LegalizeCouncil Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff
Article 1
The combined nomenclature shall comprise:
(a) the harmonized system nomenclature;
(b) Community subdivisions to that nomenclature, referred to as ‘CN subheadings’ in those cases where a corresponding rate of duty is specified;
(c) preliminary provisions, additional section or chapter notes and footnotes relating to CN subheadings.
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:
(a) the measures contained in this Regulation;
(b) the additional Community subdivisions, referred to as ‘Taric subheadings’, which are needed for the implementation of specific Community measures listed in Annex II;
(c) any other information necessary for the implementation or management of the Taric codes and additional codes as defined in Article 3(2) and (3);
(d) 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;
(e) measures shown in Annex II applicable on the importation and exportation of specific goods.
Article 3
Each CN subheading shall have an eight digit code number:
(a) the first six digits shall be the code numbers relating to the headings and subheadings of the harmonized system nomenclature;
(b) 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’.
Article 5
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:
(a) integrate all measures contained in this Regulation or shown in Annex II thereto into the Taric,
(b) attribute Taric codes and Taric additional codes,
(c) update the Taric immediately,
(d) disseminate in electronic format changes to the Taric immediately.
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:
(a) concerning the combined nomenclature;
(b) concerning the 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
Measures relating to the matters set out below shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure defined in Article 10:
(a) application of the Combined Nomenclature and the Taric, concerning in particular: ————— — explanatory notes; — the creation, 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;
(b) amendments to the combined nomenclature to take account of changes in requirements relating to statistics or to commercial policy;
(c) amendments to Annex II;
(d) amendments to the combined nomenclature and adjustments to duties in accordance with decisions adopted by the Council or the Commission;
(e) 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;
(f) amendments to the combined nomenclature resulting from changes to the harmonized system nomenclature;
(g) questions relating 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.
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;
— nomenclatures adopted within the framework of the common agricultural policy.
Article 10
The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months.
Article 12
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
Community acts which include the tariff or statistical nomenclature shall be amended accordingly by the Commission.
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
PART ONE
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
SECTION I
GENERAL RULES
Classification of goods in the Combined Nomenclature shall be governed by the following principles:
The titles of sections, chapters and sub-chapters are provided for ease of reference only; for legal purposes, classification shall be determined according to the terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes and, provided such headings or notes do not otherwise require, according to the following provisions.
(a) Any reference in a heading to an article shall be taken to include a reference to that article incomplete or unfinished, provided that, as presented, the incomplete or unfinished article has the essential character of the complete or finished article. It shall also be taken to include a reference to that article complete or finished (or falling to be classified as complete or finished by virtue of this rule), presented unassembled or disassembled.
(b) Any reference in a heading to a material or substance shall be taken to include a reference to mixtures or combinations of that material or substance with other materials or substances. Any reference to goods of a given material or substance shall be taken to include a reference to goods consisting wholly or partly of such material or substance. The classification of goods consisting of more than one material or substance shall be according to the principles of rule 3.
When, by application of rule 2(b) or for any other reason, goods are prima facie classifiable under two or more headings, classification shall be effected as follows:
(a) the heading which provides the most specific description shall be preferred to headings providing a more general description. However, when two or more headings each refer to part only of the materials or substances contained in mixed or composite goods or to part only of the items in a set put up for retail sale, those headings are to be regarded as equally specific in relation to those goods, even if one of them gives a more complete or precise description of the goods; (b) mixtures, composite goods consisting of different materials or made up of different components, and goods put up in sets for retail sale, which cannot be classified by reference to 3(a), shall be classified as if they consisted of the material or component which gives them their essential character, in so far as this criterion is applicable; (c) when goods cannot be classified by reference to 3(a) or (b), they shall be classified under the heading which occurs last in numerical order among those which equally merit consideration.
Goods which cannot be classified in accordance with the above rules shall be classified under the heading appropriate to the goods to which they are most akin.
In addition to the foregoing provisions, the following rules shall apply in respect of the goods referred to therein:
(a) camera cases, musical instrument cases, gun cases, drawing-instrument cases, necklace cases and similar containers, specially shaped or fitted to contain a specific article or set of articles, suitable for long-term use and presented with the articles for which they are intended, shall be classified with such articles when of a kind normally sold therewith. This rule does not, however, apply to containers which give the whole its essential character; (b) subject to the provisions of rule 5(a), packing materials and packing containers (3) presented with the goods therein shall be classified with the goods if they are of a kind normally used for packing such goods. However, this provision is not binding when such packing materials or packing containers are clearly suitable for repetitive use.
For legal purposes, the classification of goods in the subheadings of a heading shall be determined according to the terms of those subheadings and any related subheading notes and, mutatis mutandis, to the above rules, on the understanding that only subheadings at the same level are comparable. For the purposes of this rule, the relative section and chapter notes also apply, unless the context requires otherwise.
The customs duties applicable to imported goods originating in countries which are Contracting Parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade or with which the European Union has concluded agreements containing the most-favoured-nation tariff clause shall be the conventional duties shown in column 3 of the schedule of duties. Unless the context requires otherwise, these conventional duties are applicable to goods, other than those referred to above, imported from any third country.
The conventional rates of duty reproduced in column 3 are applicable from 1 January 2026. When autonomous rates of duty are lower than the conventional rates of duty, the autonomous duties, shown by means of a footnote, are applicable.
Paragraph 1 shall not apply where special autonomous customs duties are provided for in respect of goods originating in certain countries or where preferential customs duties are applicable in pursuance of agreements.
Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not preclude the Member States from applying customs duties other than those of the Common Customs Tariff where the application of such other duties is justified by the law of the European Union.
The duties expressed as percentage rates are ad valorem duties.
The symbol ‘EA’ indicates that the goods concerned are chargeable with an ‘agricultural component’ fixed in accordance with Annex 1.
The symbol ‘AD S/Z’ or ‘AD F/M’ in Chapters 17 to 19 indicates that the maximum rate of duty consists of an ad valorem duty plus an additional duty for certain forms of sugar or for flour. This additional duty is fixed in accordance with the provisions of Annex 1.
In Chapter 22, the symbol ‘€ /% vol/hl’ means that a specific duty, expressed in euro, is to be calculated for each percentage volume of alcohol per hectolitre. Thus, a beverage having an alcohol content by volume of 40 % is to be charged as follows:
— ‘€ 1/% vol/hl’ = € 1 × 40, giving a duty of € 40 per hectolitre, or — ‘€ 1/% vol/hl + € 5/hl’ = € 1 × 40 plus € 5, giving a duty of € 45 per hectolitre. Where, in addition, a minimum (MIN) value is shown, for example ‘€ 1,6/% vol/hl MIN € 9/hl’, it means that the duty, calculated on the basis of the above rule, is to be compared with the minimum duty, for example ‘€ 9/hl’, and the higher of the two is to be applied.
Where, in Chapters 17 to 19 and 21 a maximum (MAX) value is shown, for example '(9 + EA) MAX (24,2 + AD S/Z)', it means that the duty calculated by the addition of 9 % and the 'agricultural component' (EA) shall not exceed the sum of 24,2 % and the additional duty on sugar ('AD S/Z').
Unless provided otherwise, the provisions relating to customs value shall be applied to determine, in addition to the value for the assessment of ad valorem customs duties, the values by reference to which the scope of certain headings or subheadings is defined.
The dutiable weight, in the case of goods chargeable by weight, and the weights by reference to which the scope of certain headings or subheadings is defined, shall be taken to be:
(a) in the case of a reference to ‘gross weight’, the aggregate weight of the goods and of all the packing materials and packing containers; (b) in the case of a reference to ‘net weight’ or simply to ‘weight’ without qualification, the weight of the goods themselves without packing materials and packing containers of any kind.
The equivalent in national currencies of the euro, for Member States other than participating Member States as defined in Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 (4) (hereafter called ‘non-participating Member States’ ), shall be fixed in accordance with Article 53 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 (5) of the European Parliament and of the Council.
Goods eligible for favourable tariff treatment by reason of their end-use:
Where the import duty applicable under the end-use arrangements to goods for a specific end-use is not lower than that which would otherwise be applicable to the goods, the said goods shall be classified in the code referring to the end-use and Article 254 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 shall not apply.
SECTION II
SPECIAL PROVISIONS
Customs duties shall be suspended in respect of goods intended for incorporation in the ships, boats or other vessels listed in the following schedule, for the purposes of their construction, repair, maintenance or conversion, and in respect of goods intended for fitting to or equipping such ships, boats or other vessels.
Customs duties shall be suspended in respect of:
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