How to find the HS code for a product

To find the HS code of a product, describe exactly what it is made of, how it is processed and what it is used for. Then go from the chapter (2 digits) to the heading (4 digits) and the subheading (6 digits), using the section and chapter notes and the official classification rules. After that, find the full national code in the official tariff of the country the goods go to. When the duty or a licence depends on the answer, ask the customs service for a binding decision.

The HS code (Harmonized System) is the international product code used in foreign trade. It decides the import duty, which licences and certificates are needed, and under which code your goods appear in trade statistics. A wrong code can mean extra duty, a fine or goods held at the border. It also gives you the wrong picture when you look for buyers, suppliers or prices.

How the code is built

The code goes from the general to the specific:

• 2 digits: the chapter. Chapter 19, for example, covers preparations of cereals, flour, starch or milk and bakers' wares.
• 4 digits: the heading. 1902 is pasta.
• 6 digits: the subheading. 190219 is uncooked pasta that is not stuffed and contains no eggs. Up to this level the code is the same in almost every country.
• 8 to 10 digits: the national code. Each country or customs union adds its own digits. The EU uses 8-digit codes in its Combined Nomenclature, the United States uses 10-digit codes, and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) uses 10-digit codes as well.

The current edition is HS 2022. It has 1,228 headings and 5,612 subheadings. The next edition, HS 2028, comes into force on 1 January 2028; codes change between editions, so a code taken from old documents may no longer exist.

Step 1. Describe the product precisely

Classification depends on facts about the goods, not on their trade name. Before you open the tariff, write down:

• what the product is made of, and in what proportions if there are several materials;
• how it is processed: fresh or frozen, raw or cooked, assembled or in parts;
• what it does and where it is used;
• how it is packed: in bulk or for retail sale, alone or as a set with other goods.

"Spaghetti" is not enough. "Dried spaghetti from durum wheat, without eggs, 500 g in a cardboard box" is. The words "durum wheat" and "without eggs" each change the code.

Step 2. Find the chapter and the heading

Look through the chapter titles and choose the most likely chapter. Then read the notes at the start of its section and chapter. These notes are part of the legal text: they say which goods are included and, just as important, which are excluded and sent to another chapter. Section and chapter titles are only a guide.

Inside the chapter, find the 4-digit heading whose wording describes your product. If two headings seem to fit, do not choose by feeling; go to the rules in Step 3.

The Explanatory Notes to the HS, published by the World Customs Organization (WCO), describe what each heading covers, with examples. They are the main official guide to reading the headings. The EU publishes its own explanatory notes to the Combined Nomenclature, and the EAEU publishes explanations to its tariff nomenclature.

Step 3. Apply the classification rules

The HS has six General Rules for the Interpretation, which customs services use in the same order everywhere. In plain words:

1. Classify by the wording of the headings and the section and chapter notes first.
2. Unfinished or unassembled goods go under the heading of the finished product if they already have its main features. Mixtures and goods of several materials are handled by the next rule.
3. If two headings still fit, the more specific description wins. If that does not decide it, sets and goods of several materials are classified by the part that gives them their essential character. If nothing else decides it, the heading that comes last in numerical order is used.
4. Goods that fit no heading go under the heading for the goods they are most similar to.
5. Cases and packing that are normally sold with the goods are classified with them.
6. Choose the 6-digit subheading in the same way, comparing only subheadings at the same level.

Most products are classified with the first rule alone. The others matter for sets, parts, mixtures and new types of goods.

Step 4. Find the national code

The last digits come from the official tariff of the importing country, not from the international HS. Use the official sources:

• the EU: the TARIC database of the European Commission (8-digit Combined Nomenclature plus TARIC digits);
• the United States: the Harmonized Tariff Schedule published by the US International Trade Commission;
• the EAEU (Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan): the Common Customs Tariff of the Eurasian Economic Commission;
• other countries: the tariff published by the national customs service.

National digits often depend on a detail the 6-digit code ignores. In the EU, for example, uncooked pasta without eggs (190219) is split into pasta that contains no common wheat flour (19021910) and other pasta (19021990). Spaghetti made only from durum wheat falls into the first group.

Your export code and the buyer's import code share the first 6 digits but can differ after that. The import code in the buyer's country is the one that sets the duty.

Step 5. Check rulings and ask for a binding decision

Customs services publish their past decisions, and they show how similar goods were classified:

• the EU's EBTI database of Binding Tariff Information decisions;
• the CROSS database of rulings of US Customs and Border Protection;
• classification opinions of the WCO and decisions of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

If the duty, a licence or a ban depends on the code, ask the customs service of the importing country for a binding decision on your product. In the EU this is Binding Tariff Information, valid for three years. In the EAEU it is a preliminary decision on classification, also valid for three years. In the United States you can ask Customs and Border Protection for a binding ruling. The decision binds both sides: customs must apply the code it gave, and the holder must use it.

Remember who answers for the code. The importer or the person who files the goods with customs is responsible for it, not the supplier. A code from the supplier's invoice is a useful hint, but check it.

How Orion Markets helps

• Code suggestion. In Analyze markets by product, Find suppliers, Find buyers and Find new export markets there is a button next to the code field. After free sign-in, describe the product in up to 30 words and you get several matching 6-digit codes with their descriptions; you choose the code or codes that fit. In Analyze markets by product, if you have already chosen a country, the suggestion gives that country's full national codes.
• Site search. The search box at the top of every page also finds 6-digit codes by product name, without signing in, with links to suppliers, buyers and markets for each code.
• National codes by country. In Find suppliers, Find buyers and Find new export markets, you confirm the national codes for each country before the search starts, so only the codes of your product are counted.

Shipment data also helps you check a code against practice. On 17 October 2026 we searched for buyers of olive oil under the 6-digit code 150920. For that one 6-digit code, the code confirmation window listed 12 national codes across the countries we cover. Seeing which of them real importers of your product use is a quick test of whether your code matches the market.

A code suggestion is a starting point, not a legal classification. For customs purposes, check the code in the official tariff and, if in doubt, get a binding decision.

Common mistakes

• Classifying by the trade name. "Energy bar" or "smart sensor" says nothing about the code. Classify by material, processing and function.
• Skipping the chapter notes. Many goods that seem to fit a heading are excluded by a note and belong elsewhere.
• Copying the supplier's code. The code in another country's documents can be outdated, can belong to another national tariff, or can simply be wrong.
• Choosing "other" too early. A subheading named "other" catches everything not listed above it. Make sure your product is not named in an earlier subheading.
• Treating parts like the whole machine. Parts have their own rules: some go with the machine, some to their own headings. Read the section notes on parts.
• Using an old edition. Check that your code exists in the current tariff of the importing country.

Once you have the code, see how the market for it works in Analyze markets by product or compare countries in Find new export markets. How to read the import data for your code is covered in How to analyse imports of a product by HS code.