The Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) has introduced electronic Certificates of Origin – eCertify – to South Africa after a successful trial period to raise awareness and instil confidence in the export community.

The Certificate of Origin (COO) is a critical international trade document required by exporters for import compliance and states the origin of all goods – manufactured or processed.

“Currently, JCCI is the only Chamber in the country offering the eCertify facility,” says Joan Warburton-McBride, CEO of JCCI. “Since its inception 125 years ago, JCCI has focused on the facilitation of international trade and in order to ensure that the Chamber remains at the cutting edge of development in the international trade arena, we wanted to offer members an efficient system that was tried and tested. Last year the Chamber piloted the implementation of an electronic Certificate of Origin.”

“Previously Certificates of Origin were couriered to the Chamber for certification, which is a time-consuming and a costly exercise for chambers, exporters, and freight forwarders,” adds Warburton-McBride.

The electronic eCertify has been extensively tested in other countries and is widely accepted. It makes the exporting easier for exporters and freight forwarders as it streamlines the process and also provides real value in cost savings and efficiency gains.

“eCertify presents a complete solution to the challenges as it eliminates paper-based processing, it is quick and immediate – eliminating the courier and reducing administration costs. We are looking forward to guiding members in this space to adopt these new practices,” concludes Warburton-McBride.