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

Since the entry into force of the current version of the HS (HS 2012), the HS Committee has been revising this version of the HS nomenclature for almost five years. HS 2017 will be the sixth version of the HS since the Convention entered into force in 1983. HS 2017 will enter into force for all HS Contracting Parties, but will exclude any amendments objected to during the six month time frame.

While January 2017 may seem far off, the WCO is working on the development of requisite correlation tables between the old and new editions of the HS, and on updating the HS publications, such as the Explanatory Notes, the Classification Opinions, the Alphabetical Index and the HS online database.

Customs administrations also have a huge task to ensure timely implementation of the HS? 2017? Edition, as required by the HS Convention. They are therefore encouraged to begin the process of implementing the HS 2017 in their national Customs tariff or statistical nomenclatures.

Link: http://www.wcoomd.org/en/topics/nomenclature/instrument-and-tools/hs-nomenclature-2017-edition/amendments-effective-from-1-january-2017.aspx