We propose an interpretable machine learning framework to help identify trade data discrepancies that are challenging to detect with traditional methods. Our system analyzes trade data to find a novel inverse price-volume signature, a pattern where reported volumes increase as average unit prices decrease. The model achieves 0.9375 accuracy and was validated by comparing large-scale UN data with detailed firm-level data, confirming that the risk signatures are consistent. This scalable tool provides customs authorities with a transparent, data-driven method to shift from conventional to priority-based inspection protocols, translating complex data into actionable intelligence to support international environmental policies.

The task of assigning internationally accepted commodity codes (aka HS codes) to traded goods is a critical function of customs offices. Like court decisions made by judges, this task follows the doctrine of precedent and can be nontrivial even for experienced officers. Together with the Korea Customs Service (KCS), we propose a first-ever explainable decision supporting model that suggests the most likely subheadings (i.e., the first six digits) of the HS code. The model also provides reasoning for its suggestion in the form of a document that is interpretable by customs officers. We evaluated the model using 5,000 cases that recently received a classification request. The results showed that the top-3 suggestions made by our model had an accuracy of 93.9\% when classifying 925 challenging subheadings. A user study with 32 customs experts further confirmed that our algorithmic suggestions accompanied by explainable reasonings, can substantially reduce the time and effort taken by customs officers for classification reviews.

Industries must follow government rules and regulations around the world to classify products when assessing duties and taxes for international shipment. Harmonized System (HS) is the most standardized numerical method of classifying traded products among industry classification systems. A hierarchical ensemble model comprising of Bert-transformer, NER, distance-based approaches, and knowledge-graphs have been developed to address scalability, coverage, ability to capture nuances, automation and auditing requirements when classifying unknown text-descriptions as per HS method.

Try here the demonstration tool for automatically classifying goods with their commercial descriptions and experience how AI could assist core Customs operations. As the awareness among Customs agencies about the importance and the interest in its application grows, the BACUDA expert team with the support of CCF-Korea continues to deliver state of the art methods and training material to meet the demands of Members. Complementing the development of the neural network model to support the classification of goods in Harmonized System, an online advanced Data Analytics course including a practical module on the HS recommendation algorithm was published on CLiKC!, the WCO e-learning platform. The BACUDA team of experts collaborated on the development of an AI model to recommend HS codes, which aims to support commodity classification for Customs officials by using historical data to predict HS codes upon the entry of the commercial descriptions of goods. An accompanying tool provides a demonstration on the functions which the model offers.

The task of assigning and validating internationally accepted commodity code (HS code) to traded goods is one of the critical functions at the customs office. This decision is crucial to importers and exporters, as it determines the tariff rate. However, similar to court decisions made by judges, the task can be non-trivial even for experienced customs officers. The current paper proposes a deep learning model to assist this seemingly challenging HS code classification. Together with Korea Customs Service, we built a decision model based on KoELECTRA that suggests the most likely heading and subheadings (i.e., the first four and six digits) of the HS code. Evaluation on 129,084 past cases shows that the top-3 suggestions made by our model have an accuracy of 95.5% in classifying 265 subheadings. This promising result implies algorithms may reduce the time and effort taken by customs officers substantially by assisting the HS code classification task.

I've been researching the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in supply chain applications. As I've written articles on this topic, vendors have reached out to me to explain what they are doing in this area. Randy Rotchin, the CEO of 3CE Technologies, is one example. The HS is a commodity description and coding system, which forms the basis upon which all goods are identified for customs, and is used by customs authorities worldwide. Using the right HS code allows companies to pay the correct tariffs. And paying the right tariffs are necessary to avoid government fines, which in some cases can run into the millions of dollars, calculating the true landed cost of products, and identifying promising selling and sourcing opportunities abroad.