Brussels, 25 April 2019 – CECIMO, the European Association for the additive manufacturing (AM) sector, welcomes the introduction of a new classification provision for AM machines in the product nomenclature, used by more than 200 countries.

Maintained by the World Customs Organisations (WCO), this product nomenclature is technically known as Harmonized System and is used by authorities to classify goods in international trade. The introduction of this new classification code, initially proposed by the EU on the basis of CECIMO’s inputs, will improve the collection of statistics on international trade of AM machines by material used. It will also facilitate the inclusion of AM machines in bilateral or multilateral trade deal talks across the world, as this product nomenclature is used as common language in trade negotiations.

‘’Standardization is of vital importance in the industrialization of AM. Work is progressing on standards on materials, processes and applications. In addition to standardization, we are glad to have contributed to the inclusion of AM machines in the systematic list of commodities applied by most trading nations in the world. This action will fill another vacuum in the standards’ landscape, leading to greater official intelligence on AM machine market dynamics and, therefore, helping to draft more accurate strategies for the AM sector’’, said Filip Geerts, Director General at CECIMO.

Officially approved by parties adhering to the WCO’s Harmonized System, the new classification code for AM machines will enter into force from 1 January 2022 as part of a revised product nomenclature. CECIMO is now supporting EU custom officials on the formal definition of an AM machine, which will intend to describe the new code.