On 22 March 2024, the World Customs Organization (WCO) announced that its 73rd Session of the Harmonized System Committee (HSC) had concluded on a high note.
The meeting, chaired by the United States of America (US), was attended in person by 63 members from 62 countries and the European Union (EU). The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, and the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) also participated in person as observers.
In his opening remarks, the Chairperson expressed his gratitude for the multilingual support provided by various donors, which enabled the meeting to be conducted in six languages (English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Portuguese), and his confidence that members or donors would be willing to step in to continue funding of the additional languages to maintain the dialogue among delegates. With a very full agenda, including proposed changes for HS 2028, he shared his expectations for productive discussions and a successful meeting, underlining the importance of cooperation among participants.
The Committee met these expectations, producing outstanding results throughout the eight days. This also included examining a wide range of work presented within the reports of the 63rd Session of the Review Sub-Committee, the 39th Session of the Scientific Sub-Committee, and the HSC Working Party.
In her closing remarks, the Acting Director WCO congratulated the productivity of the meeting and highlighted the significant achievements.
From an agenda of 83 items, the Committee examined 81, 14 amendments to the HS 2028 Nomenclature, 5 amendments to the Explanatory Notes under Article 16 for HS 2028, 12 amendments to the HS 2022 Explanatory Notes, 19 new Classification Opinions, 37 new classification decisions, and 426 classifications of new substances on the International Non-proprietary Names (INNs) list were finalised. In addition, the Committee significantly advanced discussions on the matters still subject to on-going discussions at the next HSC.
