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World Customs Organization (WCO) Tariff Updates

The latest version of Explanatory Notes available is the Amending supplement #1 of June 2022, We are currently in constant communication with the World Customs Organization to update our system with the latest versions available.
The current version of Alphabetical Index is 2017 since Alphabetical Index edition HS 2022 is not yet published. According to WCO, we expect to get it released in English and French by end of June 2023. We will continue to update here as we get more information.

Managing the Harmonized Tariff Updates

This article is an overview of the upcoming World Customs Organization’s seventh edition of the Harmonized System (“HS 2022”), which will come into force on January 1, 2022. The Harmonized System serves as the international basis for customs tariffs and the compilation of international trade statistics in more than 200 countries around the world. The new HS 2022 edition introduces 351 sets of amendments, covering a wide range of goods across industries.
Background
Before we get into the details on the upcoming Harmonized Tariff updates, let’s first talk through the background behind the updates. There are 2 organizations heavily involved in there updates – The World Trade Organization, and of course the World Customs Organization. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a multi-lateral trade facilitator that grew out of the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT). The WTO deals with topics such as Origin Determination, and Valuation, and works to maintain open trade.
The World Customs Organization (WCO) is an organization that supports individual customs agencies and was originally a WTO working group called the Customs Cooperation Council (CCC), but officially became the WCO in 1994. The WCO aims to facilitate trade, assist in revenue collections, and protection of society. In addition to other activities, the WCO manages the Harmonized System, which was introduced in the mid-1980’s.
What is the WCO Classification?
All products need to have a classification to communicate to customs agencies what the good is and the WCO Tariff classification provides the backbone structure of tariff classifications, to the 6th digit, from which all other customs agencies use to define their own tariff schedules. The WCO updates their Harmonized Tariff every 5 years, and the upcoming changes in January 2022 are the next groupings of changes.
The WCO Classifications are broken out into “Headings” and “Subheadings” which define various levels of specificity for goods classification, and also include notes to help classify goods with the various tariff codes. Below is a helpful example:

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