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PräferenzPilot
Preferential origin of goods

Prove the EU origin of your products with confidence — and save customs duty on every export.

PräferenzPilot checks each article for preferential EU origin, drafts the proof of origin ready for review and keeps track of your suppliers' declarations — guided by an AI assistant that walks you through everything. Every figure comes from a verified engine, every rule from the official rules database. The final approval always remains in your hands.

Get startedHow the check works

14-day free trial · then €249 / month plus VAT · cancellable monthly.

Figures
from a verified engine
Rules
from the official database
Approval
always in your hands
Analysis previewExample

Example: industrial component

8413.70Export EU–South Korea

Origin confirmed
Non-originating share42.0%
02575100Ceiling 50.0%

The non-originating share of 42.0% is 8.0% below the permitted ceiling. Origin holds — this is what a passing analysis looks like.

Ex-works price
€1,250
Non-originating material
€525
Estimated customs savings / year
€14,800

Illustrative example. In the app the engine calculates, checked against the rules database; the approval is yours.

9,433 verified list rules from 20 EU agreementsRules as of: 30 Aug 2026Official sources: EUR-Lex, Access2Markets, WITS/TRAINS
The honest upfront check

Is this even worth it for you?

Three inputs, one clear answer in euros per year. And if it does not pay off for your goods, we tell you exactly that — before you spend a cent.

Choose your product group — PräferenzPilot then suggests the standard duty rate, where one is stored for your destination country.
The regular duty on your goods in the destination country. Not at hand? Choose a product group above — or look it up on Access2Markets.

Rough estimate: annual exports × the difference between standard duty and preferential rate. If a preferential rate is stored for your product group, the estimate uses it — otherwise 0 % (true for most industrial goods, not all). It assumes your articles meet the rules of origin. That is exactly what the engine checks deterministically per bill of materials — the actual core of PräferenzPilot.

What this is about

SMEs give away customs duty — and are liable for incomplete proofs.

The EU has free trade agreements with more than 70 countries that reduce or remove import duty on originating goods. But the benefit only goes to companies that calculate and document preferential origin properly. That is exactly where everyday practice fails.

  1. 01

    Customs savings left on the table

    Without a proof of origin, your goods pay the full third-country duty in the destination market. On six-figure annual exports, even a few percentage points add up to five-figure amounts — year after year.

  2. 02

    An incomplete chain of evidence

    Origin stands or falls with the suppliers' declarations for every purchased input material. If a single one is missing or expired, the proof does not hold — no matter how good the calculation looks.

  3. 03

    Liability in a customs audit

    Whoever declares origin is liable for its correctness. If customs finds an error years later, you face recovery of duties, interest and, in the worst case, administrative-fine or criminal proceedings.

  4. 04

    Rules and prices keep shifting

    A new supplier, a higher material price or an amended list rule can tip the origin. A one-off check is not enough — the calculation has to stay current.

How it works

Six steps from article to a proof that holds.

No customs degree required. You bring your data, PräferenzPilot does the calculation and administration. Here is the flow on an example — a centrifugal pump going to South Korea.

What you need — and where to get it

Your product

Name, ex-works price and destination country.

Source: Your costing knows it. The HS code is on your export/customs papers.

Your bill of materials

Components with value and origin.

Source: Usually at hand — from purchasing, costing or your ERP system.

Your suppliers' declarations

Evidence from your upstream suppliers.

Source: Request them briefly from the supplier. If one is missing, the tool shows exactly which — and the article honestly stays “under review” until then.

PräferenzPilot · Centrifugal pump NP-65Example

New article

ArticleCentrifugal pump NP-65
HS code8413.70
Ex-works price€4,200
Target marketSouth Korea · EU–Korea agreement

That is all it takes to start — the details come in the next step.

Safety before convenience

Why no origin ever gets hallucinated here.

A wrong origin declaration can mean recovered duties, fines and criminal proceedings for your customer. That is why we strictly separate four layers — and give each one exactly the job it does reliably.

  1. 01 · Language

    Understanding language

    Language model

    Reads bills of materials and invoices, matches materials, suggests optimisations and explains the result in plain terms. That is what language models are good at.

  2. 02 · Engine

    Calculating

    Deterministic engine

    Checks the value criterion and tariff shift in code — reproducible and tested. A calculation must never be hallucinated. 46.9% below 50% is mathematics, not an opinion.

  3. 03 · Rules DB

    Rules and rates

    Fixed rules database

    The list rules are parsed deterministically from the official agreement annexes (EUR-Lex/Official Journal); every rule points to its source document, whose SHA-256 fingerprint is kept in the source register and the audit dossier. Third-country duty rates come from Access2Markets and the World Bank's WITS database. The system reads rules — it does not invent them.

  4. 04 · Your approval

    Final approval

    You

    The final approval of a proof is yours — or you discuss it with a customs or legal professional. A human review by us is not part of the service. Liability stays where it belongs. Drafts are clearly marked as drafts.

The language model interprets and explains. It never does the maths itself and never invents a rule. Every figure comes from the engine, every rule from the database — the final approval remains in your hands.

How every rule travels from the official source to the verdict — with checksums per source document and unvarnished coverage per agreement: See the methodology

Recovery auditExample

How much duty are you giving away across your portfolio?

The recovery audit shows, article by article, where preferential origin is possible and what annual saving it holds. The figures below are an illustrative example — your own analysis is built from your own articles.

Start your own audit
Estimated customs savings / year€84,000Example: across 7 of 12 articles with possible origin.
Annual export value€1,400,000
Origin possible58.3%7 / 12
Features at a glance

Everything the tool takes off your plate.

One continuous origin process — from article import through requesting suppliers' declarations to the review-ready proof, guided by an AI assistant. In short: what each feature does and what it saves you.

  • 01

    An AI assistant that works with you

    Describe your product in one sentence — the assistant sets it up, runs the check and explains.

    An assistant accompanies you through the whole workspace: it reads your portfolio, has the engine run the checks, explains every result in plain language, keeps deadlines in view and sets up articles on request — you confirm with one click. Commodity codes and import duties are never answered from memory but looked up in the official search and Access2Markets; the conversation survives page changes. The AI supports and explains; the origin verdict is always calculated by the verified engine, never by the AI.

  • 02

    Find your commodity code

    Search German and English goods descriptions — one click adopts the code.

    Don't know the commodity code? The search runs through the official German goods nomenclature AND the English agreement descriptions in one go — a built-in dictionary makes sure the same goods match in both languages. One click adopts the position into the article form. Only customs classifies bindingly (BTI) — the page says so honestly.

  • 03

    Origin check

    Automatically calculates whether your product meets the rule of origin.

    Per article and agreement: does the product meet the list rule? You see the non-originating share, the permitted ceiling and the margin in percentage points — every figure from the deterministic engine, traceable down to the individual material line. What the engine does not know for sure, it says honestly — it never guesses. And where a rule is not yet verified in the database, you request the review with one click.

  • 04

    Declaration requests by link

    Your supplier fills in the declaration online — no registration needed.

    Instead of e-mail ping-pong: every supplier receives a personal link and issues the supplier's declaration online in two minutes. Automatic reminders in up to three stages, an annual campaign at one click, returns at a glance — the year-end collection takes care of itself.

  • 05

    CSV bulk import

    Your article master from Excel/ERP — imported and fully calculated.

    Fill the template, upload, done: hundreds of articles including bills of materials in one pass, each immediately checked server-side against the list rules. German Excel formats (semicolons, decimal commas) are understood directly; recalculating the whole portfolio is one click.

  • 06

    Save duty on your imports

    Finds where you pay import duty that a supplier's document would reduce.

    The other direction: if you buy from a country the EU has a preference agreement with, a proof of origin from your supplier reduces your import duty — without the document you pay the full rate. That is exactly where money is left lying in practice, because nobody asked for the paper. PräferenzPilot matches your imported goods against the agreements, calculates what is on the table per year and drafts the request to your supplier. We never estimate duty rates: the system proposes the official rate from the EU Commission's Access2Markets (with source and retrieval date, adopted at one click), or you enter the rate from your customs assessment — an empty field means "not yet known", never "duty-free".

  • 07

    Suppliers' declarations with expiry warnings

    Manages your declarations and warns before one expires.

    All one-off and long-term suppliers' declarations in one place, with status and validity. When a declaration expires, PräferenzPilot automatically devalues the affected origin claim — no proof quietly keeps standing on an expired declaration. If your supplier uploads a scan, the AI reads out the fields including the goods list as a proposal, the original is filed as evidence, and PräferenzPilot suggests which bill-of-materials lines the declaration covers — nothing is linked until you click. Official templates (Annexes 22-15/22-16) are included, ready to print.

  • 08

    Proof and audit dossier

    Official wording per agreement — plus an audit-proof record.

    When the check passes, the proof draft is created with the exact official declaration wording of the respective agreement — filled in, as a PDF with letterhead, ready to download. For whole consignments there is the collective proof: one statement on origin for the invoice with an itemised list, or the long-term supplier's declaration (Annex 22-16) for your customer — one document instead of twenty. Plus, per article, an audit dossier for the customs examination: the applied rule verbatim, every check step, the chain of evidence and an integrity manifest — properly documented for the customs (min. 3 years, Art. 51 UCC) and tax retention periods (up to 10 years).

  • 09

    Team accounts

    Purchasing maintains BOMs, customs approves — one account, several users.

    The origin process is a team effort in any company. Invite colleagues into your account by e-mail: everyone works with equal rights on the same articles, suppliers and proofs. The invitation is bound to the e-mail address — a forwarded link cannot pull a stranger's mailbox into the account.

  • 10

    Origin optimisation

    Shows the legal levers when origin fails narrowly.

    If a product narrowly misses origin, PräferenzPilot shows the legal levers: an alternative rule, cumulation with partner-country material, tolerance or the smallest supplier switch that would do it — always with a concrete figure, never as a claim.

  • 11

    20 agreements, verified rules

    All 78 countries with an EU agreement in force — every rule from the official annex.

    From Switzerland via Canada and Japan to Mercosur: PräferenzPilot covers all 78 countries with which the EU has a preference agreement in force. The list rules are parsed deterministically from the official agreement annexes — with source reference and rule version per verdict, continuously monitored for changes.

  • 12

    REST API for your ERP

    Calculation over HTTPS — create a key, integrate, done.

    Connect the origin calculation directly to your ERP, PIM or your own scripts: send a bill of materials via the API, get a deterministic verdict with the rule version back. No cost per call — fair-use limits apply against abuse.

  • 13

    Recovery audit

    Shows across all articles where duty can be recovered, and how much.

    One overview across all articles shows where preferential origin is possible and what annual customs saving it holds — the entry point for lifting your portfolio systematically.

Security and responsibility

Built for a liability-critical environment.

Strict tenant separation
Every account is strictly isolated via row-level security. You see your own data and nothing else — from day one.
A complete audit trail
Every calculation, every proof and every approval is recorded. A customs examination can come years later — you can substantiate every origin without gaps.
GDPR and full data ownership
Your data belongs to you. You can export it at any time and delete your workspace — the contract is cancellable monthly. We do not hoard personal legacy data.
No legal advice
PräferenzPilot is a process and compliance tool. The official list rules of the respective agreement remain authoritative. The system supports your decision — it does not replace customs or legal advice.
The questions that matter

What you should know about preferential origin.

Preferential origin follows the rules of a specific free trade agreement and earns the customs advantage in the destination country — often 0% instead of the full third-country duty. It must be distinguished from non-preferential origin ("Made in …"), which matters for statistics and labelling but brings no customs advantage. For exports into agreement countries, preferential origin is almost always the one that counts.

Because the HS code says WHAT a product is, not WHERE it comes from. It only determines the applicable list rule and the duty rate — whether your product meets that rule depends on what it is made of. Two identical articles with the same HS code can have opposite origins: one made mostly of EU material (EU origin, customs advantage), the other assembled from imported parts (no preferential origin). Think of it this way: the HS code says "this is a cake", origin asks "are the ingredients from the EU?" — and only the recipe answers that: your bill of materials (BOM) with value and origin per line.

Both are types of list rules that define when a product counts as sufficiently processed. The value criterion allows a maximum share of non-originating material in the ex-works price (for example, at most 50%). The tariff shift requires the processing to change the tariff heading — say, from yarn to fabric. Some rules allow either as alternatives; then the criterion you can meet is enough.

The supplier's declaration (SD) confirms for one specific delivery whether a purchased input material has origin. The long-term supplier's declaration (LTSD) covers all deliveries over a longer period, typically up to two years. Both are the foundation of the chain of evidence: without a valid declaration, origin cannot be substantiated for purchased parts.

The EUR.1 is a formal movement certificate confirmed by customs on application — used mainly in older agreements and for consignments above €6,000 when no simplification is in place. The statement on origin (in newer agreements) is written onto the invoice by the exporter. Which proof applies depends on the agreement; PräferenzPilot knows the right type per agreement.

Up to €6,000 consignment value, any exporter may issue a statement on origin without formalities. Above that you need either a EUR.1 or an authorisation — as an Approved Exporter or as a Registered Exporter (REX). REX has been the standard system for many newer agreements such as Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom since 2021; the REX number goes directly into the statement.

Under cumulation, material from a partner country of the agreement may count as your own originating material. That lets you combine EU processing with material from another agreement country without losing origin. It lowers the non-originating share — often without switching suppliers. Important: cumulation only counts with the right evidence (a supplier's declaration from the partner-country supplier substantiating origin). PräferenzPilot flags cumulation as a possible lever; whether it applies in your case depends on that evidence — without it, the material remains non-originating.

The general tolerance (de minimis) forgives a small share of non-conforming material — 10 or 15% of the ex-works price depending on the agreement. It is a safety margin for minor materials that would otherwise break a specific rule. Important: it does not heal an overshoot of the value criterion itself — the agreements say so explicitly (e.g. Art. 5(2) of the revised PEM Convention: the tolerance must not exceed the ceiling of a value rule). PräferenzPilot checks this correctly and shows it transparently. The rate applicable to your agreement is in the audit dossier, with its legal source.

Because the architecture deliberately prevents it. The language model interprets and explains, but it never calculates and never draws on invented rules. Every figure comes from the deterministic engine, every rule from the database of official list rules. A hallucinated origin would be existential in this business — which is why this separation is non-negotiable.

A new supplier, a higher material price or an amended list rule can tip the origin. PräferenzPilot monitors the threshold, warns when the margin gets thin and recalculates affected articles when a rule changes. Your calculation stays current instead of checked-once-then-stale.

Honest answer: not for everyone. It pays off when three things come together — you export to an agreement country with a real duty rate (say, South Korea at 8%, not Japan/Canada/UK where many industrial goods are duty-free anyway), your product can reach EU origin, and your export volumes are relevant. On top of that, your foreign customer often demands the proof because otherwise they carry the duty — so it is also about competitiveness. That is exactly what the recovery audit is for: it calculates in advance whether there is something to gain for you, and says so openly if there is not.

No. Checking happens per article (each must pass its list rule individually), issuing happens per consignment or per period: the statement on origin covers the whole invoice, the long-term supplier's declaration covers all deliveries to one customer for up to 24 months. PräferenzPilot builds both as a collective proof — you select the passing articles and receive one document with an itemised list as a PDF. Only what passed individually can be selected.

Yes, you start with what you have. Suppliers' declarations come from your upstream suppliers — many SMEs have gaps here. PräferenzPilot shows you exactly which line is missing a valid declaration, and as long as it is missing, the article honestly stays "under review" instead of resting on a proof that would not hold. Collecting and monitoring the declarations becomes plannable, instead of a nasty surprise in an audit.

The origin declaration is legally binding, which is why software never approves it. A human review or approval by us is expressly not part of the service. PräferenzPilot calculates, explains and delivers the decision-ready, review-ready draft — the final approval is yours, or you discuss it with a customs or legal professional. Liability legally remains with the exporter who signs the declaration. PräferenzPilot does not replace customs or legal advice — it makes the calculation and administrative work traceable and reproducible.

No. PräferenzPilot structures and speeds up the process, calculates reliably and keeps the chain of evidence clean. The final approval is yours — or made together with a customs or legal professional; liability remains with the exporter, and the official list rules are always authoritative. We see ourselves as the tool that takes the traceable, reproducible calculation and administration work off the hands of your customs expertise.
Start now

See what is hiding in your own articles.

One plan, full functionality: complete origin analysis with traceable figures, optimisation hints and estimated customs savings, review-ready proof drafts and monitoring of your suppliers' declarations. Set up your articles and work productively right away.

Get startedSee pricing

€249 / month, cancellable monthly. The final approval of a proof is yours — or discussed with a customs or legal professional.