On 11 October 2024, the World Customs Organization (WCO) at the 74th Session of the Harmonized System Committee (HSC) successfully concluded an 80-item Agenda.
The meeting, chaired by the United States of America (US), was attended in person by 70 members from 69 countries and the European Union (EU). The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) also participated in person as observers.
The WCO Secretary General (SG) officially opened the session at its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
In his opening remarks, the SG expressed his appreciation for the work of the HSC in advancing the HS. He emphasised the HS’s critical role in global trade and the HSC’s responsibility to ensure its correct and uniform application. Acknowledging the HSC’s contributions to public health, security, and environmental sustainability through the accurate classification of goods and the update of provisions, he noted the active work in this cycle addressing recent global challenges such as health crises, trade disruptions, security threats, and climate change. He highlighted the HS as the backbone of global trade, facilitating revenue collection, policy implementation, and protection against hazardous materials.
The SG also stressed the importance of Green Customs initiatives and the HS's role in providing a framework for the classification of environmental goods and hazardous substances. This underlined the ongoing efforts of the HSC to enhance the extent and quality of environmentally focused provisions in the next HS edition. He also mentioned the Exploratory Study on the Strategic Review of the HS, which assessed the current health and future sustainability of the HS, inviting the HSC to consider the recommendations arising from the study. He concluded by emphasising collaboration with international organisations, the private sector, and environmental groups, and he expressed confidence in the HSC’s efforts to achieve meaningful outcomes for global trade and security.
The chairperson noted that this session was the penultimate Session before the provisionally adopted amendments for HS 2028 were submitted to the Council for adoption and that the heavy agenda reflected this. He also noted that the agenda included a number of challenging issues faced by colleagues working at the border and expressed his appreciation for coming together as experts to discuss and resolve these issues.
The HSC produced outstanding results over the ten days. This included examining a wide range of work presented in the reports of the 64th Session of the Review Sub-Committee and the HSC pre-sessional Working Party.
In her closing remarks, the WCO Acting Tariff and Trade Affairs (TTA) Director congratulated the HSC on the Session's productivity and highlighted the significant achievements.
The HSC examined all 80 items on the agenda and, as a result, finalised 23 amendments to the HS 2028 Nomenclature, seven amendments to the HS 2022 Explanatory Notes (EN), 21 new Classification Opinions, the deletion of 2 Classification Opinions and 18 new classification decisions. In addition, the Committee made significant progress on the matters still subject to ongoing discussions at its next session.