The brussels nomencalture for the classification of goods in customs tariffs : its origins, characterstic features and field of application

Abstract

Everyone concerned in international trade is well aware of the difficulties which arise when various national Customs Tariffs are based on fundamentally different systems of classification or nomenclature. These differences derive not only from the fact that the individual economic structure of each country is naturally reflected in its national tariff, but also from the diversity of formal and systematic criteria by reference to which goods are classified in categories and headings. Until quite recently, there was no uniformity in this respect between the nomenclatures used by the different countries. The items or headings were rarely in the same order, the headings were never identical in scope, and different definitions were applied to the same products.