What is the Harmonized System?
The Harmonized System (HS) designates and codes goods and forms the basis for international trade in goods. The system is administered by the World Customs Organization (WCO) and determines the first six digits of the commodity code/tariff number. The HS is applied worldwide and thus enables a uniform classification of goods for almost all countries.
The following BEX article explains the topic in more detail:
https://www.bex.ag/blog/codenummer-zolltarifnummer-warennummer-taric-oder-hs-code/
Overview of the most important changes in the HS Code 2022
A new version of the HS is presented every five years. The latest will be published on January 1, 2022. The HS 2017 currently in force will then be replaced by the HS 2022.
These are the most important changes in the various areas:
- Area of the food industry, beverages and tobacco
- Re-regulation of tobacco and nicotine products to improve their statistical coverage
- Chemical industry sector
- Consideration of various conventions, such as the Kigali Amendments to the Montreal Protocol (protection of the ozone layer), the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Rotterdam Convention (Prior Informed Consent)
- In the health sector, the classification of diagnostic kits and placebos has been simplified
- Section of goods made of stone, ceramics or glass
- Restructuring for heading 70.19 Glass fibers and articles to better reflect technological progress
- Area of means of transport
- Inclusion of the so-called UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) / drones
Machinery sector - Reorganization of the subheadings of heading 84.62 for machinery and apparatus for metal forming
- New subheadings and explanatory notes for digital surveillance goods, smartphones, etc.
- Modules for flat panel displays are classified as separate goods
- Subheadings (mainly chapters 84 and 85) have been adapted to make it easier to trace dual-use goods by means of commodity codes (also applies to mass spectrometers in ch. 90)
- Classification of e-waste in new subheading 85.49 to reflect the 1989 Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal and to make the tracking of global waste movements more transparent
- Wood section
- Text amendments to align the French and English versions to facilitate international uniform application of the HS.
Comparison HS 2022 vs. HS 2017
Experience shows that 15 to 20 percent of all commodity codes change in a new HS. More precisely, the changes mean: technical progress, changed trade patterns & environmental aspects. The new HS contains a total of 351 changes. 77 of them in chemicals, 58 in wood, 21 in textiles and clothing, 27 in metals, 63 in machinery, 22 in transport equipment and also some changes in glass fibers.
New HS headings are (goods concerned are regrouped from other headings):
- 0309 (fish meal)
- 2404 (novel tobacco)
- 3827 (blends of HFCs)
- 8485 (3-D printers, additive manufacturing)
- 8524 (panels for flat panel displays)
- 8549 (electronic waste)
- 8806 (unmanned aerial vehicles/drones)
- 8807 (parts of aircraft)
- Changes to glass fibers in Chapter 70, placebos heading 3006, metalworking machines heading 8462
- New subheadings for, among other things, smartphones (8517 13)
WTO (World Trade Organization) has published an online tool to compare all different HS versions at will. The effects of the HS changes should be reviewed in good time before the turn of the year in order to be able to assess any major changes that may come to one’s own company.
The HS changes may affect, among other things:
- the preferential calculation (the previous rule of origin must continue to be used)
- lists of goods in customs authorizations
- the validity of existing binding tariff information
Experience shows that not all countries around the world will manage the changeover to HS 2022 at the same time, so there may be import delays in individual cases.
Combined Nomenclature 2022
The CN 2022 shows the latest changes in the nomenclature of the Harmonized System and is the basis for the declaration of goods for import or export or for statistical purposes within the EU. The classification of the goods determines the applicable customs duty and the type of statistical treatment. The CN is therefore important for the economy as well as for the administration of the member states. It has its legal basis in Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2658/87.
Annually, the CN is updated and published as an implementing Commission Regulation in the EU Official Journal (L series). The latest version was published in the OJEU L385 of 29 October 2021 as Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/1832 and will apply from 1 January 2022.
List of goods 2022
The new goods nomenclature (2022) for foreign trade statistics (WA), contains the annually new amendments to the Combined Nomenclature (CN). With the help of the WA, goods can be classified and used for statistics on trade in goods with member states of the European Union (intra-trade) and with third countries (extra-trade). It thus forms the basis for the presentation of foreign trade results.
For participating companies that have to report trade in goods in the calendar year 2022, only the WA 2022 applies. The 2021 edition is no longer valid as of January 1, 2022.
Sources:
