Glossary term
Country of Origin
The country where goods were produced, or last substantially transformed — not necessarily where they were shipped from.
Where goods are considered to have been produced for customs purposes. It is not where they were shipped from, nor where the seller is established.
Where more than one country is involved in making something, origin normally falls to the country of last substantial transformation - a test defined differently in different regimes, sometimes by a change of tariff heading, sometimes by a percentage of value added, sometimes by a specified process.
Origin governs preferential duty rates, quotas, anti-dumping measures, marking requirements and import bans, so it is one of the few facts about a shipment that can change the answer at every stage.