De minimis (origin)
Tolerance allowing a small percentage of non-originating materials to be incorporated without losing preferential origin.
De minimis (in matters of origin)
The de minimis rule (or tolerance) allows the incorporation of a certain percentage of non-originating materials that do not comply with specific rules of origin, without the goods losing their originating character.
Current thresholds
In most EU agreements, the tolerance is 10% of the ex-factory price of the finished product for industrial products, and 15% of the weight for processed agricultural products.
Conditions
The de minimis rule generally applies only to materials that do not undergo the required change in tariff classification. It does not allow the limits set for specifically excluded materials to be exceeded.
Examples
If a product requires a change of chapter for non-originating materials, but 8% of the value comes from materials that remain in the same chapter, the de minimis rule allows this non-compliance to be ignored.