residency requirement: any customs house or CCPIT branch accepts an online filing. Cargo out of Shenzhen and the Pearl River Delta is usually filed with Shenzhen Customs or CCPIT Shenzhen, which keeps follow-up simple. Cargo moving through Guangzhou, Nansha, Huangpu, Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Tianjin or Xiamen is filed with the office that matches the port of export.
CCPIT began accepting these certificates on September 1, 2024, and switched to electronic issuance from 00:00 on November 18, 2024; the Honduran customs service accepts the electronic seal, and holders can print their own originals. That matters when a buyer insists on a chamber stamp and the supplier assumed only customs could issue.
Because the two countries have not yet connected their certificate data, the announcement requires the paper original for a preferential entry — not a scan, not a number typed into a system. Ship the original with the documents, or ahead of them by courier, and keep a PDF with the broker so the entry can be pre-checked before the original arrives.
Your broker also does one thing the certificate cannot: confirm the HS line and the schedule entry. The certificate states origin; the tariff schedule states the rate. A certificate for a line that is not on the schedule, or a line your broker declares under a different code, produces a preference that is refused.
The rule is short. The certificate is issued on the application of the exporter or the manufacturer — the consignor of the export and the domestic producer, and their appointed agents. In day-to-day practice that gives you three ways to get it done.
The manufacturer registers, keeps the profile current and files its own certificates. Tightest control over the origin story, and it works best where the product range is narrow and there is a documents desk on site.
The exporter applies in its own name, so 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 your supplier's behalf and the certificate still carries the exporter's or manufacturer's name — never ours. The usual route for companies with no registration yet, a thin documents desk, or cargo spread across several ports.
Before the first filing the company profile has to exist in the system: unified social credit code, Chinese and English name and address, contacts, and the production or export record behind the goods. A company already registered with customs as an importer or exporter can sync that record instead of re-entering it. Self-printing requires uploading the company seal and the declarant's signature and having them authorized. When an agent files, the entrustment is recorded in the e-port system and the power of attorney uploaded there.
The certificate is issued before shipment or at the time of shipment. There is no three-day grace period, and no seven-day extension: once the container is on board, the only route left is a retroactive certificate, and some credits refuse those outright.
Departure port, vessel, voyage and discharge port are fixed. Pull the invoice, packing list, HS codes and the origin evidence for the goods.
Confirm wholly obtained or all originating materials. If neither holds, stop here — no certificate issued under this arrangement will stand behind the entry.
File in the Customs or CCPIT system. The description follows the commercial invoice line by line, and the origin basis states what is actually true.
PDF first so your broker can pre-check the entry, then the paper original with the documents or by courier. Without the original, the preference does not clear.
A certificate issued before shipment or at the time of shipment is the normal case and runs one year from the issue date. Where force majeure, an inadvertent error, negligence or another reasonable cause prevented on-time filing, the issuing office may issue it retroactively within one year of the shipment date; the form is marked ISSUED RETROSPECTIVELY, and validity then runs one year from the shipment date. The marking comes from the system, not from a pen.
Expect the date to be questioned anyway. A certificate issued after the on-board date is exactly what a bank reads against the credit, and some buyers treat a retroactive certificate as a sign that the origin file was assembled after the fact. If it can be filed on time, file on time.
Each certificate covers one importation, and the one-year validity is not extendable. A shipment split across two vessels, or a consignment entered twice, needs the paperwork to match that reality rather than a single certificate stretched over it.
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 HD adds one step a plain CO does not have: settling the origin route before anything is typed.
Check the Honduran schedule for that HS line and confirm with your broker what the entry needs. If the line is outside the list, the certificate buys nothing.
Wholly obtained, or all originating materials? If imported content is involved, document why the goods still qualify — or accept that this arrangement will not carry them.
Commercial invoice, packing list, and bill of lading or air waybill. Reconcile invoice number, date, value, package count, gross and net weight and marks.
The certificate takes the six-digit subheading. Honduras declares at its national level; the first six digits must agree, and the national suffix must be the one your broker files.
Enter company and goods details. The description follows the invoice line by line, and the origin basis states what you actually used — no borrowed wording.
The authority reviews the filing and usually comes back in one pass. Once it clears, self-print on A4 in color, or collect the original at the counter.
PDF first so the broker can pre-check, original with the shipping documents or by courier. Ask the broker to read the certificate number against the entry.
The certificate copy and the application file are kept at least three years from issue — that is what you produce when a verification request lands.
Where the goods are borderline, ask for an origin pre-assessment before filing: submit the materials, components and process description to the customs office and have the position confirmed in advance. On a first shipment into a new market, that is usually cheaper than arguing after your broker has held the entry.
The list is short, but this certificate adds one item a plain CO does not: the origin evidence behind the route you claim. That is the part an issuing officer or a verification team asks about first.
Two separate numbers paid to two different parties: the official fee charged by the issuing office, and the service fee charged by whoever prepares and files the certificate.
China Customs publishes no charge for certificate of origin 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: testing the origin route, assembling the file, reconciling the document sets, filing, chasing the review, printing and delivery, and reworking an error. One certificate, one price.
Shipping to Honduras does not automatically mean Form HD, and it does not mean your usual certificate will work either. Honduras sits outside the ASEAN and RCEP blocs, so the two certificates most Chinese suppliers file by habit prove nothing at that border.
| Certificate | China FTA code | Covers | Works for a Honduran entry? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form HD — China–Honduras early harvest | 27 | Honduras, limited list | Yes — for lines on the Honduran schedule |
| Certificate of origin — CO | n/a | Any destination, no agreement needed | No preference; proof of origin only, MFN rate |
| Form E — China–ASEAN FTA | 02 | The ten ASEAN members | No — Honduras is not an ASEAN member |
| RCEP | 22 | ASEAN ten plus China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand | No — Honduras is not a party |
The codes are the agreement codes used in China's import declaration system. Honduran customs does not use them; your broker works from the certificate itself.
The early harvest headlines you may have seen — zero-duty Honduran farm products, coffee, melons, bananas and shrimp — describe goods moving from Honduras into China. That is the Chinese concession, and it is not the schedule that decides your export. What applies to your shipment is the schedule Honduras grants to Chinese-origin goods, which is narrower and product-specific. Check your line there before promising a rate to anyone.
Nor is there a second route to a preference. Honduras is not a party to the China–ASEAN agreement or to RCEP, so Form E and RCEP certificates grant nothing there. Until the comprehensive China–Honduras agreement is signed and in force, Form HD is the only preferential path between the two countries — which is also why the origin rule is applied strictly: there is no fallback certificate to hide behind.
Issuance is the easy half. Honduran 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.
Wholly obtained claimed while imported materials sit in the product, or “all originating materials” with no supplier invoices to prove it. This is the most common and most expensive problem, and it can be raised years after the entry.
“Machinery”, “parts”, “goods” describe nothing. The description follows the invoice line by line — product name, model, quantity, tariff code — and names the producer where the form asks for it.
The certificate takes six digits; Honduras declares at its national level. The first six must 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, weights and 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.
Cargo routed through a third country has to stay under customs control, out of trade or consumption, free of processing beyond handling and preservation, for no more than six months. An itinerary decided at booking settles this; paperwork afterwards cannot.
A certificate issued after the on-board date is marked retroactive, and some credits and buyers will not take it. An amended certificate has to reconcile with the entry already filed, and the date sequence is the first thing a verification checks.
Honduran customs can ask the Chinese side to confirm the certificate and the origin of the goods. While that runs, release may be held, a guarantee or deposit demanded, or duty assessed at the non-preferential rate up front. If the goods do not qualify, the duty is recovered and the case is handled under Honduran law.
There is also a clock on the other side. If a verification request goes unanswered, or the answer is insufficient, for six months from the date the request is made, the goods lose the agreement rate. That is a rule about paperwork discipline, not about the product — and it is exactly why the file has to be complete before the container sails.
For the shipper there is one effective defense: settle the origin route, then align the document sets, before anything is filed. That is why our routine starts with the bill of materials and ends with a cross-read of invoice, packing list and bill of lading — not with the filing screen.
The twelve questions that come up most often from buyers and brokers shipping into Honduras, answered with the rule rather than the sales pitch.
Form HD is a certificate of origin, but a specific kind: the preferential one issued under the China–Honduras Early Harvest Arrangement. A plain CO proves Chinese origin and supports the MFN rate; Form HD also lets your Honduran broker enter the goods at the agreement rate. Same offices, same form family, different legal effect.
No. Two conditions have to line up: the product must sit in the schedule Honduras applies to Chinese goods, and the duty gap must be worth the paperwork. If the goods fall outside the schedule, the certificate buys nothing at the border, and a plain CO is enough for the entry and the credit.
Not automatically. The certificate secures the agreement rate for lines on the schedule; how far that rate drops depends on the schedule itself, and concession lines are not all zero. Honduran VAT (ISV) is charged on the duty-paid value regardless of origin, so it is unaffected by the certificate.
With a clean file and the origin position settled, same-day or next-day issuance is normal once the office accepts the filing. The constraint is not the review queue but the origin evidence: if the bill of materials has to be reconstructed, the certificate cannot be issued until that is done, and the vessel does not wait.
Nothing at the issuing office. China Customs and CCPIT both publish a zero visa fee for certificates of origin. What you pay is the agent's service fee, quoted per certificate and itemized by whether origin work is involved, whether you need a rush, whether an amendment is required, and how many originals you want couriered.
The exporter, the manufacturer, or an agent appointed by either of them with a signed power of attorney. The Honduran consignee cannot apply. When we file as your agent, the certificate still carries the Chinese exporter's or manufacturer's name, never ours.
Yes. The company profile has to exist in the filing system with the unified social credit code and Chinese and English names and addresses. Companies already registered with customs as importers or exporters can sync that record. Self-printing also needs the company seal and the declarant's signature uploaded and authorized.
Only two routes: wholly obtained or produced in China, or produced exclusively from originating materials. Honduran materials used in China count as originating. There is no regional value test, no tariff-shift rule and no de minimis allowance here, so a product built with imported components normally cannot be certified under the arrangement.
Up to a point. The certificate is meant to be issued before shipment or at the time of shipment. Where force majeure, an inadvertent error, negligence or another reasonable cause prevented that, it can be issued retroactively within one year of the shipment date, marked ISSUED RETROSPECTIVELY, and its validity then runs one year from shipment. Some credits and buyers refuse a retroactive certificate.
One year from the issue date for a certificate issued on time; one year from the shipment date for a retroactive one. Each certificate covers one importation. A certified copy can be issued if the original is lost, stolen or damaged, and it keeps the validity of the original.
It can still qualify, but the detour has to stay clean: transit only for geographic or transport reasons, no processing beyond unloading, reloading and steps needed to keep the goods in condition, temporary storage of no more than six months, and the cargo under customs control throughout. Your broker will also want the third-country customs certificate or equivalent evidence.
The arrangement is a stopgap. Negotiations on the comprehensive agreement continue, and when it enters into force the tariff schedule and the origin rules will be reissued under the new text. Until then, Form HD is the only preferential route between the two countries, and its two-route origin test is the one that applies.
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.
Before anything is filed we test whether the goods are wholly obtained or made only of originating materials. On a product with imported content we say so early, while there is still time to change the sourcing or the buyer's expectation.
We confirm the HS line against the Honduran schedule before promising a rate. A certificate for a line that is not on the list is a fee with nothing behind it, and we would rather quote less and be right.
Cargo out of Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Nansha, Huangpu, Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Tianjin or Xiamen is filed with the office that matches the port of export.
The PDF goes out the moment it clears so your broker in Honduras can pre-check the entry. The paper 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 loads. You get an origin assessment, a schedule check against the Honduran tariff, 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.
