These are codes set by the WTO to identify products worldwide and are widely used to determine tax rates for products imported into a country.
Commodity Codes are used in the system to categorise products as per the government trade tariff (in the UK: Trade Tariff: look up commodity codes, duty and VAT rates), various attributes are configured here relating to customs duty and importing / exporting. When setting up Products in Product Maintenance, in the Customs tab users will configure a commodity code which will be used as the default in the Pre Advice screen for receiving new stocks for the product.
Mandatory fields are shown in RED
The information contained above all comes from the HMRC Tariff pages which are on the HMRC website UK Trade Tariff: volume 3 for CDS - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and details of the current rates are contained within UK Integrated Online Tariff: Look up commodity codes, duty and VAT rates - GOV.UK (trade-tariff.service.gov.uk)
The trade tariff is updated monthly therefore you need to monitor and apply those changes yourself each month if they apply to your warehouse
Field Explanations
General Fields
Those which are not contained inside any group boxes on the form.
Field | Notes / Explanation |
|---|---|
Description | This can hold the full customs description of the commodity. Press the binoculars button to the right side to retrieve this automatically from HMRC. |
Short Screen Description | Enter an abbreviated version of the longer description field, this takes precedence on most screens where this is displayed although the complete description is usually also displayed. |
Category Code | |
Bulk Commodity | Used in manufacturing processes, when the warehouse is permitted to use the bulk commodity code for payment of customs duty for the bottled stocks. Can only be used by the original owner. |
No of Products | Not currently in use |
ECU Indicator | This is a legacy field relating to Agriculture and Industrial rates, this is no longer used |
EU Country Indicator | Indicates whether or not this Commodity Code can be used for EC goods. |
Submit to CDS | Whether this code is submitted to customs authorities, this will stop you accidentally sending codes which should not be submitted |
Dangerous Goods | If your system has been set up to generate shipping notes, a Dangerous Goods document will be produced whenever a Product is associated with a Commodity Code has the Dangerous Goods field ticked. You may need new Commodity Codes for your Dangerous Goods. All the fields in red are mandatory to save the order |
Enter into Customs Warehouse
This section is not currently in use
CODE | Description |
|---|---|
CT | Customs Transit Type |
DT | Customs Declaration Type |
IR | Trader who is authorised as an indirect representative and submitting the declaration on behalf of the importer. |
Leave Customs Warehouse (Home Use) / (Export)
These boxes come from (Box37) on the SAD and relate to the customs procedure codes used for products in this category when they are either used within the same country or when they are exported.
Request Procedure Code (CPC) - which will be used later to enhance Vision integration with CDS in Bond.
From: Customs procedure codes (Box 37)
CPC | Description |
|---|---|
71 | Customs warehousing procedure including deposit in other premises under customs control. |
07 | Free circulation with simultaneous entry of the goods under a warehouse procedure (including placing in other premises under fiscal control). This is the most typically used. |
40 | Home use with simultaneous entry for free circulation. |
To find out more about our CDS integration & roadmap see; CDS Implementation.
Quotas / Preferences
Quotas and preferences applicable to the commodity code can be found in the HMRC tariff and entered here. These are used to override the standard rate of customs duty by entering the ‘Quota No’ on the Pre Advice when receipting stock.
Quotas - leave ‘Preference’ unticked, ‘Preference Type’ would usually be set to 320 but first check that one of the other quota options do not apply, enter the full ‘Quota No’.
Preferences - tick ‘Preference’, ‘Preference Type’ would usually be set to 300 but first check that one of the other preference options do not apply, in the ‘Quota No’ enter the same number as selected in the ‘Preference Type’.
Import Documents
Button - This provides the ability to configure the many different import documents and certificates required for the commodity when receiving goods in the Pre Advice screen, Bond Details tab. When clicking this button, the screen which opens has been designed to (as closely as possible) mirror the document requirements listed in the ‘Import’ tab of the UK trade tariff.
Here users can select a country (or group of countries such as ‘EU Countries’ / ‘Non-EU Countries’) and configure the import document requirements for the commodity code for that country/group, the pre-advice ‘Bond Details’ uses the information configured here to get the correct information from the user.
Above we can see that in order to claim the preference for imports from the EU then document code U112 is required but we are defaulting the ID & status code to EU-DOC and JP per HMRC’s requirements Claiming preferential rates of duty between the UK and EU. However if claiming a preference from any non-EU country then N954 is required and the users will need to enter the document ID and status code because they haven’t defaulted here. We can also see that a VI1 is required for imports from all countries, and that C644 (Organic certificate) number & status is required, but for this one users have the ability to use ‘NA’ which will instead store Y929 to signify that the product is not organic or excluded from the regulation. This information can all be found here: https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/2204101100#import by viewing the ‘Conditions’.
Except when creating a new commodity code manually, most of the necessary configuration will default for you however customers are strongly advised to check the Commodity Code Maintenance configuration by using the trade tariff.
Currently only the preference certificate (N954) and VI1 certificate (C014) are fed through to Bond’s CFSP & CDS modules, in future the remaining documents will also be posted through allowing customers to use those modules with other commodities such as those that are non-wine/spirits/beer.
For more information about how to set the status / LPCO exemption code the document provided by HMRC see Fixing rejections | Known-differences-between-CDS-and-the-UK-Trade-Tariff:-Volume-3-for-CDS.
Units of Measure
Excise Tax Link
Validation (Strength or Size)