Under Article 9 (1) (a) the first indent of Regulation (EEC) no. 2658/87, the Commission adopts the Explanatory Notes to the Combined Nomenclature (NENC) after examination by the tariff and statistical nomenclature section of the Customs Code Committee. Although the latter refer to the Explanatory Notes of the Harmonized System (HS), they do not replace them but should be considered complementary and used in connection with them. 

The current version of the CN explanatory notes includes and, where necessary, replaces those published in the Official Journal of the European Union, series C, until 4 January 2019. The explanatory notes of the CN published in the Official Journal, series C, after that date remain in force and will be included in the explanatory notes of the NC during the revision.

Furthermore, the CN heading and subheading codes to which reference is made, reflect the CN codes for 2019 as set out in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1602.

  • EUR-Lex - Explanatory Notes to the Combined Nomenclature of the European Union (2019/C 119/01) of 29 March 2019.