Correct documentation is the lubricant of international trade. If you don’t have all the documents or if they aren’t correct, your goods will be delayed, you will pay extra costs – you may even lose customers. Therefore your business must have an efficient system that can manage all the paper evidence of insurance, duties paid, taxes and exchange control. You may also need export and import licences, invoices, Single Administrative Documents (SADs), certificates of origin, movement certificates, health certificates or carnets. Export documentation can be quite extensive.

Harmonised System (HS) codes are used worldwide to classify goods, and also to generate accurate trade statistics. Versions of the code are also called Combined Nomenclature (CN), Taric or Tariff codes, depending on how they are applied. A code is required for all goods imported or exported from the European Union.

Determine the code for your product by entering a word into the European website that describes it. Follow the links until you find a code with a definition that fits your goods. 

Once you know the HS Code for your product, the Exporters Guide: Import Formalities portion of the Market Access Database will supply you with a list of documentation you need to export to a specific country.

Note that, while the first six digits of the codes are uniform in all countries, each country applies its own system to the remaining digits. Use the code as it applies in Ireland to complete the SAD. The shipper will normally handle import formalities and interpret the local version of the code, for the country to which you are exporting.