Study Guide

As previously mentioned, the HS contains around 5,000 headings and subheadings, grouped within 97 chapters. Examining every one for each consignment is not practical. To make the document workable, the authors grouped similar goods together: related headings form a chapter, and related chapters form a section. The 97 chapters are divided into 21 sections.

Chapters are generally groupings of similar or related headings. Sections are overall groupings of related chapters. The first step in any classification is to use the section titles to narrow the search to the right area of the Nomenclature.

A listing of Sections and chapters of the Nomenclature is available in the Study Guide Supplement.

Section II is titled 'Vegetable Products'. It covers Chapters 6 to 14, all of which deal with vegetable products. For example, Chapter 7 covers edible vegetables, Chapter 8 covers edible fruit and nuts, Chapter 10 covers cereals, and so on. The relationship between sections and chapters provides a useful way into the document, even for users who are not yet familiar with the headings.

Example: classifying fresh apples To classify fresh apples, the classifier: ·    examines the 21 sections of the Nomenclature ·    decides the goods are classified somewhere within Section II, as they are a vegetable product ·    examines the chapters within Section II ·    decides if the goods are classified within Chapter 8, as they are edible fruit.

Note: Chapter 77 is not an operating chapter. It contains no goods descriptions, classifications, or legal notes. The chapter resulted from an amalgamation of chapters that previously existed within the CCCN Nomenclature, and the Harmonized System Committee has reserved it for future use.