The Australian Harmonized Export Commodity Classification (AHECC) is designed for use by exporters, customs brokers and freight forwarders in the classification of goods when providing export declarations to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, and to assist users interpret export statistics published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The classification is based on the six digit international Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS) developed by the World Customs Organization (WCO) for describing internationally traded goods. The ABS extends the six digit international HS by two digits to provide a finer level of detail to meet Australian statistical requirements (Statistical codes).
The most significant changes to the AHECC occur when the WCO periodically updates the international HS. The international HS and the AHECC have been updated in 1992, 1996, 2002, 2007 and 2012. This update incorporates the 2017 international HS changes and associated AHECC changes. The next international update is scheduled for 2022.
Further details can be obtained from the ABS website: Australian Harmonized Export Commodity Classification (AHECC).
This package provides electronic data for the 2007, 2012 and 2017 AHECCs, sourced from ABS (2017).
devtools::install_github("mitcda/abs.ahecc")