2022 HS updates

Learn about the 2022 Harmonize System updates and how to stay compliant.

The World Customs Organization (WCO) releases an amended version of the Harmonized System (HS) every five years, and countries update their own codes within the year of the update. January 2022 marks the latest five-year update. The Harmonized System has begun rolling out amendments in January 2022, and as a retailer or anyone involved in global trade, you must be aware of the changes you need to make regarding international sales and imports.

This guide gives an overview of the changes, who is affected, HS compliance tips, and links to helpful resources.

What are the Harmonized System changes? 

Changes include approximately 350 sets of amendments to the existing HS Nomenclature (2017 version). Some of the categories relevant to ecommerce that are affected include textiles, machinery, articles of metal, articles of wood, and plastics.

See a full list of the impacted categories/chapters.

Will you be affected by the 2022 WCO updates? 

If you ship products within any of the impacted chapters discussed above, the HS updates are likely to affect you. You could become noncompliant with local standards, possibly resulting in miscalculated duties, import delays, or fines.

On a higher level, these are the industries most impacted by the 2022 WCO updates:

• Chemicals
• Textiles
• Automotive
• Furniture

How can you ensure HS code compliance? 

Although the recipient is technically responsible for the correct HS code being applied to the goods in the shipment, it is best practice for you as the exporter to ensure the HS code accuracy. Otherwise, the consequences of an outdated HS code (rejected or held shipment, fines incurred, etc.) will cause a negative customer experience and reflect badly on you as the seller. Therefore, always assume the responsibility of accurately classifying your goods as yours, and do everything you can to stay compliant.

Here are some tips for HS code compliance:

1. Review HS changes.
2. Identify which of your products are affected.
3. Map affected products to updated HS codes.
4. Identify when the countries that you ship to will update their HS codes.
5. Reclassify affected products with updated country-specific codes after each country that you ship to rolls out their changes.

How can Zonos Classify help?

Keeps all data current

Classify’s database houses up-to-date tariff data sourced by our in-house team of global trade experts. Classify will actively consume and map affected HS codes to the updated codes as they become available, and will continue to update them throughout the year as countries publish their changes.

Classify product update

The new Zonos Dashboard tools for Classify help with classification through the following features:

• HS code lookup tool - Classify your items with just a description or image! Perfect for when you need quick and accurate HS codes for a shipment or customs quote.
• Bulk upload - Classifying an entire product catalog has always been time-consuming and expensive. Our bulk classification feature allows you to upload your products as a CSV file and get back a quick automated catalog harmonization.

Classify has upcoming features to further help with automating your classifications, including the Dashboard Catalog [in Zonos Dashboard]. This will allow you to automatically stay up to date with HS codes because Classify will identify the affected products in your catalog, stage the products with updated HS codes, and update them with the new codes when they become effective. Additionally, Dashboard Catalog will also identify products in your catalog that have expired HS codes and will automatically update them to the new codes.

Next steps

• Classify - Dynamically harmonize your product catalog with Zonos Classify.

• 2022 WCO country implementation tracker - See a list of the 183 countries that belong to the World Customs Organization and which countries have implemented the new 2022 HS codes.