Study Guide

A chapter has several structural components. The first is the legal notes, which appear immediately after the chapter title.

Rule 1 of the General Rules for the Interpretation of the Harmonized System, from now on called the ‘Interpretation Rules’, directs:

...for legal purposes, classification shall be determined according to the terms of the headings and any relative Section or Chapter Notes...

This Rule, together with Interpretation Rule 6, requires that the legal notes be taken into account when applying headings and subheadings. (Interpretation Rules 1 and 6 will be discussed in Part 3.)

Legal notes are also located at the beginning of some sections and are usually referred to as section notes. They interpret the Nomenclature at section level, that is, they apply to all of the chapters that are contained within the boundaries of the particular section.

Some sections have legal notes, as do all chapters except 50, 53 and 81.

What legal notes do

Legal notes interpret legislation at the section, chapter, heading and subheading level. They:

01 Give direction Direct goods into or out of particular areas of the Nomenclature.

02 Define scope Set what headings and subheadings cover.

03 Interpret terms Explain the meaning of particular words or phrases.

The Harmonized System Nomenclature contains two types of legal notes. Both form part of the Nomenclature, so both must be applied.