CN code and TARIC when checking sanctions

Three levels of the same code

The Combined Nomenclature (CN) has eight digits and is common to the whole Union. TARIC adds two digits and describes measures: duties, quotas, prohibitions, surveillance. Sanctions regulations most often use the CN level, and sometimes just the four-digit heading or the two-digit chapter.

The consequence is practical: an entry "7304" in an annex covers every seamless tube of that heading, even though each TARIC subline has its own row. Checking eight digits without stepping back to the parent heading can miss the ban.

"Ex" entries that TARIC will not translate

Sanctions annexes are full of entries starting with "ex". Such an entry covers only part of the heading, described in words: "ex 4302, tanned or dressed furskins, except sable". No tariff database will decide for you whether your goods fit that description, because here the wording decides, not the code.

That is why a check document should say plainly whether the match comes from a full entry or from an "ex" one. We mark it on every position and do not issue proof where the only match is a partial entry.

When sanctions are invisible in TARIC

TARIC shows measures attached to a code. Some sanctions obligations do not take that form: the No Russia clause of Article 12g is a contractual obligation, the due diligence of Article 12gb is an obligation of process, and the import ban from Crimea covers any goods from there regardless of the code. None of these appears as a row against a code.

The same goes for wind-down periods. The fact that a contract concluded before the cut-off date may still be performed for three months comes from a paragraph of an article, not from the tariff database.

How to check without missing anything

Start with the full CN code, then check the four-digit heading and the chapter. Check both directions, because the same goods can be covered on export by one article and on import by another. Check every regime, not only the Russian one. Finally record the result with a date and the version of the act, because in six months nobody will reconstruct how the provision looked on the day of shipment.

Domande frequenti

Altro nella guida

• Sanctions on machinery and machine tools of chapter 84 →
• Penalties for breaching sanctions: what Directive 2024/1226 introduced →
• Third countries and diversion of goods to Russia →
• Sanctions on car parts: what the 8708 entry actually says →
• Article 12gb due diligence step by step →
• How to check whether goods are subject to EU sanctions, step by step →
• CN code and sanctions: how to read the annexes to Regulation 833/2014 →
• Exemptions and derogations in the sanctions against Russia, when trade is allowed →
• Goods sanctions vs screening of persons and entities, how they differ →
• Exporter obligations after the 2025 amendment (end-user statement) →
• Penalties for breaching sanctions in Poland (up to PLN 20 million) →
• The most commonly checked CN codes covered by EU sanctions against Russia →
• CBAM versus EU sanctions, how they differ and why you check both →