Following intensive discussions, the Harmonised System Committee (HSC) recently concluded its 75th session with the provisional adoption of the Article 16 Recommendation, which will form the new, 2028 edition of the Harmonised System (HS).
The Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System, generally referred to as the Harmonised System, is a multipurpose international product nomenclature developed by the WCO and comprising more than 5000 commodity groups, each identified by a six-digit code. It is used by more than 200 countries and economies as a basis for their Customs tariffs and for the collection of international trade statistics. Over 98% of the merchandise in international trade is classified in terms of the HS.
With all negotiations on the 2028 edition having now been concluded, the Recommendation will be presented to the World Customs Organisation (WCO) Council for recommendation to the Contracting Parties and, after formal adoption at the end of December 2025, will be made public in January 2026 and go into effect on 1 January 2028.
Chairperson of the HSC, Tom Beris from the United States, told the 64 members (from 63 countries and the EU) that this was the culmination of six years of hard work, with: 66 classification decisions, classification of 441 products on the latest lists of the World Health Organisation (WHO) for pharmaceutical substances and ingredients requesting an International Non-proprietary Name (INN), six amendments to the HS 2022 Explanatory Notes and 14 new Classification Opinions.
WCO Secretary General, Ian Saunders, expressed appreciation for the Committee’s continued efforts to resolve a wide range of important classification issues in pursuit of a globally harmonised system and encouraged ongoing commitment as discussions begin for the next review cycle.
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