On 03 July 2023, the World Customs Organization (WCO) announced that one of the fundamental requirements of the Harmonized System (HS) is that it must incorporate changes to recognise new products or technology, changing trade patterns, or the changing needs of governments. This requires people to conceive and bring into effect those changes.
All products arising from the human mind begin with an idea, with that identification that there is a need to be addressed, or a problem to be solved, or an opportunity to do something worthwhile. But many of these realisations that something might, could or should be done never result in tangible changes, simply because it is not clear to the people with the realisations how they could bring them to fruition.
For this to happen in the HS, new ideas need to be proposed, discussed, drafted, adopted, and implemented as a change in the HS, and consequently in tariff and statistical schedules across the globe. But many people are unaware of how to make that first formal step of a proposal.
To address the frequent question on how proposals for changing the HS can be put forward, a Guidance document has been published on the WCO public website.
The Guide seeks to help the HS users better understand the HS amendment process: who can make proposals for changes, how proposals are submitted, and what is required for a good HS change proposal.
The Guide is expected to be useful for administrations and intergovernmental organisations looking at potential changes. In addition, it may also be helpful to the private sector, including trade bodies and non-governmental organisations who are considering requesting their national Customs administrations to consider ideas for possible change proposals.
The 34-page Guide is accessible at:
www.wcoomd.org/-/media/wco/public/global/pdf/topics/nomenclature/activities-and-programmes/amending/creating-hs-change-proposals--how-to_english-17-may-2023.pdf?la=en