Providing Country of Origin information for your products

Amazon is continuously working to improve the Add a Product tool. These efforts include improving listing quality and consistency within our detail pages to enable Sellers to better describe their products and increasing customer confidence to make more informed purchasing decisions.

In addition, although Pan-EU FBA and EFN are no longer operating across the UK<>EU border, our FBA Export program continues to function. This allows EU customers to visit the Amazon.co.uk website and UK customers to visit EU stores and order products direct to their home address on the opposite side of the border. To improve the quality of Amazon listings and to ensure that FBA Export orders continue to be sent across the border smoothly, ‘Country of Origin (COO)’ information is a mandatory requirement since August 22, 2021. This has the following impact on your listings:

1. New Selection: Sellers will be unable to create new listings without selecting your products COO information from the drop-down menu.
2. Existing Selection: Sellers will be unable to edit existing listings, until COO information has been provided.

Frequently asked questions:

What is Country of Origin (COO)?

As per UK government guidance:

“Rules of origin determine where your goods originate from and which goods are covered in preference agreements. This means that the origin is the economic nationality of goods being imported and exported (where they have been produced or manufactured). It is not just where they have been shipped or bought from. If two or more countries are involved in the production, the goods are deemed to have originated in the country or territory where they were last substantially worked or processed.”

Country of Origin (COO) rules require businesses to state the country where their goods originate in order to clear customs. The COO will determine whether your goods may qualify for preferential treatment. For example, reduced or zero rates of duty. The COO of a product is the country where the product was wholly obtained or manufactured.

Following the end of the Brexit transition period, all EU-exporting businesses to the UK and UK-exporting businesses to the EU will be required to provide COO information.

To ensure your Amazon business continues to operate as usual and to maintain your ability to create and edit your listings, please provide country of origin information for all of your listings.

You can learn more about COO in our video in Seller Central. For more Information, go to the following European Union and United Kingdom government guidance.

Where and how do I find my COO information?

If you do not know your country of origin, you can contact your supplier who should be able to provide you with this information. You can find further guidance on how to identify your COO information , or in the TCA document.

I’m not on the FBA Export program, why do I have to upload country of origin information (COO)?

Amazon is continuously working to improve listing quality and consistency within our detail pages. This enables Sellers to better describe their products and increases customer confidence to make more informed purchasing decisions. With that in mind, providing ‘Country of Origin’ (COO) information is a mandatory requirement. These changes impact your listings in the following ways:

1. New Selection: Sellers will be unable to create new listings without selecting your products Country of Origin information from the drop-down menu.
2. Existing Selection: Sellers will be unable to edit existing listings, until COO information has been provided.

To ensure your Amazon business continues to operate as usual and to maintain your ability to create and edit your listings, provide country of origin information for all your listings. You can find step-by-step instructions on how to update the COO of your Amazon listings on this help page.

I have more than one Country of origin, which one should I use?

As per UK government guidance:

“Rules of origin determine where your goods originate from and which goods are covered in preference agreements. This means that the origin is the economic nationality of goods being imported and exported (where they have been produced or manufactured). It is not just where they have been shipped or bought from. If 2 or more countries are involved in the production, the goods are deemed to have originated in the country or territory where they were last substantially worked or processed.”

If you are still unsure about which country you should use as the SKUs COO, please reach out directly to your supplier who are best placed to support you, or to a customs broker.

For more information about how to determine country of origin, go to the following European Union and United Kingdom government guidance.

Will I become enforced if I don’t add COO information into my current listings?

Amazon will not be suspending accounts that do not provide this information, however not doing so will have the following impact on your listings:

1. New Selection: Sellers will be unable to create new listings without selecting your product's Country of Origin information from the drop-down menu.
2. Existing Selection: Sellers will be unable to edit existing listings, until COO information has been provided.

To ensure your Amazon business continues to operate as usual and to maintain your ability to create and edit your listings, provide country of origin information for all your listings. You can find step by step instructions on how to update your COO on this help page.

For more information, go to UK guidance for UK and EU guidance for EU Countries.

Why is COO information required for my shipments to clear customs?

Following the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31, 2020, any products being exported from the UK to EU or vice versa need to provide COO information on their customs forms.

COO rules require businesses to state the country where their goods originate in order to clear customs. The country of origin will determine whether your goods may qualify for preferential treatment. For example, reduced or zero rates of duty

For more information, go to UK guidance for UK and EU guidance for EU Countries.

I am updating my COO information one by one but I cannot find the COO field anywhere for a particular ASIN?

You can update products one by one by finding the SKU you wish to update on the Manage Inventory tab and selecting Edit Listing. Depending on the product type, the Country of Origin drop-down list will feature in one of the following tabs: Compliance, Vital Info, Offer, or more details tabs. If the COO Field is missing for an offer, you will be unable to save your changes and the tab where the COO Field is missing will be highlighted with a red exclamation mark.

How do I update the Country of Origin for my products in bulk?

1. Visit the Add Products via Upload page here
2. Select the product type(s) for your listings, then click Generate Template
3. Open the template you have just generated and populate 4 columns:
   • Column A feed_product_type: provide the product type of the ASIN for which you would like to update Country of Origin
   • Column B item_sku: provide the SKU for which you would like to update Country of Origin
   • update_delete column (column position will vary depending on product type): select PartialUpdate (this setting ensures that the values in your catalog remain unchanged for attributes you are not populating in your template)
   • country_of_origin column (column position will vary depending on product type): provide the country of origin for your product
   
4. Save a copy of the file
5. Visit the Upload Your Inventory File page
6. Under the File Type menu drop-down, select Inventory Files for Specific Categories
7. Browse to find your file, then click upload

Do I need a certificate to prove my COO information?

No, you do not need to upload COO certificates in Seller Central. By visiting the following European Union and United Kingdom government guidance, you can check if further certificates are required by customs authorities. However, we are not asking SPs to upload any supporting COO documentation to Seller Central.

Why do I need to update COO if I’m not selling outside my home marketplace?

Amazon is continuously working to improve listing quality and consistency within our detail pages. This enables Selling Partners to better describe their products and increases customer confidence to make more informed purchasing decisions. With that in mind, providing COO’ information is a mandatory requirement and impact your listings in the following way:

1) New Selection: Sellers will be unable to create new listings without selecting your products Country of Origin information from the drop-down menu.

2) Existing Selection: Sellers will be unable to edit existing listings, until COO information has been provided.

I’m not the manufacturer of my products and my supplier does not provide COO information. Where can I find COO information?

Your supplier is best placed to support you with accurately determining this, it is likely that they will have needed to provide this information when they were originally sending the goods to you. If your supplier is unable to provide COO, you could ask your customs broker for further support.

Can I change COO information?

If your supplier changes, update the COO information accordingly. This information can be updated in Seller Central via the Country/Region of origin drop down at any time. Remaining stock within Amazon fullfilment centers can still be sold.

Do I need to update COO on ASIN or Offer level?

Please update COO information on offer level via the two options mentioned above (manual update or update in bulk).

Can I use “E.U.” or “E.C.” as country of origin?

According to the European Commission, “the rules of COO (Non-preferential rules of origin) are used to determine the country of origin of goods for the application of the most-favored nation treatment (MFN) but also for the implementation of a number of commercial policy measures such as anti-dumping and countervailing duties, trade embargoes, safeguard measures and quantitative restrictions or tariff quotas”. Therefore, COO must specifically state the EU member state where the product was wholly obtained or substantially manufactured.

Can I provide more than one COO?

You will only be able to select one country as the country of origin from the Country/Region of origin drop-down menu. Based on feedback from Selling Partners like yourself, we have now made COO field editable, allowing you to update COO when it changes.