Friday 11 March 2011

HS 2012 - amendments to commodity code system

The World Customs Organisation (WCO) has published the agreed amendments to the Harmonized System (HS) nomenclature, it will come into force on 1 January 2012. The HS Coding system, which was first introduced in 1988, is reviewed every 5 years.

About the amendments: environmental and social issues of global concern are the major feature of the HS 2012 amendments, particularly the use of the HS as the standard for classifying and coding goods of specific importance to food security and the early warning data system of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

New subheadings have been created for the separate identification of certain edible vegetables, roots and tubers, fruit and nuts, as well as cereals. HS 2012 also features new subheadings for specific chemicals controlled under the Rotterdam Convention and ozone-depleting substances controlled under the Montreal Protocol.

As this will be a significant change with major impact on some businesses, we are hoping that a correlation table will be available next year to give time for businesses to up-date systems.
In brief changes (some minor others more significant) will be found in all chapters 1-30; 38 +39; some chapters in 40 series but not Chp 40 itself, within the scope of Chapters 50-59; most of 60; minor tweaks in 70 series, 82 and 84; lot of changes Chapter 85 including anew sub-headings 8507.50 for Nickel-metal hydride and 8507.60 for Lithium-ion batteries; some 87, 90, 92, 93; lots in chapter 95.