We slipped. Yes, we forgot a birthday. On 01 January 2013 the World Customs Organisation (WCO) celebrated the 25th year of the introduction of its Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System, best known as the "Harmonised System" or simply "HS”. The HS was introduced in South Africa on 01 January 1988. The HS comprises about 5 000 commodity groups each identified by a six digit code (international), arranged in a legal and logical structure and is supported by well-defined rules to achieve uniform classification. The HS 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.
