On 4 December 2015 the World Customs Organisation (WCO) published its classification decisions taken at the last session of the Harmonised System (HS) Committee from 16 to 25 September 2015. [It was their 56th session.]
There are 15 classification rulings dealing with, amongst others, powdered alcohol, two-piece garments, child carriers and baby carriers, audio/video floor stands and hop balls, as well as 26 new classification opinions and three sets of amendments to the HS explanatory notes.
If you are interested just drop us an email with the title in the email subject line and we will send you (i) Classification Rulings; (ii) Amendments to the Compendium of Classification Opinions; and (iii) Amendments to the Explanatory Notes.
As an example the following Classification Opinion is offered for Smart Watch - 8517.62
‘Wearable battery-operated device, also known as a “smart watch”, (57 mm long x 37 mm wide x 11 mm thick), capable of receiving and transmitting data and designed to be worn on the wrist, incorporating a 1.63 inch (41.4 mm) touch-sensitive, active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) display, 512 MB RAM, 4 GB internal memory, a 800-MHz processor, a 315-mAh battery, a 1.9-MP digital camera, a speaker and two microphones, a gyro-sensor and an accelerometer.
The device has a radio transceiver which utilises an open wireless technology standard (such as Bluetooth® communication wireless protocol for exchanging data within a Personal Area Network (PAN) using short length waves over short distances (up to 10 metres)), which enables the device to communicate wirelessly with other devices, such as mobile telephones for cellular networks or tablet computers.
Once paired to a host device, the wearable device is capable of performing a variety of functions including: displaying time and date information, recording and reproducing sound, taking and recording digital photographs and videos, alarm, timer, stopwatch, pedometer, making and receiving phone calls over the host device by speaking directly into the wearable device, receiving and viewing e-mails, notifications, receiving and sending SMS messages via voice commands, and operating the music player functions of the host device’.
The classification is in terms of the application of GIRs 1, 3 (b) and 6.