The World Customs Organization (WCO) is marking the 30th anniversary of the Harmonized System (HS) with a call to the international customs community to continue to develop, maintain, and safeguard the system.
The year 2018 marks the 30th anniversary of the HS, which came into effect on January 1, 1988. The HS is a multipurpose nomenclature for trade that “allows a world of many languages to speak with one,” and is one of the most successful instruments developed by the WCO, the organization said in a statement.
The HS has 156 contracting parties, and is used by more than 200 countries, territories, and customs or economic unions. It forms the basis for customs tariffs and statistical nomenclatures around the world, and is used for around 98% of world trade.
As an international standard with global application, the HS plays a key role in facilitating world trade. The system is used as the basis for customs tariffs; trade policies and quota controls; collection of international trade statistics and data exchange; and rules of origin.
It is also utilized for trade negotiations; monitoring of controlled goods, for example, chemical weapons precursors, hazardous wastes and persistent organic pollutants, ozone depleting substances and endangered species; and any customs controls and procedures, including risk assessments and profiling, electronic data input and matching and compliance activities; and economic research and analysis.
The HS is crucial to the development of global trade, WCO stressed. It is also fundamental to achieving fair, efficient, and effective revenue collection. In addition, it provides an essential tool for simplifying and harmonizing customs procedures and provides the basis for knowing what trade goods are crossing borders, thus, contributing to other major strategic goals of WCO and customs administrations.
The HS is now on its sixth edition and the seventh edition (HS 2022) is currently being drafted.
During the life of the HS, there have been 60 meetings of the Harmonized System Committee (HSC) where 4,144 agenda items were discussed, 10 recommendations were produced concerning the application of the HS Convention, 2,280 classification decisions made, and 871 classification opinions adopted to ensure the harmonization of classification.
By January 1, 2018, WCO members have worked through 60 HSC meetings, 53 meetings of the review sub-committee, and 32 meetings of the scientific sub-committee in order to maintain and update the HS and keep it responsive and relevant to current needs.
“On the occasion of this anniversary, we call for the international Customs community, in partnership with the international trade community, to continue to be proactive and pursue its efforts to develop and maintain the HS, especially in terms of the application and uniform interpretation of the HS, so as to safeguard and further grow the benefits of this success,” said WCO.
Photo courtesy of WCO
