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The 'Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System' (HS) of tariff nomenclature is an internationally standardized system of names and numbers for classifying traded products developed and maintained by the World Customs Organization (WCO) (formerly the Customs Co-operation Council), an independent intergovernmental organization with over 160 member countries based in Brussels, Belgium.
The HS is a six-digit nomenclature. Individual countries have extended it to ten digits for customs purposes, and to 8 digits for export purposes. Almost 200 countries, representing about 98% of world trade, use the HS as a basis for:

★ Customs tariffs

★ Collection of international trade statistics

★ Rules of origin

★ Collection of internal taxes

★ Trade negotiations (e.g., the World Trade Organization schedules of tariff concessions)

★ Transport tariffs and statistics

★ Monitoring of controlled goods (e.g., wastes, narcotics, chemical weapons, ozone layer depleting substances, endangered species)

★ Areas of Customs controls and procedures, including risk assessment, information technology and compliance.
Codes have been revised through the years. So if you need to reference a code related to a trade issue from even a few years ago, make sure the definition set that you're using matches the code.

Contents

See also

External links

See also

★ Customs tariff

★ TARIC Coding System

★ UNSPSC

External links

★ [1] World Customs Organization

★ WCO's HS Nomenclature (2007)

★ Handy Harmonized System Code (HS Code) database

★ U.S. import codes (Harmonized Tariff Schedule) by U.S. International Trade Commission

★ U.S. export codes by U.S. Census Bureau

★ Canadian Export Classification by Statistics Canada

★ Irish Customs and Excise Tariffs

★ Indian Harmonized System Codes

★ Indian Customs Tariff