Form I is the preferential origin certificate under the China–Iceland Free Trade Agreement. On the form it reads Certificate of Origin used in FTA between China and Iceland; on a Chinese declaration the agreement is code 16. China Customs or CCPIT issues it, Icelandic customs accepts it, and your broker wants the original before the entry is filed. This guide covers who can file, the issue window, what the one-year validity actually covers, how the 40% value test is run, and the errors that turn a routine entry into an origin verification.
Form I — the trade's shorthand for the Certificate of Origin used in FTA between China and Iceland — is a preferential certificate of origin. It is issued by China Customs at the port of export, or by CCPIT and its local branches, and the agreement is carried as code 16 on a Chinese declaration. Its job is narrow: certify that the goods meet the China–Iceland origin rule so your entry can be filed at the agreement rate instead of the MFN rate.
It is not a discount coupon. Iceland cut duties to zero on industrial products and seafood the day the agreement took effect in July 2014, so on those lines the certificate mostly protects a rate you would get anyway — the money sits in the agricultural and processed-food lines that stayed outside the schedule. And it does not touch Icelandic VAT, which is assessed separately at 24% standard.
Who files: the exporter or the manufacturer, or an agent holding a signed power of attorney. When: before or at the time of export, with one year of validity from the issue date; if the window is missed, retroactive issuance runs within one year of the shipment date. Cost: the issuing office charges nothing; you pay the agent's service fee.
Two dates explain the rules you are filing under today: the agreement was signed on April 15, 2013, took effect on July 1, 2014, and its implementing measures were amended in October 2024.
China and Iceland signed the agreement on April 15, 2013, and it entered into force on July 1, 2014 — the first free trade agreement China concluded with a European country. That history explains why Icelandic brokers see far fewer of these certificates than they do Form E or Form A, and why the form itself looks like a plain CO with an extra box rather than a branded FTA document.
The filing rules live in two instruments. The Measures on the Administration of Origin for Import and Export Goods under the China–Iceland FTA (GACC Order No. 222, in force July 1, 2014, amended by GACC Order No. 273 of October 28, 2024) set the origin tests and what the certificate has to show. 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.
The naming trips people up, so start here. The form carries no letter on its face; it is printed as Certificate of Origin used in FTA between China and Iceland. Exporters, forwarders and the CCPIT system call it Form I, and on a declaration the agreement is code 16. If a buyer asks for “Form I” and receives a plain CO, the entry will not price the way either side expected — and the mistake usually surfaces at the broker's desk, not in the factory.
Origin is decided one of three ways. Wholly obtained in China. Produced entirely from Chinese or Icelandic originating materials. Otherwise, the goods have to pass the product-specific rule for their heading — a tariff shift, a value test or a stated process — and the common value test is a regional value content of at least 40%.
The value test is built on your books, and it is not the formula used in every Chinese FTA. Under Article 6 it runs (FOB value − value of non-originating materials) ÷ FOB value × 100, where the finished goods are valued FOB and the non-originating materials are taken on a landed, CIF basis. Running the calculation on two mismatched bases is the most common arithmetic error we see in a bill of materials.
The agreement also gives you bilateral cumulation (Chinese material counts as Icelandic, and the reverse), a de minimis allowance of 10% of the FOB value where a tariff shift is missed, and a list of seventeen minimal operations — preserving, unpacking and repacking, washing, simple painting or polishing, husking and shelling, sharpening, simple grinding or cutting, screening and grading, simple bottling or bagging, labeling, simple mixing, simple assembly — that never confer origin however complete the paperwork looks.
Simple assembly of imported parts, repacking and relabeling are on the minimal-operations list. They do not earn origin, and a certificate cannot fix that after the fact.
Your broker files the entry with Icelandic customs, and the origin document is what decides which duty column the goods land in. Without it, the same cargo is assessed at MFN — and an entry filed at the agreement rate without support gets amended, held, or liquidated at the higher rate.
With a valid Form I the entry goes in at the agreement rate. Without it, the same tariff line clears at MFN. On lines where Iceland's MFN rate is already zero the dollar difference is nil — but the claim still has to be substantiated, and a preference you cannot document is one you cannot defend after release.
Iceland dropped duties on industrial products and seafood when the agreement took effect; agriculture and a set of processed foods stayed outside or moved on a slower path. Those are the lines where the certificate earns its fee — processed food, agricultural goods, some consumer products.
Icelandic customs can call for the original on a preferential entry. The two countries do not exchange origin data electronically, so the paper is still what gets read. Certificate number, description and value have to line up with invoice and transport document, or the entry stops.
Icelandic banks open credits that list “Certificate of Origin Form I 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 or the document is corrected.
Icelandic customs runs post-entry origin checks and can ask China to verify a certificate. Anti-dumping and safeguard measures are decided on origin as well, so this is the first document pulled when a case file is opened.
Every preferential entry leaves a trace in both systems. A certificate that had to be amended or a claim that was disallowed follows the importer, and it shows up in how often later shipments get pulled.
Inside China, Form I comes from one of two offices — China Customs at the port of export, or CCPIT and its local branches. Both are legally valid and both are accepted in Iceland. Which one you use is usually decided by the contract, the letter of credit or the buyer's preference.
| 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 management → certificate issuance), or the Single Window at singlewindow.cn → origin certificate → China–Iceland FTA | Your buyer or the credit wants a government-issued certificate, or you want the certificate tied to the declaration data |
| 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 specifies a chamber certificate or a chamber stamp, or your company 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 you print it yourself on A4 in color, with the electronic seal and signature — the Form I certificate is on the self-print list, and the result carries the same legal effect as a pre-printed form. A paper original can also be collected at the counter, but the counter visit count in practice is zero.
There is no residency requirement. Any customs house or local 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, Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Tianjin or Xiamen is filed with the office that matches the port of export.
The traffic runs both ways. Icelandic goods entering China at the agreement rate need a certificate from Iceland's authorized issuing agency, or an origin declaration from an Icelandic approved exporter, checked against the same rules. If the certificate is not in hand at the time of entry, the Chinese importer can declare origin, post a security and produce it later — but a claim filed after release does not reopen the assessment. On the China side, consignments with a dutiable value of USD 600 or less are exempt from the certificate, unless the goods were split up to stay under that line.
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 — provided the factory is the one supplying the material data.
We file on your behalf and the certificate still carries your name or your supplier'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. 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 also recorded in the e-port system and the power of attorney uploaded there.
A shipper that holds approved exporter status can issue an origin declaration on its own for China–Iceland goods, in place of a certificate, once the goods have been submitted in the approved-exporter system. Iceland accepts the same kind of declaration from its own approved exporters, so the document can work in either direction.
What it buys you is speed: no visa queue, no printing step, and the declaration can go out on sailing day. What it does not buy you is a substitute for a credit that names a certificate — if the letter of credit or the contract says “certificate in one original”, the declaration does not satisfy it.
The rule is specific: the certificate is issued before or at the time of export, and it is valid for one year from the date of issue. That is not a formality. The form carries a box for means of transport and route — departure date, vessel and voyage or flight number, 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, tariff codes and the origin support for the goods.
Check whether the heading has a product-specific rule. If it does, run that rule; if not, build the 40% value calculation on the FOB and CIF bases 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 goes to the Icelandic broker for pre-filing, the original goes with the shipping documents or by courier. Certificate number matches the entry.
Retroactive issuance exists, but the paper trail is unforgiving. The Chinese implementing measure allows the issuing office to issue the certificate retroactively within one year of the shipment date where force majeure prevented issuance on time, and the certificate has to be marked as issued retrospectively in the remarks box. The agreement text is wider — it also names an inadvertent error, negligence or another reasonable cause — so in practice the issuing office decides on the facts you put in front of it. “We forgot” is not force majeure, and it is worth explaining the cause up front rather than after a rejection.
Expect the date to be questioned. A certificate issued after the on-board date is exactly what an Icelandic 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 I carries one extra step a plain CO does not: settling the origin criterion before anything is typed.
Destination is Iceland, and the goods sit in the agreement's schedule. There is no second bilateral route into Iceland, so this check is quick.
Is there a product-specific rule for the heading? Run it. If not, calculate the regional value content on the FOB and CIF bases. 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.
Iceland declares at 8 digits; China exports at 10. The first six have to agree, and the Icelandic suffix has to be the one your broker will file.
Enter company and goods details. The description follows the invoice line by line — specification, quantity, tariff code — and the origin criterion box states what you actually used.
The authority responds within two business days; corrections usually come back in one pass. Then self-print on A4 in color, or collect at the counter.
PDF first so the Icelandic 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 stay in the file that gets produced when a verification request lands. Electronic filing has not shortened that obligation.
The list is short, and one item on it is heavier than the rest: the origin support. That is where Form I differs from a plain CO, and where review questions usually start.
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.
Both China Customs and CCPIT are required to waive the certificate visa fee and the document charge, and both publish a zero charge. Certificate stock, review and the electronic seal are not billed to the applicant.
What we charge covers labor: 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.
There is exactly one preferential route into Iceland for Chinese-origin goods. The confusion comes from Iceland's EEA membership, which people read as a second door. It is not, because EEA origin rules apply to goods originating inside the EEA, not to goods made in China.
| Document | Code | Covers | Works for an Iceland entry? |
|---|---|---|---|
| China–Iceland FTA — Form I | 16 | Iceland | Yes, at the agreement rate |
| Origin declaration by an approved exporter | 16 | Iceland | Yes; same effect as the certificate |
| Certificate of origin — CO | CO | Any destination, no agreement needed | No preference; proof of origin only, MFN rate |
| China–Switzerland FTA certificate | 17 | Switzerland, Liechtenstein | No; unrelated to an Iceland shipment |
| RCEP certificate | 22 | ASEAN ten plus China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand | No; Iceland is not an RCEP party |
Iceland is in the European Economic Area, not the European Union, and the origin rules attached to both are written for goods produced inside that area. A Chinese consignment does not become EEA-origin by arriving in Reykjavik, and no Chinese authority issues an EEA proof of origin. Icelandic customs therefore has nothing to grant preference against unless Form I — or an approved-exporter declaration under the same agreement — is in the file. RCEP does not include Iceland either, and neither does the APTA, so Form K, Form E and Form B do not apply.
The reverse direction runs the same way: Icelandic goods entering China at the agreement rate need a certificate from Iceland's authorized agency or an Icelandic origin declaration, and the direct transport rule applies in both directions.
Iceland's MFN rates on many industrial products are at or near zero, and the agreement already zeroed industrial goods and seafood when it took effect. So the useful question is not “do we need a certificate” but “what does this tariff line actually save”. Ask your broker for the MFN and agreement rates for the Icelandic code, then decide whether the certificate is a saving or merely a compliance document the buyer wants on file. We do that comparison before quoting.
Issuance is the easy half. Icelandic 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.
The Icelandic schedule runs 8 digits; the Chinese declaration runs 10. The first six should match, and the Icelandic 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 declaration opens the door. Correcting a filed entry costs more than getting the invoice right the first time.
Cargo routed through Rotterdam, Hamburg or Felixstowe has to stay under customs control, stay out of processing beyond unloading, reloading, splitting or preservation, and stay out of local trade or consumption. An itinerary decided at booking decides this, not the paperwork afterwards.
A certificate issued after the on-board date without being marked retroactive, or a form with visible erasure or overprinting, invites a question about authenticity. Corrections on Form I have to be struck through and stamped by the issuing office.
Icelandic customs can ask China to confirm the certificate and the origin of the goods. While that runs, release may be held, a security deposit demanded, or duty assessed at the MFN rate up front. If the answer does not satisfy the authority, the duty difference is collected with interest and the importer's preferential history gets worse.
For the exporter there is one effective defense: settle the origin criterion, then align the three 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 Icelandic buyers and their brokers, answered with the rule rather than the sales pitch.
Form I is the preferential certificate under the China–Iceland Free Trade Agreement, printed as Certificate of Origin used in FTA between China and Iceland and carried as agreement code 16 on a Chinese declaration. A plain CO is non-preferential: it proves the goods are Chinese, supports the MFN rate and trade statistics, and grants nothing under the agreement. Both come from the same offices, but the filing content, the origin test and the duty outcome are different.
No. It depends on your contract, the credit, what your broker needs for the entry, and whether the Icelandic tariff line still carries duty. On industrial goods the MFN rate is often zero already, and there the certificate is a compliance document rather than a saving. To declare the agreement rate, Form I is the only document that works — or an origin declaration from an approved exporter.
Not automatically. Iceland eliminated duties on industrial products and seafood when the agreement took effect in 2014; agriculture and some processed foods stayed outside the schedule or moved on a slower path. The rate depends on the Icelandic tariff line, and eligibility depends on the origin rule. Icelandic VAT is assessed separately at 24% standard and is 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; a same-day request depends on that day's queue.
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 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. When we file on your behalf, the certificate stays in your name or your supplier's name; we never issue one in our own name.
Yes. The company profile has to exist in the filing system: unified social credit code, Chinese and English name and address, contacts. Companies already registered with customs as importers or exporters can sync that record. Self-printing also requires uploading the company seal and the declarant's signature.
Three routes: wholly obtained in China; produced entirely from Chinese or Icelandic originating materials; or, for goods not wholly obtained, meeting the product-specific rule for the heading, or a regional value content of at least 40% where no such rule applies. RVC is (FOB value minus the CIF value of non-originating materials) divided by FOB value. Simple assembly, repacking and relabeling are minimal operations and do not confer origin.
Only on the agreement's terms. The certificate is meant to be issued before or at the time of export. The Chinese implementing measure allows retroactive issuance within one year of the shipment date where force majeure prevented it, marked as issued retrospectively; the agreement text also names an inadvertent error, negligence or another reasonable cause, so the issuing office decides on the facts of the case. A missed deadline is not a reasonable cause, and some credits refuse a retroactive certificate.
One year from the date of issue. Amendments and certified true copies have to be requested inside that window. A retroactively issued certificate is dated to the shipment, not to the day it was printed.
It still qualifies if the third country did no more than unload, reload, split the consignment or preserve the goods in condition, if the cargo never entered trade or consumption there and stayed under that customs authority's control, and if you can produce the through transport document and a certificate or other evidence from that customs authority. Decide the routing at booking, not after the certificate is filed.
Yes, if the shipper holds approved-exporter status. A Chinese approved exporter can issue an origin declaration for China–Iceland goods in place of a certificate, provided the goods have been submitted in the approved-exporter system. It carries the same effect at entry. If the credit or the contract names a certificate, the declaration does not substitute for it.
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.
We check the Icelandic tariff line against the agreement rate first. If there is no duty gap, we say so and file a plain CO instead — a certificate nobody needed is still a cost and a document that can be questioned.
Cargo out of Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Nansha, Huangpu, Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Tianjin or Xiamen is filed with the office that matches the port of export, so the certificate and the routing agree.
The PDF goes out the moment it clears so the Icelandic broker can pre-file. The original travels with the bill of lading or by courier, and the application file stays with the shipment record.
Tell us what the goods are made of and when the vessel loads. You get a rate comparison, an origin assessment, 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.
