6. Nomenclature and Classification of Goods

World Customs Organization, complete version of the Harmonized System available at http://​www.​wcoomd.​org/​en/​topics/​nomenclature/​instrument-and-tools/​hs-nomenclatu-re-2017-edition/​hs-nomenclature-2017-edition.​aspx. Accessed May 10, 2021.

The Seventh Edition of the Harmonized System (HS) nomenclature has been approved by all Contracting Parties of the Convention and will enter into force on January 1st, 2022.

In 1974 it was renamed the “Customs Cooperation Council Nomenclature” (CCCN) to avoid any confusion as to the international organization in charge of it.

Chronologic sequence of the entry into force: December 15th, 1950. The Convention on Nomenclature for the Classification of Goods in Customs Tariffs is done in Brussels and includes, as Appendix, the tariff nomenclature. The Convention provides that it is open for signature until March 31st, 1951 (Article X), and that three months after the date on which the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has received the instruments of ratification of seven Governments, the Convention shall come into force (Article XII (a)).

1951. In parallel with the ratification process already initiated, the European Customs Union Study Group began the work to write the Explanatory Notes of the 1950 Nomenclature.

1951–1955. During the process of writing the Explanatory Notes, the need to promote amendments to the legal text of the Nomenclature arises (“legal” because it is the Appendix to the Convention) in order to maintain coherence between this legal text and the Explanatory Notes.

1955. As month after month the list of proposed amendments increased, by 1955 the Explanatory Notes’ writers conclude that the voluminous group of amendments represent a new version of the original Nomenclature. Therefore, it is decided to halt the process of ratification and to add a Protocol of Amendment to the 1950 Convention (its specific Appendix).

July 1st, 1955. The Protocol of Amendment to the 1950 Convention is done in Brussels and it incorporates the adopted amendments to its Annex. Therefore, it annuls the ratification process, which had not yet been finalized, to initiate a new process of subscription and ratification.

June 1st, 1959. Norway deposited the 7th instrument of ratification of the Amendment Protocol.

September 11th, 1959. Pursuant to Article XII (a), the “Convention on Nomenclature for the Classification of Goods in Customs Tariffs” entered into force with a revised Annex.

Between 1970 and 1973, the feasibility study for the Harmonized System was carried out by a Study Group called (in French) “Groupe d’étude sur l’élaboration d’un système harmonisé de désignation et de codification des marchandises pour les besoins du commerce international” (There was a preparatory meeting in October 1970, and eight more meetings between December 1970 and March 1973).

Since October 1983 and up to November 1987, while the International Harmonized System Convention was expected to enter into force, technical work continued to elaborate complementary instruments, mainly the Explanatory Notes and the Alphabetical Index. This was carried out by the HS Provisional Committee in nine sessions.

The WCO Council in its 133th/134th Sessions in June 2019 approved the amendments prepared and recommended by the Harmonized System Committee.

In fact, the Harmonized System has 96 effective chapters as Chapter 77 was left blank. This chapter consists of a blank page with the following expression (in French) “(Réservé pour une utilisation future éventuelle dans le Système harmonisé)”. The reason for mentioning “a possible future use” is found in the first years of the process of writing the HS when it was thought of new materials and metals yet to be discovered (in particular as a result of space exploration). In the end, the reservation of a specific chapter proved to be unnecessary. Blank Chapter 77 could have been eliminated, and all subsequent chapters could have been renumbered; however, it was considered that this renumbering would be confusing as future HS users would have already acquired well-established chapter/content references.

They do not form an integral part of the HS Convention; however, they are interpretative elements of the scope and content of the heading and subheading texts. They have the importance and legal value that the parties may grant them.

Article 7.1.a) of the HS Convention specifically provides this function of the Harmonized System Committee, as it was mentioned when describing it.

End consumers who must classify goods at the moment of purchasing products.