At the invitation of the Norwegian Customs Administration the Secretariat attended the Norwegian tariff classification seminar in Trondheim, Norway, from 10 to 11 September 2014. Classification staff from Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Sweden also attended the seminar.

During the seminar a number of specific tariff classification issues were considered and it clearly demonstrated that classification can be a complicated matter and several cases had to be decided by informal voting. The Norwegian Administration will now consider whether one or more of these issues should be submitted to the Harmonized System Committee for examination.

The Secretariat representative made a presentation on the WCO with focus on the Tariff and Trade Affairs’ classification work and examples of classification advice provided to WCO Members were given. The representative from Denmark informed about recent classification issues considered by the EU’s Customs Code Committee.

The seminar provided a good opportunity for tariff classification experts from the six Norwegian Customs regions and the Customs and Excise Directorate to consider issues of common interest with the aim of ensuring uniform classification.