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Recommended amendments to the Harmonized System Nomenclature to enter into force on 1 January 2012 - WCO Council Recommendation of 26 June 2009
Background
The Harmonized System Committee has been working for almost five years on a draft Article 16 Council Recommendation concerning the amendment of the Harmonized System. At its 43rd Session in March 2009, the HS Committee finalized the draft Council Recommendation incorporating all the amendments provisionally adopted since its 34th Session in October 2004.
The WCO Council adopted the Recommendation at its annual sessions in June 2009 and the Recommendation is now being promulgated under the provisions of Article 16 of the Harmonized System Convention. This implies that HS Contracting Parties have 6 months during which they can object to a recommended amendment.
The Council Recommendation of 26 June 2009 with the HS2012 amendments is the fifth to amend the HS, though it is only the fourth Recommendation to make major amendments to the HS since the WCO Council approved the Harmonized System Convention in 1983.
Synopsis of the amendments
The Recommendation contains 221 sets of amendments. Environmental and social issues are a major feature of these amendments, particularly the use of the HS as the standard for classifying and coding goods of specific importance to food security and early warning data falling within the ambit of the Food Security Information for Action Programme of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
In the same vein, certain amendments would create additional subheadings for the identification of chemicals and pesticides controlled under the Rotterdam Convention and ozone depleting substances controlled under the Montreal Protocol.
Other amendments to the HS resulted from changes in international trade patterns. In this regard, the HS would be simplified by the deletion of more than 40 subheadings in the nomenclature due to their low volume of trade.
In addition, for purposes of adapting the HS to current trade practices, certain important products will be separately identified in either existing or new headings. Where possible, advances in technology are also reflected in the amendments.
Finally, amendments to clarify texts to ensure uniform application of the HS were also adopted.
Entry into force
The amendments ( excluding those objected to during the 6 months timeframe) will enter into force for all Contracting Parties to the Harmonized System Convention on 1 January 2012.
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