Commodity Code

A commodity code is a sequence of numbers made up of six, eight or ten digits which are used within the European Union (EU) countries or outside the territory of member states.

Basically, the commodity code is used to determine the following:

• the customs authority duties and other charges that may be levied on the goods
• the set of preferential treatments which may apply to imported goods
• the restrictions and prohibitions that may apply to the import, export or transit of goods

The six-digit commodity codes are known as the HS codes. The codes are used internationally for monitoring trade volumes and applying international trade measures to goods.

The eight-digit commodity codes are used for export declarations and Intrastat commodity codes declaration. The Intrastat commodity codes declaration is a system for collecting statistics on the trade in goods between the EU member states.

The ten-digit commodity codes are used for the importation of goods from outside the EU and they are needed for TARIC imports declaration.