European Customs Inventory of Chemical Substances

Customs and chemicals:
"Towards a new European Customs Inventory of Chemical Substances"

The European Commission has held a conference on customs and chemicals in Brussels on 20-21 January 2005. Click here for more information on the conference. Click here for conference documents.

A seminar will be organized in December 2006 to further discuss the topic.

A guide to the classification of chemicals in the combined nomenclature

ECICS lists some 35 400 chemical names (for about 28 600 chemical substances) in eleven Community languages along with their tariff classification in the European Community's Combined Nomenclature (eight-digit CN codes). The CN is based on the "Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System" emanating from WCO, in use throughout the world. Each product listed in ECICS also has a CUS -number, assigned by DG Taxation and Customs Union, which is an easy identifier to search the database and to communicate with Customs, and a Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number (CAS RN), a system used to identify chemical products the world over.

The Inventory covers:

1. All pesticides and other plant protection products listed by the International Organization for Standardization under ISO 1750 (about 500 products);
2. All the International Non-Proprietary Names (INN) assigned to pharmaceuticals by the World Health Organization (about 6500 products);
3. Salts and esters of INNs (about 1000 products), known as INNMs ("M" standing for "Modified");
4. Intermediate pharmaceuticals, i.e. compounds used in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals (approx. 650 products);
5. Narcotic and psychotropic substances and their precursors (about 300 products);
6. Ozone-depleting chemicals (about 270 products);
7. Toxic/dangerous chemicals controlled under the Chemical Weapons Convention (about 65 products);
8. Other products subject to import/export controls;
9. Other commercially significant products.

ECICS is regularly updated by Taxation and Customs Union DG, assisted by the Member States' representatives in the Customs Code Committee-Tariff and Statistical Nomenclature Section (Chemical Sector).

The database can be accessed here.