Datasets / Schedule B — U.S. Export Classification Codes

Background

How a Schedule B number relates to the HTS

In the United States, the import classification system is called the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSA), and the export system is called Schedule B.^[2] The HTSA is maintained by the U.S. International Trade Commission and is based on the 2-, 4- and 6-digit headings and subheadings of the international Harmonized System.^[2] Schedule B is maintained by the U.S. Census Bureau and is based on the 4- and 6-digit headings and subheadings of the international Harmonized System.^[2] The Harmonized System is an international classification system administered by the World Customs Organization.^[2]

A product's ten-digit Schedule B number and its ten-digit HTS number may not be the same, but their first six digits, the Harmonized System subheading, will be.^[1] In chapters 1 through 97, the first six digits of HTS and Schedule B commodity numbers are identical with respect to descriptions and codes.^[5] Beyond the six-digit level, a Schedule B classification may be comparable to one import classification, or equal two or more import classifications added together.^[5] Schedule B has an additional chapter, 98, for special classification provisions that apply only to U.S. exports.^[5] For most commodities in chapters 1 through 97, exporters may report either the HTS number or the Schedule B number.^[5] Schedule B numbers may not be reported on import entries.^[5] Meridian's table has four levels, chapter, heading, subheading and ten-digit commodity, and no eight-digit level.^[4]

To set U.S. exports beside U.S. imports, compare them on the first six digits rather than the full ten. (Meridian's view) Where one Schedule B number gathers several HTS lines, sum the import lines before comparing them with it. (Meridian's view)

Who uses it

Exporters need the U.S. Schedule B number for a product when exporting it out of the United States.^[1] The correct commodity number from the current edition of Schedule B must be reported in the Electronic Export Information filed in the Automated Export System (AES).^[5] Exporters can use a product's Schedule B number to classify goods for shipment, to complete shipping documents and to obtain trade statistics.^[1] The U.S. Census Bureau offers a free online Schedule B search engine to help exporters classify their products.^[1]

U.S. trade data are collected using the HTS for imports and Schedule B for exports, which are based on commodity type, while NAICS is based on supply or industry type.^[2] When two units of quantity are required for an item in Schedule B or the HTSA, both units are shown in the published statistics along with the value.^[2] To reach an industry from a Schedule B line, join on the NAICS code of the ten-digit row rather than matching descriptions. (Meridian's view)

The U.S. Census Bureau publishes lists of obsolete Schedule B codes, and the top of each document says when its codes are no longer valid.^[6] Before joining Schedule B numbers from different years, check the obsolete-code lists for the years between them. (Meridian's view)

What we found building it

Some of the NAICS codes Census assigns to Schedule B commodities are not 2022 NAICS codes, and some end in X, such as 33641X, which Census's layout does not define.^[3] Meridian reads a trailing X in a Census NAICS code, from the codes' shape, as digits left unspecified.^[4] Census also uses its own codes 910000, 930000 and 990000 on lines such as waste and scrap, used goods and chapter 98's provisions.^[4]

Census's layout calls one field the Agriculture or non-agriculture product code and prints it as 0 or 1 without saying which is which.^[4] Meridian reads 0 as agricultural, because every line of chapters 1, 2 and 4 is 0 and every line of chapter 3, fish, is 1.^[4]

Where it comes from

Schedule B's full title is the Statistical Classification of Domestic and Foreign Commodities Exported from the United States.^[2] The export commodity classification in Schedule B reflects the adoption, in 1989, of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (Harmonized System).^[5] The United States has adopted the Harmonized System as the basis of both its export classification system, Schedule B, and its import classification system, the HTS.^[5]

The Harmonized System is revised approximately every five years.^[2] Schedule B is revised twice annually, on January 1 and July 1.^[2] The 484(f) Committee is an inter-agency committee that reviews requests for changes to the statistical reporting requirements of the HTSA for imports or Schedule B for exports.^[2] The U.S. Census Bureau offers past editions of Schedule B to browse, back to the files for 1990-1995.^[6]

Sources

1. [1]Harmonized System (HS) Codesdocumentation
2. [2]International Trade Definitionsdocumentation
3. [3]datapackage.jsonMeridian's method docs
4. [4]README.mdMeridian's method docs
5. [5]introduction.pdfdocumentation
6. [6]Schedule Bdocumentation