ECICS Help

ECICS stands for European Customs Inventory of Chemical Substances. The ECICS database contains information on the customs classification, identification and characteristics of chemicals.

The DDS-ECICS system allows the user to consult this information using a standard Web browser via a query screen. A number of query fields are defined as explained below. Query syntax is explained at the bottom of the page.

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CAS RN (Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number)

CAS Registry Number is a Registered Trademark of the American Chemical Society. CAS recommends the verification of the CAS RNs through CAS Client Services (SM).

The CAS Information is the property of the American Chemical Society and any use or redistribution, except as required in supporting regulatory requirements and/or for reports to the government when the information and the reports are required by law or administrative policy, is not permitted without the prior, written permission of the American Chemical Society.

This field contains a unique number of 5 to 10 digits associated with a chemical substance as assigned by the Chemical Abstracts Service. The format is: [ZZZZZ]99-99-9. CAS numbers are searched and displayed in a hyphenated format, without leading zeros

N.B. You can also use the TARIC Consultation You may use wild cards ('_' or '%') to broaden your search as explained.

Most ECICS records have a CAS RN associated.

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CUS (Customs union and statistics number)

Every ECICS record is identified by its CUS number. It is an internal number assigned to the ECICS entry (product) by DG TAXUD. The CUS number is currently an 8 digit number.

The format is: 9999999-9. CUS numbers are searched and displayed in a hyphenated format, with leading zeros.

You may use wild cards ('_' or '%') to broaden your search as explained.

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CN-Code (Combined Nomenclature code)

This field contains the classification of the product in the tariff and statistical nomenclature, the Combined Nomenclature (CN), published in Annex 1 to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff.

the first 2 digits indicate the chapter the chemical substance belongs to in Annex 1 to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 2086/97 of 4 November 1997);

the next two digits indicate the first sublevel grouping;

the next 2 digits, 10, indicate the second sublevel grouping.

It contains up to 8 digits in a 9999 99 99 format (the first 2 digits indicate the chapter the chemical substance belongs to in the CN; the next 2 digits indicate the heading level; the next twice 2 digits indicate the subheading levels). The CN code appears in every ECICS record.

In some cases, when the classification has not been decided yet at the finest level or when the structure of the CN would have needed the creation of numerous entries for a specific product, the ECICS records only contain 6, 4 or even 2 digits.

CN codes are searched without spaces. You may use wild cards ('_' or '%') to broaden your search as explained.

The CN codes appearing on the different pages link to the corresponding codes in TARIC database which gives access to the applicable customs duties.For example, consider the CN heading of 2851. Its description begins "other inorganic compounds ...". This heading actually covers inorganic chemicals not elswhere specified or included within the CN. Thus the meaning is entirely dependent on the rest of the nomenclature and - to a lesser degree - on the context in which the heading is introduced.

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EC number

The EC number is assigned to a chemical substance by the European Chemicals Bureau (ECB) of the DG JRC. The format is: 999-999-9.

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UN number

The UN number is assigned to a chemical substance by the United Nations Sub-Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (UNSCETDG). It is a numerical field with a length of 4 digits.

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Name

This field contains the name of the chemical substance, generally assigned by international organizations (e.g. International Nonproprietary Names (INN) from World Health Organization, pesticide common names from International Organization for Standardization (ISO)...) or created according to the rules of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).

You may use wild cards ('_' or '%') to broaden your search as explained.

Each name that appears in the ECICS result list links to a detail page of the product. The name appearing on the detail page links to its translation in the European Union languages when available.

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InChI

The InChI identifier (IUPAC International Chemical Identifier) is assigned to a chemical substance by a special algorithm and uniquely identifies a chemical substance.

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Chemical characteristics

Chemical characteristics refer to a set of characteristics of a chemical product.

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How to specify query input

The ECICS query returns a result list with CN code, CAS RN, CUS, EC number, UN number, InChI, product type and name columns. Only rows that satisfy the selection criteria are listed. Unless you specify wild cards, exact matches are displayed. Use the % wild card for any match (1 or more characters) and/or _ for any match with only 1 character.
Please note that a search on name looks both for principal names and synonyms.

Specify three or more digits in any of the fields.

Examples:
CAS RN = 125% : all rows with a CAS RN starting with 125 are displayed
CAS RN = 4779-30-0 : rows with a CAS RN equal to 4779-30-0 are displayed
CAS RN = 125-3%: all rows with a CAS RN starting with 125-3 are displayed

CUS = 0025% : all rows with a CUS starting with 0025 are displayed

CN code = 2841% : all rows with a CN code starting with 2841 are displayed

name = %butyl%pyridine% : all rows with a name containing butyl and pyridine in this order are displayed

Special name search:

It is possible to search on name and give the input in another language

Example: search for the Dutch word "citroenzuur".

Select input language "Dutch".
Enter name field: citroen.

View results:
- citric acid
- citric acid monohydrate

CAS RN: 3 to 4 digits

CUS: 3 to 4 digits

NAME: 3 characters

CN code: 3 to 4 digits (for chapters 28 and 29)

Rule of thumb (4 characters).

In ECICS result page, data in Name column are the ECICS preferred names (P/0). Wherever possible priority has been given to ISO (International Standards Organisation) and WHO (World Health Organisation) nomenclatures. If the name is a WHO name, the designation INN (International Nonproprietary Name) is included on the type column. For chemicals which do not have an ISO or WHO designation, the preferred names are based on the chemical nomenclature rules published by the IUPAC.