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The Harmonized System is normally amended by the World Customs Organization every four to six years. These amendments pose considerable challenges for the WTO and its Members. On the one hand, Members need to periodically update their historical schedules of concessions into the latest nomenclature. On the other hand, these amendments may have implications for the definition and thus also the implementation of some WTO agreements where the product coverage is defined in terms of the HS. In either case, the product codes and/or descriptions in the old HS version need to be transposed precisely into those in the new version of HS nomenclature in order to retain the historical concessions or the product coverage unchanged. Given the complexity of HS amendments, this process could be very technical and sometimes tricky.

This paper starts by providing an overview of the HS amendments and proposing a categorization of those HS changes in the context of transposition. It then looks back at the history of the introduction of the HS and its subsequent amendments into the WTO schedules and assesses the difficulties and problems which have been faced by WTO Members. On the basis of such analysis, it introduces the successful procedures and methodologies used by WTO Members and the WTO Secretariat to deal with the recent HS2002 transposition. The paper also discusses the implications of the HS amendments to three WTO agreements and the possible approaches to transpose their product lists into a new HS nomenclature.

No: ERSD-2008-02

Auteurs:
Dayong Yu — OMC

Date de rédaction: février 2008

Mots clés:

WTO, Schedule of Concessions, Harmonized System, Transposition

Cotes JEL:

F10, F13

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Ce document est un document de travail et concerne donc des recherches en cours. Il témoigne de l'opinion personnelle des fonctionnaires ou des universitaires invités et est le produit de recherches professionnelles. Il n'est pas censé représenter la position ou les points de vue de l'OMC ou de ses Membres, ni la position officielle des fonctionnaires de l'OMC. Ses auteurs sont seuls responsables en cas d'erreur. Des exemplaires de ce document peuvent être obtenus auprès du Secrétariat de la division responsable, à l'adresse suivante: Division de la recherche et de l'analyse économiques, Organisation mondiale du commerce, rue de Lausanne 154, CH-1211 Genève 21, Suisse. Veuillez indiquer dans votre demande les cote et titre du document.

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