If you are involved in any product distribution activity in the Saudi market you must be dealing with the HS Codes concept a lot, and you might have faced difficulties either while registering your products or clearing them at customs ports, and the reason was the wrong definition of the HS Code. This makes confusion for many manufacturers and importers as some do not know how to define the correct HS Code to register their products on Saber Electronic Platform and some do not even know what the HS Code meaning is.

The HS Code meaning

The Harmonized System (HS Code) is an international unified system to identify the goods that are intended for trade exchange. 

The international standardized HS Code is a six-digit code set by World Customs Organization that is responsible for administrating and updating this system and cooperating with the local customs authorities in all countries.

Though the HS Code is internationally standardized, the customs authority or the responsible local organization in the country has the authentic right to add additional digits to the unified six-digit code to make it longer according to the internal laws and rules.

HS Code example

Each digit of the international HS Code expresses a specific part of the classification, the first two digits refer to the chapter, the second two digits refer to the group within the chapter, and the last two digits refer to the more detailed description for the products. 

Example:

The international standard HS Code for “Green tea (not fermented)” is as follows:

Chapter 09:  Coffee, Tea, Maté, and Spices

Group 09.02: Tea

more specific information 09.02.10: Green tea (not fermented)

The importance of the Hs Code in shipping

The HS Code must be included in the product documents and invoices in order to facilitate the procedures of certification, shipping, clearance, billing, customs duties and taxes, and distribution.

The importance of the Hs Code in shipping goods to Saudi Arabia also comes from the enforcement of registering all imported products on Saber and issuing the Product Certificate of Conformity,(PCoC), the Shipment Certificat of Conformity (SCoC), and any other required certificates.  These procedures are carried out only after defining the HS Code of the product.

The HS Code full form in Saudi Arabia

The HS Code full form in Saudi Arabia consists of twelve digits as the first six digits are the same as the international code in addition to six digits added by the authority. Zakat, Tax, and Customs Authority is the governmental entity responsible for administering and updating the HS Codes for products intended for sale in the kingdom. 

The authority cooperates with the Saudi Standards, Metrology, and Quality Organization in allowing the HS Codes definition for the beneficiaries, as well as linking the HS Codes with the conformity requirements and relevant standards and technical regulations.

How to obtain the HS Code in Saudi Arabia?

There are two ways to obtain the HS Code for the product you wish to sell in the kingdom market.

Through e-service allowed on Zakat, Tax, and Customs Authority website:

• Visit the Zakat, Tax, and Customs Authority website.
• click (Integrated Tariff) from the main menu.
• Scroll down and click (Search in Tariff).
• Add a word that describes the product you want to search for in the search bar then click (search).
• The results will appear including relevant products and their HS Codes and customs duties.
• In case the intended product is not in the search results, use the advanced search to search by category.
• The results based on the category will appear.

Through Saber Electronic Platform:

• Visit Saber electronic platform.
• Click Hs Codes from the main menu
• Add a word that describes your product or its category in the Search bar and (click search)
• The relevant results will appear including the relevant products and their HS Codes, applied technical regulation, and required conformity certificates.