We’ve recently made changes to descriptions of import and export commodities in the Harmonized Commodity Descriptions and Coding System (HS). The purpose of these changes is to mirror international standards and clarify commodity descriptions. No changes to the HS codes themselves have been made at this time.
Furthermore, we would also like to advise our clients of the upcoming 2017 World Customs Organization (WCO) 6-digit Harmonized System updates. Updates up to and including the 6-digit HS are made every 5 years by the WCO with the next scheduled update set for January 2017. The structure of the classification, the codes, and the descriptions will be made in order to reflect international standards and requirements. It should also be noted that Statistics Canada has reduced the number of low value import and export HS codes. These changes will be reflected in the March 2017 release of Canada’s merchandise trade data.
Upon request, starting in January 2017, Statistics Canada will make available a concordance between the 2012 6-digit HS and the 2017 6-digit HS classification codes, as well as concordances between the 2016 and 2017 detailed levels on Export (HS8) and Import (HS10).
