ChAFTA · Annex II

ChAFTA preference calculator

Confirm the ChAFTA preference holds before you claim it.

Claim a ChAFTA tariff preference the goods do not actually qualify for and the importer faces a retrospective duty demand plus penalties when Customs audits the origin claim. The rule is the ChAFTA Annex II Product-Specific Rule for the final-product HS, and a wrong origin criterion on the certificate is the audit's first finding.

Type the final-product HS, the FOB price, and the bill of materials; the tool runs the ChAFTA Annex II PSR check and returns the recommended origin criterion to declare on the certificate.

Last updated 2026-05-09. Math runs in your browser, no data leaves your computer.

Final product

The HS code on the export invoice and the certificate. ChAFTA's rule lives at the 6-digit line, so enter at least six digits.

The FOB selling price. Use any single currency as long as the bill of materials below uses the same one; the percentage math is currency-neutral.

How the product is actually made. Synthesis and extraction can reach Wholly Obtained; blending and repackaging rarely confer origin on their own.

Bill of materials

List every input. Mark country of origin and value. Up to 12 rows.

ChAFTA Annex II PSR sampler (chemical chapters)
HS range Rule
Ch 25 (salt, sulphur, earths and stones, plastering materials, lime, cement) CTH (change in tariff heading) for most lines
Ch 28 (inorganic chemicals, organic and inorganic compounds of precious metals, rare-earth metals, radioactive elements) CTSH OR RVC40 (build-down) for most lines
2806 to 2814 (HCl, sulphuric, nitric, phosphoric, ammonia) CTSH OR RVC40 (build-down)
2815 (caustic soda, caustic potash) CTSH OR RVC40 (build-down)
Ch 29 (organic chemicals) CTSH OR RVC40 (build-down) for most lines
2901 to 2902 (acyclic and cyclic hydrocarbons: methane, ethylene, benzene, toluene, xylene) CTSH OR RVC40 (build-down)
2905 to 2906 (acyclic and cyclic alcohols: methanol, ethanol, glycerine, IPA) CTSH OR RVC40 (build-down)
2914 to 2915 (ketones, carboxylic acids: acetone, acetic acid) CTSH OR RVC40 (build-down)
2918 (oxygen-containing carboxylic acids: citric acid, tartaric, lactic, malic) CTSH OR RVC40 (build-down)
Ch 32 (tanning or dyeing extracts, dyes, pigments, paints, inks) CTH OR RVC40 (build-down) for most lines
Ch 38 (miscellaneous chemical products) CTH OR RVC40 (build-down) for most lines
3808 (insecticides, fungicides, herbicides) CTSH OR RVC40 (build-down)
3823 (industrial monocarboxylic fatty acids) CTH OR RVC40 (build-down)

Sampler only. The full Annex II PSR list is in the ChAFTA text on DFAT (Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) and MOFCOM (China Ministry of Commerce) websites.

General guidance only. Verify against the cited primary sources before you commit to a shipment, declaration, or contract.

ChAFTA preference origin in chemical-trade context

ChAFTA grants 0 percent tariff on most Chinese-origin chemical exports to Australia, but the preferential rate only applies if the product qualifies as "originating" under ChAFTA rules. Annex II of the agreement lists the Product-Specific Rule (PSR) for each HS line. The exporter applies the PSR, builds the working sheet, and applies for a CCPIT or CIQ Certificate of Origin. The CO is the document that the Australian importer presents to ABF (Australian Border Force) to claim the preferential rate.

The PSR comes in three flavours. Wholly Obtained (WO): all inputs are mined, harvested, or manufactured in China, with no foreign content. WO applies most often to natural products (Chinese rock salt, Chinese phosphate ore, Chinese-grown vegetable oil). Change in Tariff Classification (CTC): the manufacturing process changes the HS code from the input to the output. CTH (Change in Tariff Heading) requires a change at the 4-digit level; CTSH (Change in Tariff Sub-Heading) requires a change at the 6-digit level. CTC is the most common rule for chemical synthesis: starting from acetic acid (HS 2915) and ammonia (HS 2814) to make ammonium acetate (HS 2915) is a CTSH change at sub-heading level. Regional Value Content (RVC): at least 40 percent of the FOB price is value added in China. RVC build-down formula is FOB minus value of non-originating materials, divided by FOB, times 100. The build-down threshold for ChAFTA chemical chapters is 40 percent.

For most chemical synthesis, RVC40 is easy to clear because chemical reactions add significant labour, energy, and overhead value. The harder cases are blending and repackaging: starting with finished foreign-origin chemical and re-bottling it in China does not change the HS, does not satisfy CTC, and rarely clears RVC40 (the imported finished product dominates the cost stack). For these cases, the goods retain the foreign origin of the dominant input.

The working sheet for the CO application needs the full BOM with country-of-origin per input, value per input, and the calculation. CCPIT and CIQ keep the working sheet on file; the importer side may request a copy if ABF queries the CO. Sloppy working sheets are the leading cause of post-clearance re-assessments by ABF, often resulting in the duty differential being clawed back.

The related origin tools are linked below.

A worked example

The booking. You make citric acid (HS 291814) in China and sell it FOB 240,000 to an Australian buyer, and you tick Wholly Obtained on the ChAFTA certificate because the plant is Chinese. The buyer claims the 0% preferential rate at the border.

The failure. It doesn't hold. The feedstock is imported molasses, so the product is not wholly obtained, and a non-Chinese input means WO is the wrong criterion. ABF audits the claim a year later, the WO declaration fails on its face, and the importer gets a retrospective duty demand plus penalty. The wrong criterion, not the wrong product, triggered it.

The fix. Run the inputs through the tool. The imported molasses (HS 1703) sits in a different heading from citric acid (HS 2918), so the change-in-tariff test passes, and the build-down RVC clears 40% comfortably because synthesis adds heavy energy and labour value. Declare CTSH or RVC40, keep the working sheet on file, and the preference stands the audit.

Not sure which origin test even applies to your product? The country-of-origin determination wizard walks it at /tools/compliance-and-risk/country-of-origin-determination-wizard.

Ready to issue the certificate once the criterion is set? The ChAFTA certificate of origin generator builds it at /tools/documentation/chafta-certificate-of-origin-generator.

Frequently asked

What does this tool calculate?

For a Chinese-origin product exported to Australia under ChAFTA (China-Australia Free Trade Agreement), this tool runs the Annex II Product-Specific Rule (PSR) check: Wholly Obtained, Change in Tariff Classification (CTC), and Regional Value Content (RVC). The output is a pass / fail verdict per rule and the recommended origin criterion to declare on the ChAFTA Certificate of Origin.

Which method does the tool use for RVC?

The build-down method: RVC = (FOB minus value of non-originating materials) / FOB times 100. ChAFTA also permits the build-up method (RVC = (originating-materials value + labour + overhead + profit) / FOB), but build-down is simpler and is the default for most exporters. The threshold for chemical HS chapters is generally 40 percent.

Is this final?

No. This tool runs the PSR math and gives the verdict; the final ChAFTA CO has to be issued by CCPIT (China Council for the Promotion of International Trade) or GACC (China Customs, which absorbed the former CIQ inspection-and-quarantine function in the 2018 institutional reform), with a working sheet that supports the RVC declaration. Treat the output as the engineering review before the CO application; the CCPIT- or Customs-issued CO is the legal document. Verify current issuance arrangements at https://www.ccpit.org/ and https://www.customs.gov.cn/.

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