The Harmonised Commodity Code (NHM) is based on the international standard Harmonised System (HS) used to describe and code goods in international trade published by the World Customs Organisation (WCO). It also contains railway-specific content in chapters 27, 98 and 99.
The NHM is an important basis for conducting international freight traffic. It is a standard and compatible commodity code and thereby facilitates compilation, comparison and analysis of data exchanged between customers, railway undertakings (RU) and administrative bodies. At the same time, it assists the RUs in monitoring the market.
The NHM enables tariffs to be differentiated based on the type of commodity and contributes to the harmonisation of the tariff systems applied by RUs.
For goods with dangerous goods characteristics the "Regulations governing the international carriage of dangerous goods by rail" (RID) shall prevail and shall be observed. There is no reference to the respective UN numbers in the NHM.