Commodity code (HS code): what it is, who picks it, and how to find it for the EU

Every goods line of an import or export declaration carries a commodity code, so nobody can declare your goods without one (Annex B to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, data element 18 09 000 000). Customs also reads the code to find every other rule that applies to your product: licences, bans, anti-dumping duties.

What a commodity code is: HS, CN and TARIC

A commodity code is one number read in three layers. Each layer adds digits to the one before; it never changes them.

HS, 6 digits. The Harmonized System was built by the World Customs Organization. It has 21 sections, 97 chapters (the first 2 digits), about 1,200 headings (4 digits) and more than 5,000 subheadings (6 digits), according to the Commission’s Access2Markets. Nearly every country builds its own tariff on it.

CN, 8 digits. The EU’s Combined Nomenclature is the HS plus EU subdivisions and legal notes (CN Regulation Art. 1(2)Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, the Combined Nomenclature and the Common Customs Tariff (consolidated text of 1 January 2026)Article 1, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The first six digits are the HS code; the seventh and eighth are the EU’s. Where the EU does not split an HS subheading, they are “00” (CN Regulation Art. 3(1)Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, the Combined Nomenclature and the Common Customs Tariff (consolidated text of 1 January 2026)Article 3, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The CN is the tariff: EU import duty is based on the Common Customs Tariff, and the CN is its nomenclature (UCC Art. 56(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 56, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 56(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 56, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The rate on each line, and what else goes on a parcel’s bill, are in EU import duty rates.

TARIC, 10 digits. The Commission’s integrated tariff adds the ninth and tenth digits where an EU measure needs a finer split, and “00” where none does (CN Regulation Art. 2Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, the Combined Nomenclature and the Common Customs Tariff (consolidated text of 1 January 2026)Article 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 3(2)Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, the Combined Nomenclature and the Common Customs Tariff (consolidated text of 1 January 2026)Article 3, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Some measures add a four-character TARIC additional code on top (CN Regulation Art. 3(3)Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, the Combined Nomenclature and the Common Customs Tariff (consolidated text of 1 January 2026)Article 3, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.), and each EU country may add national codes of its own (CN Regulation Art. 5(3)Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, the Combined Nomenclature and the Common Customs Tariff (consolidated text of 1 January 2026)Article 5, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). TARIC holds the duties, tariff preferences and quotas, anti-dumping and other trade defence duties, and the import and export bans and controls for each code. It holds no VAT or excise rates; the Commission’s TARIC page says so.

“HS code”, “commodity code”, “tariff code” and “customs code” all name this number. The difference is only how many digits you are given. The six worldwide digits have their own guide, HS code; the first eight digits are in CN code and the EU’s ten in TARIC code.

The code is the same in every EU country. The EU is a customs union, so import duty is paid once, when the goods first enter it, not again at each border inside (Access2Markets FAQ).

The code reaches past the duty. Customs applies every measure linked to the correct subheading for your goods (UCC Art. 57(3)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 57, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The Commission lists what else it decides: whether you need an import or export licence, whether a ban or restriction applies, whether excise duty is due, and whether a reduced VAT rate applies where a country ties its rate to the CN (Commission, Tariff classification of goods). Other EU laws name products by code too: the deforestation regulation reaches only the products in its list, by code; see EUDR.

Since 1 July 2026 the code also counts your parcels’ duty. Until 1 July 2028, as a transitional measure, a consignment of EUR 150 or less sold to an EU consumer pays EUR 3 of customs duty per item when it goes through IOSS, and outside IOSS unless the goods claim a tariff preference (Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382, Art. 2; Delegated Reg. Art. 1(24)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 1, paragraph 24Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). An item is all the goods in the consignment sharing one tariff classification, description and, where given, origin (Delegated Reg. Art. 1(61)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 1, paragraph 61Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Two products under one code, one description and one origin are one item; a different code, description or declared origin makes another. Who pays it, and what changes in 2028, is in EU de minimis; the rest of that rule is in EU VAT for online sellers.

Who picks the code, and who answers for it

Tariff classification means finding the CN subheading, or the finer subdivision, that your goods fall under (UCC Art. 57(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 57, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The law gives that job to nobody by name. It makes the declarant, the person in whose name the declaration is lodged, responsible for the accuracy and completeness of what it says, the code included. A customs representative who lodges it for you is bound the same way (UCC Art. 5(15)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 5, paragraph 15Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 15(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 15, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The money follows the declaration. The declarant owes the import duty. Under indirect representation, where a broker or courier declares in its own name for you, you owe it too. And anyone who supplied the information for the declaration, knowing or reasonably bound to know it was false, owes whatever duty went uncollected (UCC Art. 77(3)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 77, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). So a courier’s form asking you for an HS code is not a formality. The code you type is the code they declare. A postal CN22 or CN23 asks for the six-digit code too; that form is in customs declaration CN22 and CN23.

Regulation (EU) 2026/2108 (OJ 19.9.2026) repeals the Union Customs Code, Regulation (EU) No 952/2013Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office., and applies from 21 September 2027; the UCC articles on this page are the ones in force until then (Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, Art. 284(1), Art. 287(2)).

In practice:

• You import in your own name. The declaration is yours, and so is the code. A broker acting for you can find it; you stay responsible for it, and so does the broker.
• A courier or broker declares your parcels. They ask you for the code and a description because they share the liability for it; depending on how they declare, the duty can be yours as well. Give both; keep a note of how you chose the code.
• Your EU customer imports the goods. Your customer’s declarant picks the code. Your invoice should describe the goods well enough to let them.
• A supplier gave you a code. Only its first six digits are used worldwide (HMRC, Finding commodity codes); the digits after that are set by each customs territory, and for the EU by the EU (CN Regulation Art. 3(1)Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, the Combined Nomenclature and the Common Customs Tariff (consolidated text of 1 January 2026)Article 3, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A code from a Chinese, US or UK tariff is not your EU code past digit six.

How customs decides between two codes

Six general rules decide it, printed at the front of the Combined Nomenclature (Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, Part One, Section I, A):

1. The titles of sections and chapters are only for reference. The wording of the headings and their section and chapter notes decides.
2. An unfinished product goes where the finished product goes, if it already has the finished product’s essential character. A product sent unassembled or disassembled goes there too. A heading that names a material also covers mixtures and goods made wholly or partly of it.
3. When two headings fit: the most specific description wins. Two headings that each cover only part of the materials in a mixture or composite product, or only part of the items in a retail set, count as equally specific. If that does not settle it, a mixture, a composite product or a retail set goes where the part that gives it its essential character goes. If that does not settle it either, the heading that comes last in number wins.
4. A product that fits no heading goes under the heading for the goods it is most like.
5. A case shaped or fitted for one article, fit for long-term use and sold with it, goes with the article, unless the case gives the whole its essential character. Packing goes with the goods it holds, unless it is clearly meant for repeated use.
6. The same rules pick the subheading inside a heading, comparing subheadings at the same level only.

The Commission also adopts regulations that classify named products, and publishes explanatory notes to the CN (CN Regulation Art. 9(1)Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, the Combined Nomenclature and the Common Customs Tariff (consolidated text of 1 January 2026)Article 9, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., UCC Art. 57(4)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 57, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Its tariff classification page links both, with the case law of the EU Court of Justice.

How to find your commodity code

Start with a tool, not a guess. The Commission’s My Trade Assistant takes a product name or a code. Type one or more words and it offers codes; leave the field empty and you can browse the whole tree. Pick the country the goods come from and the EU country they go to: the codes shown are that country’s, and the result lists the duties, trade defence measures, taxes such as VAT and excise, and the formalities for that product (Access2Markets, How to use My Trade Assistant).

Confirm it in TARIC. The TARIC consultation takes a goods code and a country of origin and shows every EU measure on that code on a given date. If your code is not valid, it tells you to enter the first six digits and browse down to a description that fits. How you prove that country of origin is in Certificate of origin.

See how customs classified the same product. The EBTI database holds every binding tariff information decision, valid and expired, searchable by keyword, description or code (Access2Markets, Classification guides; Commission, EBTI). Another business’s decision binds only its holder (UCC Art. 33(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 33, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.), but it shows you the code customs chose for goods like yours.

Ask customs. Your customs authority can give general advice on classification before you apply for anything. That advice does not bind it; only a BTI decision does (Commission, EBTI).

Shipping to Great Britain as well? The UK runs its own tariff. Look the UK code up in the UK Trade Tariff; only the first six digits are sure to match the EU’s.

When your code changes. The Commission republishes the whole Combined Nomenclature every year, by 31 October, and it applies from 1 January (CN Regulation Art. 12(1)Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, the Combined Nomenclature and the Common Customs Tariff (consolidated text of 1 January 2026)Article 12, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A code can be abolished in that update. The 2026 text was adopted as Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1926. TARIC changes whenever an EU measure does; the Commission updates it at once (CN Regulation Art. 6Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, the Combined Nomenclature and the Common Customs Tariff (consolidated text of 1 January 2026)Article 6Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A code that was right last year can be closed this year, so a product list with codes needs a check every January.

What a wrong code costs

A wrong code is found at the border or long after it. Customs may check the declaration and its documents, ask you for more, examine the goods and take samples (UCC Art. 188Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 188Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.); moving and handling the goods for that is done by the declarant, at the declarant’s cost (UCC Art. 189(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 189, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). After release, customs may still check the declaration against your accounts and records (UCC Art. 48Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 48Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

Correct it before customs does. The declarant may apply to amend a declaration after it is accepted, but not once customs has said it will examine the goods, has found the particulars wrong, or has released the goods (UCC Art. 173(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 173, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 173(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 173, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). After release, customs may still allow an amendment within three years of acceptance, so the declarant can meet the obligations of the procedure (Art. 173(3)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 173, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

With no code at all, the declaration cannot be lodged, and the goods wait at customs until someone lodges it. How long they may wait is set out in EORI number.

How binding tariff information fixes your code

Binding tariff information (BTI) is a customs decision, taken on your application, that fixes your product’s code: it binds customs in every EU country as against you, for three years. Who can apply, what to send, how long it takes and when a decision ends are in binding tariff information.

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