Tariff classification
How an EU commodity code is built, what to ask when an invoice line cannot be classified, and how to use binding tariff information.
What this category answers
How goods get their code in an EU import declaration: the layers of the Harmonized System, the Combined Nomenclature and TARIC, the German and Dutch digits on top, the facts an invoice leaves out and a supplier has to supply, and how binding tariff information helps. For declarants who classify goods every day and want the rule behind the code.
Tariff classification guides
- Using binding tariff information as a referenceA BTI decision binds customs and its holder for three years. Decisions held by others bind no one else, but show how customs classified similar goods.
- How a commodity code is builtSix digits from the Harmonized System, two from the Combined Nomenclature, two from TARIC. Germany adds an eleventh digit for national purposes.
- When the invoice is not enough to classifyAn invoice line names a product, not always the facts the tariff classifies on. A ceramic plate is 6911 if porcelain, 6912 if not.
Send us 20 past cases.
For customs brokers in Germany and the Netherlands. We prepare each one, you judge the result.