The paper is concerned with customs classification matters and analyzes the difficult relationship between the Harmonized System Convention and the GATT, mostly Article II, for the purpose of interpreting the WTO Schedules of commitments for trade in goods under the Vienna Convention as well as the reasons for the migration of purely customs classification disputes from the World Customs Organization (WCO) to the WTO. The result of such analysis is that there is a binary relationship between the HS and the GATT. On the one hand, the GATT is concerned with customs classifi cation issues as ‘measures’ challenged in WTO Dispute Settlement and, on the other hand, the HS is the ‘context’ for interpreting the Schedules of commitments under Article II GATT. The final outcome is a complicated and obscure way of interpreting the tariff commitments for trade in goods that needs further clarifi cations by Panels and the Appellate Body.
Legal Issues of Economic Integration