16.07.05WCO Publishes HS 2017 Edition

The World Customs Organization (WCO) has published the accepted amendments to the Harmonized System (HS) Nomenclature that will enter into force on January 1, 2017. It includes 233 sets of amendments, divided as follows : agricultural sector 85; chemical sector 45; wood sector 13; textile sector 15; base metal sector 6; machinery sector 25; transport sector 18; other sectors 26.

Environmental and social issues of global concern are the major feature of the HS 2017 amendments. The majority of these changes to the HS have been broached by the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations).

The HS 2017 Edition also introduces new subheadings for specific chemicals controlled under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), for certain hazardous chemicals controlled under the Rotterdam Convention and for certain persistent organic pollutants (POPs) controlled under the Stockholm Convention.