Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff

Article 1

1.   A goods nomenclature, hereinafter called the ‘Combined Nomenclature’, or in abbreviated form ‘CN’, which meets at one and the same time, the requirements of the Common Customs Tariff, the external trade statistics of the Community and other Community policies concerning the importation or exportation of goods shall be established by the Commission.

2.   The combined nomenclature shall comprise:

1. the harmonized system nomenclature;
2. Community subdivisionsto that nomenclature, referred to as ‘CN subheadings’ in those cases where a corresponding rate of duty is specified;
3. preliminary provisions, additional section or chapter notes and footnotes relating to CN subheadings.
   

3.   The Combined Nomenclature is reproduced in Annex I. The rates of duty of the Common Customs Tariff and, where applicable, the supplementary statistical units as well as other necessary information are laid down in the said Annex.

The Annex comprises the conventional rates of duty.

However, whenever autonomous rates of duty are lower than the conventional rates of duty or where conventional rates of duty do not apply, the autonomous rates are also shown in the said Annex.

Article 2

An Integrated Tariff of the European Communities, hereinafter referred to as the ‘Taric’, which meets the requirements of the Common Customs Tariff, external trade statistics, the commercial, agricultural and other Community policies concerning the importation or exportation of goods, shall be established by the Commission.

The tariff shall be based on the Combined Nomenclature and include:

1. the measurescontained in this Regulation;
2. the additionaladditional Community subdivisions, referred to as ‘Taric subheadings’, which are needed for the implementation of specific Community measures listed in Annex II;
3. any other information necessary for the implementation or management of the Taric codes and additional codes as defined in Article 3(2) and (3);
4. the rates of customs duty and other import and export charges, including duty exemptions and preferential tariff rates applicable to specific goods on importation or exportation;
5. measures shown in Annex II applicable on the importation and exportation of specific goods.

Article 3

1. Each CN subheading shall have an eight digit code number:

1. the first six digits shall be the code numbers relating to the headings and subheadings of the harmonized system nomenclature;
2. the seventh and eighth digits shall identify the CN subheadings. When a heading or subheading of the harmonized system is not further subdivided for Community purposes, the seventh and eighth digits shall be ‘00'.

2. The Taric subheadings shall be identified by the 9th and 10th digits which, together with the code numbers referred to in paragraph 1, form the Taric code numbers. In the absence of a Community subdivision, the 9th and 10th digits shall be ‘00’.

3. Exceptionally, additional Taric codes of four characters may be used for the application of specific Community measures which are not coded, or not entirely coded, at the 9th and 10th digit level.

Article 4

(deleted)

Article 5

1. The Taric shall be used by the Commission and the Member States for the application of Community measures concerning importation into and exportation from the Community.

2. Taric codes and Taric additional codes shall be applied to the importation and, where applicable, to the exportation of goods covered by the corresponding subheadings.

3. Member States may add subdivisions or additional codes for national purposes. Identifying codes shall be assigned to such subdivisions or additional codes in accordance with Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93.

Article 6

The Taric shall be established, updated, managed and disseminated by the Commission, which shall, wherever possible, use computerised means. The Commission shall, in particular, take the necessary steps to:

1. integrateall measures contained in this Regulation or shown in Annex II thereto into the Taric,
2. attributeTaric codes and Taric additional codes,
3. updatethe Taric immediately,
4. disseminatein electronic format changes to the Taric immediately.

Article 7

(deleted)

Article 8

The committee   provided for in Article 247 of the Community Customs Code may examine any matter referred to it by its chairman, either on his own initiative or at the request of a representative of a Member State:

1. concerningthe combined nomenclature;
2. concerningthe Taric nomenclature and any other nomenclature which is wholly or partly based on the combined nomenclature or which adds any subdivisions to it, and which is established by specific Community provisions with a view to the application of tariff or other measures relating to trade in goods.

Article 9

1.   Measures relating to the matters set out below shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure defined in Article 10:

1. applicationof the Combined Nomenclature and the Taric, concerning in particular:

       - explanatory notes;

       - thecreation, if necessary, and for the purpose of responding to the Community's own needs, of statistical subheadings in the Taric, when to do so appears more appropriate than in the CN;

1. amendmentsto the combined nomenclature to take account of changes in requirements relating to statistics or to commercial policy;
2. amendmentsto Annex II;
3. amendmentsto the combined nomenclature and adjustments to duties in accordance with decisions adopted by the Council or the Commission;
4. amendments to the combined nomenclature intended to adapt it to take account of technological or commercial developments or aimed at the alignment or clarification of texts;
5. amendmentsto the combined nomenclature resulting from changes to the harmonized system nomenclature;
6. questionsrelating to the application, functioning and management of the harmonised system to be discussed within the Customs Cooperation Council, as well as their implementation by the Community.

2.   The provisions adopted under paragraph 1 shall not amend:

• the rates of customs duties
• agricultural duties, refunds or other amounts applicable within the framework of the common agricultural policy or within that of specific schemes applicable to certain goods resulting from the processing of agricultural products;
• quantitative restrictions laid down under Community provisions;
• nomenclature adopted within the framework of the common agricultural policy.

3.   If necessary, amendments to CN subheadings shall be immediately included as Taric subheadings. They shall only be included in the CN under the conditions referred to in Article 12.

Article 10

1.   The Commission shall be assisted by the Customs Code Committee set up by Article 247 of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 ( ¹ ).

2.   Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC ( ² ) shall apply.

The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months.

Article 11

(deleted)

Article 12

1.   The Commission shall adopt each year, a regulation reproducing the complete version of the Combined Nomenclature, together with the rates of duty in accordance with Article 1, as resulting from measures adopted by the Council or the Commission. The said Regulation shall be published not later than 31 October in the Official Journal of the European Communities and it shall apply from 1 January of the following year.

2.   Measures and information concerning the Common Customs Tariff or Taric shall, whenever possible, be disseminated in electronic format by using computerised means.

3.   In order to ensure the uniform application of the Common Customs Tariff and the Taric, the Commission shall promote coordination and harmonisation of practices in Member States' customs laboratories, using wherever possible, computerised means.

Article 13

(deleted)

Article 14

Where a tariff preference is granted on the basis or rules of origin derived from the nomenclature of the Customs Cooperation Council in force on 31 December 1987, those rules shall remain applicable in accordance with the Community acts in force on that date.

Article 15

1.   The codes and the descriptions of goods established on the basis of the combined nomenclature shall replace those established on the basis of the nomenclatures of the Common Customs Tariff and the Nimexe, without prejudice to international agreements concluded by the Community before the entry into force of this Regulation, and to acts taken in implementation thereof, which refer to the said nomenclatures.

Community acts which include the tariff or statistical nomenclature shall be amended accordingly by the Commission.

2.   References to the Nimexe in the various Community acts in force shall be deemed to refer to the combined nomenclature.

Article 16

Regulations (EEC) No 950/68 and (EEC) No 97/69 are hereby repealed.

Article 17

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day followings its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Articles 1 to 5 and 12 to 16 shall not apply until 1 January 1988.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Annex I - Combined Nomenclature

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Annex II - Specific Community measures referred to in Article 2 of Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87

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Annex III- List of international non-proprietary nales (inns), provided for pharmaceutical substances by the workd health organisation, which are free of duty

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Initial version

Amended by

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1369 of 29 September 2020 amending Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff

Corrected by