RVC calculator — India–UAE CEPA Rules of Origin
Enter your FOB value and the value of non-originating materials to see your Regional Value Content and whether it clears the CEPA threshold for your sector.
Data last updated: · confirm product-specific rules in the CEPA schedule
Typical PSR: a tariff-classification change PLUS 40% value addition.
Imported / third-country inputs, by value.
Result
Enter an FOB value and the value of non-originating materials to check qualification.
How the RVC test works
Regional Value Content measures how much of a product's value is added inside the FTA region. CEPA allows two ways to compute it, and you may use whichever your cost records support:
- Build-down — (FOB − value of non-originating materials) ÷ FOB. This is what the calculator above uses, because importers normally know the FOB price and the imported input cost.
- Build-up — (cost of originating material + direct labour + direct overhead) ÷ FOB. Useful when the bill of materials is cleaner than the import records.
One rule catches people out and appears nowhere on the certificate: the thresholds are written on an FOB basis, and if you compute on an Ex Works basis instead, the required value addition is 5 percentage points lower — 40% FOB is 35% Ex Works. The exception is HS Chapter 71 (pearls, stones, precious metals and jewellery), where the agreement requires the FOB basis regardless. The final manufacture must also have taken place in the exporting country.
The threshold is per product, not a flat 40%
Across the 533 lines we have extracted from Annex 3B, the spread looks like this — most sit at 40%, but the outliers are exactly the high-value trades in this corridor:
| Value addition | Lines | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 40% | 473 | Crude soya-bean oil, whether or not degummed |
| 45% | 27 | Unwrought aluminium, not alloyed — ingots |
| Wholly obtained | 23 | Seed potatoes |
| 6% | 6 | Diamonds, unsorted (rough) |
| 3% | 2 | Silver, unwrought — grains |
| 3.5% | 2 | Gold jewellery and articles |
Assuming 40% on a gold line overstates the requirement by an order of magnitude; assuming it on unwrought aluminium understates it. Look the product up rather than working from the common case.
Both tests must pass, not either
Annex 3B rules are written as "CTSH + VA 40%". The plus sign is doing real work: the goods must change tariff classification and add the required value. Clearing one does not rescue the other. Across our extraction the classification requirement breaks down as:
- CTSH (292 lines) — Change of tariff sub-heading — the finished product sits in a different 6-digit sub-heading from every non-originating input
- CTH (203 lines) — Change of tariff heading — a different 4-digit heading
- WO (23 lines) — Wholly obtained — grown, mined or produced entirely in the exporting country, with no value test
- CC (9 lines) — Change of chapter — a different 2-digit chapter, the strictest of the three
- none (6 lines) — A special rule applies (for example certified good-delivery bars); check the exact line
De minimis: the escape hatch when the shift fails
If a non-originating material does not make the required classification change, the product is not automatically disqualified. Under Article 3.4 it is still treated as originating where that material's total value is 10% or less of the FOB or Ex Works price. For textiles and clothing in HS chapters 50–63 there is a second route: under 7% of the total weight of materials used, or the same 10% by value. For a wholly obtained product the allowance is much tighter — 1%.
This matters most for small imported components — a fastener, a label, a trace additive — that would otherwise sink an otherwise-qualifying product.
Bilateral cumulation
Materials that already originate in India count as originating when they are used in production in the UAE, and vice versa — so Indian-origin inputs shipped to a UAE manufacturer do not count against the value test. The condition is that the last production process must go beyond the minimal operations listed in Article 3.5: repacking, simple mixing, mere dilution, affixing labels and similar handling never confer origin on their own.
Rules quoted from the India–UAE CEPA agreement text, Chapter 3 (Articles 3.2–3.7) and the Annex 3B definitions — official agreement PDF ↗. Thresholds shown are our extraction of Annex 3B; confirm the rule for your exact 8-digit line before filing.
Frequently asked questions
- What does RVC mean in customs?
- Regional Value Content — the share of a product's value added inside the FTA region. Under India–UAE CEPA it is calculated on the FOB price: RVC% = [(FOB − value of non-originating materials) / FOB] × 100. The required threshold is set per product in Annex 3B and ranges from about 3.5% to 45%, with 40% the most common.
- Is there an RVC calculation sheet I can use?
- This page is one: enter the FOB price and the value of non-originating materials and it computes the RVC percentage against the real Annex 3B threshold for your product, rather than a generic 40%. Keep the underlying cost statement, since the issuing authority and, later, customs verification will both ask for it.
- What value addition do I need for India–UAE CEPA?
- It is set per product in Annex 3B, not a single figure. 40% of FOB is the most common, but gold jewellery needs only ~3.5%, cut diamonds 6%, and unwrought aluminium 45%. RVC% = [(FOB − value of non-originating materials) / FOB] × 100.
- Is value addition the only test?
- No. CEPA's Product-Specific Rules require BOTH a tariff-classification change (CTH/CTSH/CC) AND the value addition — they are written as 'CTSH + VA 40%', meaning both conditions. A few lines are simply Wholly Obtained and skip the value test.
- Does cumulation help?
- Yes. CEPA allows bilateral cumulation, so inputs originating in India or the UAE count as originating when sent to the other party — which can lift a borderline value-addition figure over the threshold.