Harmonised Commodity Code NHM

Harmonised Commodity Code
NHM
Guide to the NHM Database
Published by:
NHM/DIUM Management Committee of the UIC, Paris
I
Structure of the Harmonised Commodity Code (NHM)
1
The Harmonised Commodity Code (NHM) serves to identify goods for rail
freight transport. It is based on the international standard Harmonised System
(HS) used to describe and code goods in international trade published by the
World Customs Organisation (WCO).
2
The NHM consists of:
-
a multilingual database
(at least German/French/English)
-
the relevant records, composed according to the following scheme:
A 6-digit code structured as follows:
1st and 2nd digits = refers to chapter
1st to 4th digits
= refers to the NHM position
1st to 6th digits
= refers to the NHM sub-position
in terms of the HS-compliant commodity identification customary in trade.
In addition, the NHM position is supplemented by two additional digits derived
from the combined nomenclature (CN) of the EU Customs Union.
1st to 8th digits
3
= commodity code based on the CN of the EU Customs Union
The NHM database is divided into 99 chapters
Chapters 1 – 97 list the commodity codes based on the CN of the EU Customs
Union.
Chapters 98 and 99 include positions that can be used for internal purposes in
consultation with the World Customs Organisation (WCO).
If agreed by the World Customs Organisation, Chapter 99 is devoted to
railway-specific positions for in-house use only. Positions 9901 – 9959 are
used uniformly at an international level; positions 9960 – 9999 may be used by
any railway undertaking at a national level. These are not shown in the
database.
4
Alternative to position 2710 XX of the Harmonised System, railways may, for
tariff-related reasons, use positions 2721.00 – 2749.00 as railway-specific
positions for classifying petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous
minerals (excl. crude), as well as the preparations thereof on this basis,
provided they have the permission of the World Customs Organisation (WCO)
to do so.
These railway-specific positions are specially marked as such.
5 For goods with dangerous goods characteristics, the "Regulations governing
the international carriage of dangerous goods by rail" (RID) shall prevail and
shall be observed. There is no reference to the respective UN numbers in the
NHM.
II
The meaning of spelling and punctuation
1
The chapter headings are to be written in capital letters. Chapter headings with
their code numbers may not be used as NHM positions.
NHM positions and NHM sub-positions are written in mixed case.
2
If a position begins with additional specifying information followed by a list of
goods separated by commas, the additional specifying information at the
beginning shall apply to each of the goods in the list that follows.
(0101 00) Live horses, asses, mules and hinnies
Live horses, live asses, live mules and live hinnies.
If goods are separated by a semicolon, any additional specifying information
provided in front of the semicolon refers only to the goods listed in front of the
semicolon.
(0901 00) Coffee, whether or not roasted or decaffeinated; coffee
husks and skins; coffee substitutes containing coffee in any
proportion
Coffee, whether or not roasted or decaffeinated
If multiple pieces of specifying information are listed for a commodity and such
specifying details are separated by commas without being linked together with
"and", the goods must demonstrate at least one of the qualities described in
the specifying information.
(0203 00) Meat of swine, fresh, chilled or frozen
Fresh meat of swine or chilled meat of swine or frozen meat of swine
III
Miscellaneous
1
The NHM positions are be entered as 6-digit codes in accordance with the
CIT's (International Rail Transport Committee) CIM Consignment Note Manual
(GLV-CIM). If a commodity code with an expanded sub-position (8 digits) is
used, the 7th and 8th digits are not to be entered.
2
If the commodity code can be sufficiently described with the NHM position
number XXXX.00, the use of this NHM position number is permitted.
3
If the single consignment note is used for CIM/SMGS transports,
consignments from the area in which the CIM applies are to include the 6-digit
NHM code in the CIM part of the consignment note; consignments from the
area in which the SMGS applies are to include the 8-digit expanded NHM
code in the SMGS part of the consignment note.
4
The NHM/DIUM Management Committee offers translation into the respective
national language as a service; such translations shall not represent the
official NHM within the meaning of UIC Leaflet 221.

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