New Schedule B Commodity Search

In order to assist exporters and filers determine their correct export commodity code (Schedule B number), the Foreign Trade Division (FTD) provides a Schedule B search tool.  In an effort to better assist exporters in classifying their products, and to provide more accurate trade statistics, the FTD will soon make available an improved commodity search tool.  The new search will provide a smarter, more intuitive, and more accurate way to classify products.

Although every physical product is classifiable in the Schedule B nomenclature, not every item can be classified using the current, keyword-based search. This, along with ever more complex and diverse products makes determining the correct export classification code difficult and also can result in the misclassification of exports.

The new search can understand and interpret common commercial product information, and it interacts intelligently and intuitively with users to eliminate classification complexity.   We hope the new search will cut down on the time it takes to classify products and provide more accurate and consistent results that ultimately will improve the quality of trade statistics.

The new search is available now at http://www.census.gov/scheduleb. The old search engine will be retired on April 30, 2010.