What is HS Code & how to find correct HTS tariff classification by using Find HS Codes

"The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System" developed by the World Customs Organization (WCO) is universally used for the classification of products. The system, generally referred to as "Harmonized System" is a multipurpose international product nomenclature. It comprises around 5,000 commodity groups; each identified by a six digit code, arranged in a legal and logical structure and is supported by well-defined rules to achieve uniform classification. Over 98% of the merchandise in international trade is classified in terms of the "HS Code" or "HTS Code" which is used by more than 200 countries as a basis for their customs tariffs and for the collection of international trade statistics. This means that the six digit code mentioned above, refers to the same good in the customs of almost all countries in the world. Hence, the "Harmonized System" provides a common ground and universal economic language for international trade.

Determining the correct HS Code has a crucial importance for trade professionals mainly for two reasons:

1. For importers/exporters correct classification is a legal responsibility, as it is the basis for critical implementations such as the customs duty and trade measures that apply, import-export admissibility of the related product, etc. Therefore misclassification of a product, may have damaging consequences for a company (e.g. losing money, being subject to penalties or worse).

2. Tariff classification codes (i.e. HS Codes) are extensively used by trade professionals to learn and analyse crucial trade information such as trade measures effective on certain goods, trade statistics, price monitoring, etc.

"Find Hs Codes" is a thematic search engine whose main objective is to provide a state-of-the-art information technology solution to assist importers/exporters to learn the correct tariff classification for goods they intend to import or export.

Although the "Harmonized System" described above is a well-defined nomenclature, determining the correct HS Code in the System is often quite a difficult and challenging task. The main reason for this is the massive scope of the system which literally defines all the goods and commodities that can be thought of. Defining millions of different goods in a limited space brings a non-negligible complexity to the system. To use the Harmonized System requires a specific knowledge and expertise which people involved in foreign trade do not generally possess.

By using FindHs.Codes, people involved in foreign trade will be able to determine the correct HS Codes for the goods they are interested in easily, without consulting to an expert. The proposed system is a dedicated and thematic search engine for the HS Code nomenclature, involving state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, namely natural language processing (NLP), topic modelling, image recognition and ontology/semantic web. Complex rule based structure of the “Harmonized System” is defined within the FindHs.Codes by using the AI technologies stated above. All the users need to do is to input the description of the good they are interested in along with an image of the product. FindHs.Codes will then parse the description and analyse it by means of the intelligent structure. The associated image will also be processed by using image recognition techniques to find matching images. Results coming from textual analysis and image recognition will be processed by the proposed system to infer the required tariff classification. The system would then bring the most matching 6 digits HS Codes along with the related pictures of the products which are classified under those HS Codes.

3.1 Below is a brief description of the most typical usage of finding HS Codes:

• Enter a brief description of the product for which you want to find out the related HS Code.
• Optionally select an image representing the said product (you may use the Select Image button to select an image stored in your computer or mobile device)
• Click on Search button

The system will then search the whole content and bring you 6 digits HS Codes best matching with the description you provided in the first step. If you choose to provide an associated image, the system compares that image with the images corresponding to the goods of the HS Codes coming from step 1, and re-ranks the results based on that comparison (i.e. Rankings of the HS Codes classifying goods which have similar images to the image you provided, are re-determined so that they are displayed at the front rows)

3.2 Alternatively, you may also use the following HTS Code finding method:

• Enter a brief description of the product for which you want to find out the related HS Code.
• Optionally select an image representing the said product (you may use the Select Image button to select an image stored in your computer or mobile device)
• Limit the searching space to a specific HTS Codes Nomenclature Section¹ by selecting the section you are interested in by means of the Search by specifying HTS Nomenclature Section button.
• Click on Search button

In this case, the system behaves the same way as explained above except instead of searching the whole content, the search is limited only to the selected tariff section. If you know the HS Nomenclature Section of the product you are interested in, this option would bring more accurate results. For instance if you are looking for the HS Code of a machinery or an electrical equipment, you may select Section XVI which defines Machinery and Mechanical Appliances, Electrical Equipment etc.

3.3 Another search option is simple HS Code search

You can simply input a valid HS Code (like 7318.16, 8701, 0501, or 84714900 etc.) for which you would like to analyze, and click on search button. In this case, the system will display the details of the selected HS Code. By clicking on the displayed HS Code or HS Codes, you can see the combined nomenclature of that HS Code along with the images and descriptions of the goods classified under that heading.

3.4 HS Code determination for CAS Numbers (Chemical Abstract Numbers)

Enter a valid CAS Number (Chemical Abstract Number) (like 22199-08-2, or CAS No 1947-62-2, or CAS 683276-64-4 etc.) into search box and click on search button. If the CAS Number you inputted is covered within the system (i.e. currently there are about 41,000 CAS No within the scope of FindHs.Codes), HS Code or HS Codes and chemical description corresponding to that CAS Number will be displayed.

¹ "The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System" is divided into 21 different sections. Commodity groups defined by each section are wide apart from each other. For instance Section I defines Live animals and animal products, whereas Section XI defines textile articles.

Sometimes you get better HS Code results by using brief description, sometimes you need to use detailed description. For instance if you are looking for HS Codes of “yoga mat”, you first try “yoga mat” as the description to search for. If you do not get good results then you may try detailed ex.planation like the following “Yoga and pilates mat of plastics. This carpet or mat used for gymnastic purposes.”

Please importantly keep in mind that, for HTS Code classification the following descriptions are important:

• Description of the article itself (like this is a digital picture frame, or it is a tablet computer, or it is a smartphone, etc.)
• Composition of the article (like this article is made of plastics, or is made of stainless-steel, or it is a textile product, or it contains ... etc.)
• Purpose of use (i.e. it is used for cooking, or it is used for transporting goods, or it is used for packaging, etc.)
• State of the article
  • whether it is live or not for animal products,
  • whether it is fresh, frozen, smoked, dried, preserved etc. for foodstuff,
  • whether it is for women, men, boys or infants, or whether it is waived, crocheted, fabric etc. for textile articles
  • ...

Try limiting the searching space to a specific HTS Codes Nomenclature Section. If you know the HS Nomenclature Section of the product you are interested in, this option would bring more precise results.

Intelligent search mechanisms used by FindHs.Codes, would bring the best matching HS Codes (with the description and the image you supplied) along with related images corresponding to those HS Codes. For instance if you write “electric toothbrush” and click the search button, the system will display a result page similar to the following:



Each 6 digit code displayed, is followed by the images of the products classified under that HS Code. You can either click on HS Codes or any of the images displayed to see detailed CN Code explanation of the selected code. In this page you may examine the description and taxonomic structure of the selected HS Heading in order to decide whether it corresponds to your good or not.



You may further analyze the images of the products classified under that HTS Code by clicking EU Binding Tariff Information button. In this page, Binding tariffs issued by EU Countries for the selected HS Code are displayed. This will give you a good chance to see whether similar products are classified under the selected HS Code or not.

If you do not find what you are looking for, or if you cannot decide whether you find the correct results, you may apply for our tariff classification service. Click for details.

As stated by the famous saying "A picture is worth a thousand words", using images for HS Code determination is very important. Allowing the users to make visual search is one of the unique features of FindHS.Codes.

If you have an image of the product for which you want to learn the HS Code, you may get better search results by providing that image along with the textual description of the related product.

For instance let’s say that you would like to learn the HS Code for “digital photo frame” and you have the following image stored on your computer.

In this case

1. Enter "digital photo frame" in the input box
2. Select the above mentioned image by using Select Image button
3. Click the Search button

When you click the Search button, the system will use both the text description (i.e. digital photo frame) and the image to find the best matching HS Codes. Providing an image might help you get better results in two ways:

1. If there are similar images within the system scope, HS Codes related with those similar images are more likely to appear in front rows.
2. Similar images are displayed in the leading columns of the related HS Codes so that you can make an easier determination as shown in the sample search result page below.