The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System were developed and are maintained by the World Customs Organization. This tariff nomenclature is an internationally recognized and standardized system of names and numbers that are used for classifying traded products. The system is divided into 21 sections and 96 chapters. Section 1 and its five chapters are devoted to live animals and animal products. The sub-heading code starts with the first two numbers of the chapter and is then given the tag of 1, 2 and so forth. So for instance the first chapter is for live animals and its codes like 0101 refer to horses and mules, 0102 to bovine animals and so forth. In Chapter 2 the meat of bovine animals falls under the number 0201, while the meat of goats whether it is chilled or frozen comes under 0204. Chapter 5 is interesting in the sense that it relates to products of animal origin that cannot be fitted into other categories.
Chapters 6 to 14 fall under Section 2 and they refer to vegetable products. Chapter 6 is for bulbs, roots and cut flowers and Chapter 8 is for edible fruits and nuts, while Chapter 14 is for the products that cannot be classified under other sections. The first four sections are devoted to food products. From section 5 onwards the classification turns to non-food items. Section 5 is for mineral products. Chapters 50 to 63 under Section 10 are devoted to textile products. The last section that is Section 21 has just two chapters in it and they are devoted to works of arts and antique pieces.
When traders are looking to find the correct classification they first need to find the section that is right for their products. Then they need to turn to the chapter that contains the product category that they are trading in. Finally, they need to look at the specific number that is applicable. In case, the traders find that no number suits their product, there is always a general number that they can apply for their item. But most products are covered in this comprehensive list. It would be quite rare for a trader to look through the entire list and not find the right code. This system of classification has been accepted by more than two hundred countries in the world. Thanks to these codes international trade has become much more systematic and they have proven very useful to traders.
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