It’s not often that you get something without having to pay for it. Nowadays, if you are offered something for ‘free,’ it implies that you have to make some kind of commitment, financial or otherwise. There is an exception, though, and this is the World Customs Organisation’s (WCO’s) HS 2022.

This is the third instalment of this column this year that is devoted to the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System, also known simply as the HS. The 2022 edition, HS 2022, comes into force on January 1. As a reminder, the previous pieces were published on February 5 (‘Are we HS 2022 ready?’) and July 16 (‘WCO’s Trade Tools platform’).

On September 15, the WCO issued a media release titled ‘WCO Trade Tools: The nomenclature of the HS 2022 is now available online!’, in which it announced that the HS 2022 edition is now available for free on the WCO’s database platform at www.wcotradetools.org. You might recall from the July 16 article that the WCO’s Trade Tools “is a powerful tool to support actors in international trade”. It is “the official platform of the WCO created to facilitate your work as an actor of international trade to classify your products and support the exporting/importing of goods”.

The WCO Trade Tools’ online database comprises the last five editions of the HS and functionalities to support international trade actors in the classification of goods and the determination of the corresponding customs taxes and tariffs. It offers a single point of access to the HS, preferential rules of origin and customs valuation through a new usercentric and ergonomic interface.

The HS 2022 edition – the seventh – introduces significant changes, with more than 350 new entries covering a range of goods. You might recall that the HS is revised every five years to reflect ever-changing trading practices. In the latest edition, several high- profile product categories have been added and given greater visibility, including edible insects, drones and ewaste. The HS 2022 will be replaced by the HS 2027.

Developed by the WCO and adopted in 1983, the HS is a global standard used by more than 200 countries and economic or customs unions (including the 160 contracting parties to the HS Convention) for classifying goods in international trade. More than 98% of merchandise in international trade is classified using the HS.

It is important to note that the Explanatory Notes and the Classification Opinions will be published by the end of this year and will be available on subscription at www.wcoomdpublications.org.

There are 351 sets of amendments covering a range of goods, including amendments addressing environmental and social issues of global concern, such as electrical and electronic waste. There are also provisions for novel tobacco, nicotine-based products, and unmanned aerial vehicles (or drones) and major reconfigurations for glass fibres and for metal-forming machinery.

There are also changes to the provisions for diagnostic kits to simplify classification. New provisions for placebos and clinical trial kits for medical research to enable classification without information on the ingredients in a placebos will assist in facilitating cross-border medical research. Cell cultures and cell therapy are among the product classes that have gained new and specific provisions.

On a human security level, several new provisions specifically provide for various dual-use items. Many new tariff subheadings have been created for dual-use goods that could be diverted for unauthorised use, such as radioactive materials and biological safety cabinets, as well as for items required for the creation of improvised explosive devices, such as detonators.

The HS 2022 introduces new tariff subheadings for specific chemicals controlled under the Chemical Weapons Convention and for certain persistent organic pollutants.

Due to the wide scope of the changes, the WCO encourages business to carefully study the HS 2022.