2022 Harmonized System Accepted, WCO Says

The contracting parties to the Harmonized System Convention approved the 2022 edition of the Harmonized System, the World Customs Organization said in a news release. “The HS serves as the basis for Customs tariffs and for the compilation of international trade statistics in 211 economies (of which 158 are Contracting Parties to the HS Convention),” it said. The new HS2022, which comes into force Jan. 1, 2022, “makes some major changes to the Harmonized System with a total of 351 sets of amendments covering a wide range of goods moving across borders,” the WCO said.

Among other things, “smartphones will gain their own subheading and Note, which will also clarify and confirm the current heading classification of these multifunctional devices,” it said. The WCO also said “flat panel display modules will be classified as a product in their own right which will simplify classification of these modules by removing the need to identify final use.” Also, “many new subheadings have been created for dual use goods that could be diverted for unauthorized use, such as radioactive materials and biological safety cabinets, as well as for items required for the construction of improvised explosive devices, such as detonators."

The WCO is putting together more information “for the timely implementation of the new HS edition,” it said. “The WCO is currently working on the development of requisite correlation tables between the current 2017 and the new edition of the HS, and on updating the HS publications, such as the Explanatory Notes, the Classification Opinions, the Alphabetical Index and the HS online database.”