Commodity classification is mainly based on Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS), People's Republic of China (PRC) Customs Law (Customs Law), People's Republic of China (PRC) Import and Export Tariff Regulations (Customs Regulations) and People's Republic of China (PRC) Import and Export Tariff (People's Republic of China (PRC) Import and Export Tariff), and People's Republic of China (PRC) Import and Export Goods Classification Management Regulations (hereinafter referred to as Classification Regulations) promulgated by the General Administration of Customs.
Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS) is the core of commodity classification. Since 1 988 65438+1October1was officially implemented, the customs of more than 200 countries and regions in the world have classified more than 90% of the import and export goods in global trade according to the HS code.
HS is not a unique system in China, but an international practice. It refers to the multi-purpose international trade commodity classification catalogue coordinated with various international commodity classification catalogues on the basis of the original commodity classification catalogue and standard international trade classification catalogue of the Customs Cooperation Council. Any kind of import and export commodities should be accurately classified into corresponding categories and numbers according to their nature, use, function or processing degree. The first six codes of the Harmonized System are internationally accepted codes. In import and export practice, in order to apply to customs supervision, taxation and statistics of different products, countries may also have additional domestic and additional codes. Therefore, accurate commodity HS classification is not only related to customs supervision and inspection, but also closely related to the trade cost and customs clearance efficiency of import and export enterprises.
Second, how to classify goods
The overall structure of HS includes three parts: classification rules; Notes on lessons, chapters and subheadings; Codes and regulations for sequentially arranged items and sub-items. These three parts are the legal provisions of HS, which have strict legal effect and strict logic.
HS adopts six-digit code, which divides all international trade commodities into 22 categories and 98 chapters, and then divides them into orders and subheads. The first 1 and second digits of the commodity code represent "chapter", the third and fourth digits represent "item" and the fifth and sixth digits represent "subtitle". The codes with more than six digits and the corresponding commodities shall be determined by each country. At present, the HS code used in China is 10, the 7th and 8th bits are domestic subheads, and the 9th and 10 bits are additional codes, which are mainly used to set up trade control and tariff concessions.
Take the product code 300420 1200 of cefradine tablets as an example, and its specific components are as follows:
In order to guide and ensure the unity of commodity classification and avoid the dispute of commodity classification, HS first lists six general classification rules, which stipulate the classification principles and methods that must be followed when using HS to classify commodities. Many categories and chapters of the Harmonized System are marked with notes (category notes, chapter notes or subheading notes) at the beginning, which strictly stipulate the scope of goods classified into this category or chapter, and explain in detail the definition of technical terms in the Harmonized System or the technical standards and boundaries for distinguishing certain goods.
The description of the six rules of HS is difficult to understand. For the convenience of application, we simply summarize them as "column names with names, but no names belong to a purpose, no uses belong to a part, and no parts belong to a category". When we classify a specific commodity, we must first understand the attributes of the commodity, including its name, purpose, composition and other elements, analyze which category it can be classified according to the classification principle, and finally determine it according to chapter-category-item-subtitle-provisions and comments.
1. Classification of commodity names
If the names of import and export commodities are exactly the same as those in the Harmonized System Coding Manual, the classification of commodity names can be directly applied. For example: frozen boneless beef tendon, HS code is 0202300090.
Compared with other commodity classification methods, the classification of commodity names is simpler and can directly correspond to customs codes, but great attention should be paid to the description of class notes, chapter notes or subheadings. For example, the second chapter of Frozen Boned Beef Tendons has a strict definition of the products contained in this chapter: edible products (whole or cut animal intestines? Bladder and stomach and liquid or dry animal blood are excluded), so if it is frozen bovine intestines, it is not included.
2. Classification of uses
If the declared goods are not directly matched by the name of the goods as in the first category, then we will classify them according to the purpose of the goods. For example, 500-liter refrigeration equipment, the most obvious use feature of which is refrigeration, should be classified as refrigeration equipment under mechanical equipment, and the HS code is 84 18692090.
3. Classification of ingredients
If a commodity is made of a single material or an absolute proportion of materials, it can be classified according to the HS corresponding to the component. There is also a commodity made of various ingredients. In practice, there are many kinds of import and export goods involving various ingredients, such as food, metal products, textiles and so on. In this classification, we should grasp three principles:
Principle of exclusion: refers to the ingredients that are not allowed to be contained in this kind of goods as stipulated in the terms or notes.
For example, the synthetic sandwich candy is classified as 170490000, and its notes indicate that it does not contain cocoa, that is, if the candy even contains 1% cocoa, it cannot be classified into this category.
Kaishan Co., Ltd. mentioned at the beginning of the article was fined because the HS code of imported compressor lubricating oil declared to the customs was 38 1 1290000 (excluding oil, and the preferential import tariff rate was 6.5%). After approval by the customs, the compressor lubricating oil contained oil and should be classified as 340390000 (containing oil)
Principle of percentage definition: it means that one component in the mixed components of goods shall not be higher or lower than the percentage specified in the regulations or notes.
For example, the proportion of bromine in epoxy resin is clearly defined. For the primary epoxy resin with bromine content below 18%, the HS code is 3907300090, and for the epoxy resin with bromine content above 18%, the HS code is 390730000 1. Although the same subtitle is the same, the last subtitle is different.
Maximum weight principle: it refers to the classification of mixed components of goods according to the components with the largest weight.
For example, mixed grain flour, in which wheat flour accounts for 70%, pumpkin flour accounts for 20%, rye flour accounts for 65,438+00%, and wheat flour accounts for the largest proportion by weight, so it should be classified as 65,438+0065,438+0, and HS code is 65,438+065,438+006,500.
Note that in this classification of goods according to components, if the weights are equal or two or more codes are appropriate, the latter code is preferred.
In addition to the classification of goods made of various ingredients, we often encounter the classification of various finished products, equipment and parts. Then it depends on whether the goods have the basic characteristics of complete products or finished products at the time of import and export declaration, and if so, they must be declared as finished products. If it is a part, see if it has an independent function, so the part is inseparable in the finished product and classified according to the machine parts; If it can also be used for other finished equipment, it should be declared and classified according to the finished equipment.
For example, the cooling fan for automobile engine, a special accessory for automobile engine, is inseparable in the finished product and belongs to 84099 19990.
4. Fuzzy classification methods of other categories.
In the case that none of the above classification methods can be found, we still follow the principle of product name-use-composition-category to find the closest classification and inclusion.