Code Shift

Code Shift: The environmental significance of the 2022 amendments to the Harmonized System May 2020 Written by Ronald P. Steenblik IISD.org ii Code Shift: The environmental significance of the 2022 amendments to the Harmonized System Abstract This paper highlights the environmental significance of recent changes to the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS), approved by members of [...] The numerical codes used by almost every country in the world for classifying exported and imported goods—the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, or HS for short—not only provide the structure for import tariffs but also the basis for the statistics collected on the quantity and value of merchandise trade between countries. [...] In its press release accompanying the amendments, the WCO (2020b) noted that “Adaptation to current trade through the recognition of new product streams and addressing environmental and social issues of global concern are the major features of the HS 2022 amendments.” The publication of the amendments to the HS, two years before they take effect, allows customs authorities in each of the WCO’s 158 [...] IISD.org 5 Code Shift: The environmental significance of the 2022 amendments to the Harmonized System 3.0 Environmental Goods Whereas the foregoing changes to the HS relate to traded goods that countries want to track closely because of their potential harmful effects on people or on the environment at large, other changes are intended to improve the tracking of trade in goods that serve an enviro [...] IISD.org 6 Code Shift: The environmental significance of the 2022 amendments to the Harmonized System Having a technology specifically described and coded in the HS makes the negotiation process easier and quicker.