Harmonised System

The Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System (HS), commonly referred to as the Harmonised System, is an international commodity classification system developed by the World Customs Organisation (WCO). It is a comprehensive classification system of approximately 5,000 six-digit product categories organised in a hierarchical structure by

• sections
• chapters (2 digits)
• headings (4 digits)
• sub-headings (6 digits).

This hierarchical structure is supported by general rules for interpretation and explanatory notes.     

It allows economic operators, custom officials and legislators from any country to identify the same product by means of a numerical code.

Countries use the HS system as the basis for customs tariffs and statistical data. They further subdivide the six-digit HS product categories into regional or national subheadings for greater specificity. The Combined Nomenclature of the European Union uses eight-digit codes.

How is the HS nomenclature structured?

• 21 major sections
  • 97 chapters (2 digits) 
    • more than 1,200 headings (4-digit code) 
      • more than 5,000 sub-headings (6-digit code) 

Example of product classification

• Section II Vegetable products
  • Chapter 07 Edible Vegetables and certain Roots and Tubers
    • Heading: 0705 Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and chicory (Cichorium spp.), fresh or chilled
      • • Sub-heading 0705.11: Cabbage lettuce (head lettuce)
        • Sub-heading 0705.19: Other

Notes on the HS nomenclature

• The system is used by more than 200 countries and territories as the basis for their customs tariffs and for the collection of international trade statistics – almost all merchandise in international trade is classified in terms of the HS.
• The HS is regularly updated to reflect changes in technology and the emergence of new products – the latest amendment came into force in 2022, thus the current version is named HS 2022.
• In practice, however, some countries stay with a previous version of the HS and thus delay the application of the current version – this leads to inconsistencies at least on a temporary basis.
• The Combined Nomenclature of the European Union (EU) is an eight-digit coding system, comprising the HS codes with further EU subdivisions and legal notes specifically created to address the needs of the EU.

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