Study Guide

14.8. Part 2: Mutatis mutandis to the Interpretation Rules

Continuing with the breakup of Rule 6:

The literal meaning of mutatis mutandis is “with things changed that must be changed”. This means one is to take the circumstances that are relevant to one particular issue and apply them (in total) to another issue.

What this means in practice

Read any reference to "headings" in the other Interpretation Rules as a reference to "subheadings."

The directives of the Interpretation Rules, which in their normal form relate only to classifying goods at heading level, may also apply at subheading level.

This is what allows the other Interpretation Rules to apply to any national subheadings that customs administrations have inserted into their own tariff documents to satisfy domestic requirements.