HS Classification

The Harmonized System (HS) is a system of common codes adopted by several commercial countries of the world in order to classify products manufactured and sold. Each country uses the HS to create their own Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS). The HTS attempts to simplify international trade by allowing importers, exporters, and customs officials to use a common coding standard across countries for duty calculation, license determination, etc. However, minor differences still exist between countries, making HS codes country specific.

The HS Classification search allows you to determine the correct HS code for the product, for the classification country/union. The Tradeflow Database holds data of tariff books for a large number of major trading countries and provides classification information for more than 120 countries. The HS code is extremely important because most customs interactions including documents, duty calculations, licenses, quotas, ADD, CVD, etc. apply to specific HS codes. The HS Classification search allows you to search for an HS code by product description, tariff chapter number, or part of the HS code.

Click to watch a video about the HS Classification.

To determine HS classification:

1    Click Product Classification from the left navigation panel. The menu will expand.

2    Click HS Classification.

3    Choose the Classification Country/Union from the drop-down list and enter the text to search for.  See the field definitions below for more information.

4    Click Next>>. The results section appears below the search criteria.

5    Click More... to see the duty rates.

Figure 1: HS Classification Results

A list of the fields that appear in the HS Classification window:

Field	Description
*Classification Country/Union	Choose the Classification Country/Union of the product. This is a required field.
*Shipment Date	When the product will ship. Click to enter a date. By default, the current date will be displayed. This is a required field.
Search Type	Select your search type from one of the following: Legal term: The keywords you specify will be searched against the legal terms in the country tariff data in the DB (Data Base). The legal terms used to describe a product may be different from common terms used to describe a product. Common term: The keywords you specify will be searched against the common terms in the country tariff data in the DB. Chapter Number: The first two digits of the HS number form the chapter number of the product's HS number. These chapters represent the actual chapters in the tariff book. If you know the chapter the product belongs to, you can use this option by specifying the two digit chapter number. Tariff Number (Number/Portion of): If you know part of the 10-digit HS number (say the first 4 digits), you can use this option to shortlist products with the same starting digits.
Search Language	The language in which the search term is defined. The value for this field is fetched from the selection of language in the Login screen.
*Search text	Enter the search text or key value (minimum two characters) that you want to search on. This is required if you select the common / legal term search.
Result Language	Select the language from the drop-down list for the results to be displayed. This applies to the customs description shown in the middle column.
Narrow Your Search	You can further narrow your search based on the options provided: All words: Returns a match only if all words in the search text are found in the tariff book present in the database. Any words: Returns a match if any one of the input words matches a word in the product records. Exact phrase: Returns a matches only if the search text words exactly match the words in the tariff book present in the database.