Table of contents
Long Term Declarations (LTD) are used to certify preferential origin and are submitted to a strict Customs regulation.
Preferential original should not be mistaken either with the manufacturing country or with the shipping country. If a product qualifies for preferential origin, it means that he satisfies the specific rules attached to its tariff code in the trade preferential agreements signed between the European Union and its partners. These agreements allow reduced or nil import duty rates for qualifying products.
Solvay must be able to provide Customs Authorities with evidence proving the preferential origin of its products at any time, according to the regulation CE n° 1207/2001.
Objective
This procedure describes the changes brought by SAP GTS in the trade preference management process.
Scope
This procedure is live for all Rhodia legacy EU entities for raw materials and finish products
Roles and responsabilities
Actor | Task | Responsibility |
|---|---|---|
CTC |
| Rhodia Customs Manager |
Purchasing department |
| Purchasing |
CS EMEA |
| Customer specialist |
External Data Provider |
| Data provider |
Master data (Solvay IT) |
| Master Data |
Steps of the process
Step 1: Request for Long Term Vendor Declarations - from Solvay to its suppliers
Annual campaign
CTC is responsible for the annual request of LVD for raw materials suppliers by Solvay.
Every year in December letters are issued from GTS and sent to all the European and Switzerland suppliers. The letter includes a template for a LTD that the supplier completes and sends back to a generic email address.
The requests are based on an extract in GTS that lists and groups together all the products that Solvay has bought to a given supplier during the year, according to Purchase Orders that are completed in Rhodia’s global ERP system, RCS.
Request for LTD during the year
A new LVD can be needed at anytime during the year, when a new combination product/supplier appears in a Purchase Order. In this case, the information is replicated from the Purchase Order (in RCS) to a work list in GTS.
CTC is responsible for emptying this work list twice a year by requesting LTD for the new combinations product/supplier.
Step 2: Reminder if no answer
If the supplier has not answered to the request within two months, the reminder process starts:
Identification of the concerned suppliers
CTC issues from GTS a report that lists all the requests for which no answer has been maintained in GTS. The report is sent to the dedicated contact within purchasing department, together with a blank template of a reminder letter.
Reminder
The Purchasing department is responsible for contacting the suppliers and ask for their LTD.
Step 3: Maintenance of the information received
Suppliers complete the LTD request form and send it back to the generic email address ltd.solvay@solvay.com.
This email address is accessible for CTC.
CTC is responsible for checking the mail box, maintaining the corresponding data in GTS and archiving the LTD in electronic or paper mode.
Step 4: Launch of the preference calculation
The aim of the Trade Preference module in GTS is to certify the preferential origin of Solvay finished products. To do so, GTS considers the rule to be applied, according to the tariff code of the finished product. Depending on the rule, GTS might have to control the preferential origin of the components and their weight in the finished product.
The preference calculation consists in aggregating the data related to components, taken into account the weight of each component in the finished product (using the « BOM », Bill of Material) and confronting the result to the relevant preferential rule according to agreement. As the data can change during the year, the calculation is updated 3 times a year.
CTC is responsible for launching the preference calculation in GTS.
Step 5: Issue of customer LTD - from Solvay to its customers
CS EMEA is responsible for issuing and sending a LTD, on request of a customer.
The customer request LTD from customer specialist (CS). CS connects to GTS to “Manage customer LTD” and using article number and sold-to party print LTD from GTS. If LTD doesn’t exist or there is a problem concerning data, CS contacts a unique contact within CS EMEA. This person centralise all problems related to customer LTD and know how to deal with them. In case of impossibility to deal with them, this person contacts CTC.
If the product is eligible for preference, LTD is positive. If the product is not eligible for preference, LTD is negative in GTS.
Customer LTD are printed and sent to customer by CS (see DLT 2015.docx).
CS also archive a copy of LTD sent.
Step 6: Revocation of a LTD
Triggers:
- Revocation of a LTD established by a supplier
In this case CTC maintains the new data in GTS.
- Use of a new non preferential source for a raw material
This is taken into account in GTS because there would be a new Purchase Order in RCS and GTS would recognize that there is a new combination product/supplier. The worst case rule then applies: the raw material would be considered as non preferential.
- Modification of a BOM
BOM are replicated from RCS (production module) to GTS.
Legally, Solvay must inform its clients about any modification of preferential origin concerning Solvay products. Suppliers may also send revocation letters to Solvay for their LTD already established.
Update of the preferential origin
When CTC updates the preference calculation, any new information is taken into account. Impacted finished products (that lost the preferential status during the update of the calculation) appear in the work list for revocation.
Management of the revocation work list
CS EMEA is responsible for checking and emptying the work list for revocation, by sending a revoke letter to the concerned customers.
(See model Revocation letter.pdf)
Step 7: Upload of regulatory update
Regulatory updates (modification of existing agreements, new agreements, etc.) are sent to the generic address of CTC, as part of the contract with the External Data Provider. CTC is responsible for creating a User Request for Master data to upload the file. Master data upload new information in the system.