The nomenclature is not a list you search. It is a tree you descend.
That is the difference between finding your code in three minutes and hunting for it for two hours. Whoever has understood the architecture starts from the section, picks a chapter, then a heading, then a subheading, and reaches the ten-digit code by elimination. Whoever has not types a keyword, lands on a line with familiar wording, and declares a code that was never meant for their product.
The Moroccan integrated tariff holds 13,218 tariff lines, spread across 97 chapters grouped into 21 sections. This article gives you the map.
Section, chapter, heading, subheading, national code: five levels, one single line at the end
1. The tree, level by level
Take a real code and take it apart: 8517130000, smartphones.
| Level | Value | What it designates | Who decides it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section | XVI | Machinery and appliances, electrical equipment | WCO |
| Chapter | 85 | Electrical machinery, appliances and equipment | WCO |
| Heading | 8517 | Telephone sets, transmission or reception apparatus | WCO |
| Subheading | 8517.13 | Smartphones | WCO |
| National code | 8517.13.00.00 | No Moroccan subdivision here | ADII |
2. The 21 sections of the Moroccan tariff
Here is the complete map. For each section: the chapters it covers, what you find there, and one real tariff line so you can see what the destination looks like.
ILive animals and animal products
Chapters 01 to 05. Live animals, meat and offal, fish and crustaceans, dairy produce, eggs, honey.
Example: 0302310000 — albacore or longfinned tunas, fresh or chilled (duty 10%).
IIVegetable products
Chapters 06 to 14. Live plants, vegetables, fruit, coffee and spices, cereals, oil seeds, vegetable gums and saps.
Example: 0805220000 — clementines, fresh or dried (duty 40%).
IIIAnimal or vegetable fats and oils
Chapter 15, alone in its section. Edible oils, fats, animal or vegetable waxes, and the products of their cleavage.
Example: 1509300000 — virgin olive oil (duty 40%).
IVPrepared foodstuffs, beverages, tobacco
Chapters 16 to 24. Meat and fish preparations, sugars, cocoa, bakers' wares, preserves, beverages, food residues, tobacco.
Example: 1806903000 — preparations containing cocoa, heavily sweetened (duty 30%).
VMineral products
Chapters 25 to 27. Salt, sulphur, earths and stone, plastering materials and cement, ores and slag, mineral fuels and the products of their distillation.
Example: 2523290000 — Portland cement, other (duty 17.5%).
VIChemical and allied industries
Chapters 28 to 38. The largest section of the tariff. Inorganic and organic chemistry, pharmaceutical products, fertilisers, dyes, perfumery, soaps, explosives. Chapter 29 alone holds 853 lines.
Example: 3004500010 — medicaments containing vitamins, veterinary use (duty 10%).
VIIPlastics and rubber
Chapters 39 and 40. Polymers in primary form, sheets, tubes, plastic packaging, rubber and tyres.
Example: 3923213000 — freezer bags of polymers of ethylene (duty 10%).
VIIIHides, leather, leather goods
Chapters 41 to 43. Raw hides and leather, travel goods and handbags, saddlery and harness, furskins.
Example: 4202123000 — suitcases with an outer surface of textile materials (duty 30%).
IXWood, cork, basketware
Chapters 44 to 46. Rough and sawn wood, charcoal, panels, articles of wood, cork, plaiting materials and basketware.
Example: 4407219010 — tropical wood, sawn and planed (duty 10%).
XWood pulp, paper and paperboard
Chapters 47 to 49. Cellulosic pulps, recovered paper, paper and paperboard, packaging, books and publishing products.
Example: 4819209080 — folding cartons and boxes, other (duty 30%).
XITextile materials and articles
Chapters 50 to 63. Fourteen chapters: silk, wool, cotton, man-made fibres, fabrics, knitted goods, clothing, household linen, used clothing. Classification follows the material and the method of manufacture.
Example: 6109100010 — cotton T-shirts, knitted (duty 30%).
XIIFootwear, headgear, umbrellas
Chapters 64 to 67. Footwear and parts thereof, headgear, umbrellas and walking sticks, prepared feathers and artificial flowers.
Example: 6403919010 — leather footwear covering the ankle, for men (duty 30%).
XIIIStone, ceramics, glass
Chapters 68 to 70. Articles of stone, plaster, cement and asbestos, ceramic products, glass and glassware.
Example: 7013220000 — stemware drinking glasses of lead crystal (duty 30%).
XIVPrecious metals and jewellery
Chapter 71, alone in its section. Pearls, precious stones, precious metals, jewellery, imitation jewellery, coins.
Example: 7113111000 — articles of jewellery of silver (duty 2.5%).
XVBase metals and articles thereof
Chapters 72 to 83. Pig iron, iron and steel, copper, nickel, aluminium, lead, zinc, tin, tools and cutlery, miscellaneous articles. Chapter 77 is reserved and contains no line at all.
Example: 7308300000 — doors, windows and their frames, of iron or steel (duty 30%).
XVIMachinery and electrical equipment
Chapters 84 and 85. Only two chapters, but 1,404 tariff lines — this is the section where the greatest number of classification disputes are fought.
Example: 8517130000 — smartphones (duty 17.5%).
XVIITransport equipment
Chapters 86 to 89. Railway equipment, motor vehicles and their parts, aircraft and spacecraft, ships and boats. Chapter 87 alone holds 628 lines.
Example: 8703328380 — diesel passenger cars, new vehicles (duty 17.5%).
XVIIIOptical, measuring, medical, clocks
Chapters 90 to 92. Optical and measuring instruments, medical and surgical apparatus, clocks and watches, musical instruments.
Example: 9018110000 — electrocardiographs (duty 2.5%).
XIXArms and ammunition
Chapter 93, alone in its section. Military weapons, hunting and sporting guns, ammunition, parts and accessories.
Example: 9303101010 — muzzle-loading hunting guns (duty 2.5%).
XXMiscellaneous manufactured articles
Chapters 94 to 96. Furniture, bedding, lighting fittings, prefabricated buildings, toys and sports goods, miscellaneous articles.
Example: 9403400000 — wooden kitchen furniture (duty 30%).
XXIWorks of art, collectors' pieces, antiques
Chapter 97, alone in its section and the last of the tariff. Hand-made paintings and sculptures, stamps, collections, antiques.
Example: 9701210000 — paintings and drawings more than 100 years old (duty 2.5%).
3. The chapters that cause trouble
Four borders concentrate most of the disputes. Knowing them means knowing when to slow down.
Chapter 84 against chapter 85
The most contested border in the tariff, by a distance. In theory: chapter 84 covers mechanical machinery, chapter 85 electrical machinery and apparatus. In practice, almost every modern machine is electrical.
The real dividing line is not the presence of an electric motor but the dominant function of the apparatus, arbitrated by the notes to section XVI. A machine whose function is mechanical stays in chapter 84 even if it is entirely electrical.
With 869 lines in chapter 84 and 535 in chapter 85, hesitation between the two is never settled on instinct.
Chapter 39 against the chapter of the finished product
Chapter 39 covers plastics and articles thereof: 483 lines. The temptation to file every plastic object there is strong.
It is wrong as soon as a more specific chapter exists. A plastic chair falls under chapter 94 (furniture), not 39. A plastic toy falls under 95. Plastic packaging, on the other hand, genuinely stays in 39. The rule: function beats material, except where no functional heading covers the product.
The 'parts and accessories' headings
Every technical section has its parts headings, and they rarely send you where you expect. A spare part does not automatically follow the machine it fits into.
The reasoning to hold, in this order: is the part named in a heading of its own elsewhere in the tariff? If so, that is where it goes, whatever its destination. Only if not does it join the parts of the machine. A ball bearing stays in chapter 84 as a bearing, never as a "vehicle part".
The 'other' subdivisions at the end of a subheading
Codes ending in ...9000, ...9090 or ...99 are residual headings: they collect only what no specific line covers. They are never a default choice.
And they are not systematically the cheapest. On extractor hoods, the "other" line is at 2.5% against 30% for domestic use. On oil filters it is the reverse: 8421231000, the specific line, is at 2.5%, while 8421239000, "other", is at 30%.
4. Section and chapter notes
This is the most misunderstood point in the whole nomenclature, and the most expensive.
A concrete example, drawn from the tariff in force. Chapter 15 is titled "Animal or vegetable fats and oils". An importer of pig fat logically concludes they are in the right place.
Note 1 to chapter 15 says the opposite, in black and white: the chapter does not cover "pig fat or poultry fat of heading 02.09". Pig fat falls under chapter 02, that of meat. Same note, next paragraph: cocoa butter, fat and oil are excluded from chapter 15 and fall under heading 18.04, in the cocoa chapter. And yet they are fatty substances.
The method: read the notes before the wordings
- Identify the candidate chapter or chapters.
- Read the section notes first, then the chapter notes.
- Look for an exclusion that would target your product — notes almost always begin with the list of what does not fall under the chapter.
- Only descend to the headings once that check has been made.
On the Transinaut pages, the applicable notes are attached to every tariff line: they show with the code, not in a separate 900-page document.
Legal notes are read before the wordings, not after
5. From the international 6 digits to the Moroccan 10
The descent does not stop at the international subheading. The last four digits are Moroccan, and they are the ones carrying the money: the import duty, the domestic consumption tax, anti-dumping measures, prior controls.
It is also where most of the expensive errors happen, because the foreign supplier can, by construction, only ever provide six digits. The subject deserves more than a paragraph: it is covered in detail in HS code 6 vs 10 digits in Morocco.
6. When the nomenclature changes
The Harmonized System is revised by the World Customs Organization on a five-year cycle. Every revision creates headings, deletes them, merges them — to keep up with new technologies and environmental concerns.
What a revision changes for your declarations
- A code you have used for years can disappear or change its scope with nothing to warn you.
- A heading can be split in two, with different rates on either side: your product lands on one side or the other, and you need to know which.
- The Moroccan national subdivisions (digits 7 to 10) can be adjusted more frequently, with the finance acts.
- A past declaration is still judged on the nomenclature in force at its date, not on today's.
The practical consequence fits in one sentence: a code is never acquired for good. A catalogue classified once is re-checked after every revision, on the high-volume lines at the very least.
FAQ: the Moroccan customs nomenclature
How many chapters are there in the Moroccan customs tariff?
97 active chapters, numbered 01 to 97 and grouped into 21 sections. Chapter 77 exists in the numbering but stays empty: the WCO keeps it in reserve for future use. Chapters 98 and 99, used by some national nomenclatures for special purposes, are not employed in Morocco.
Where do I find the official customs tariff?
The integrated tariff is published by the Customs and Indirect Taxes Administration on adii.gov.ma. It is the only authoritative source in a dispute. A search tool saves you time on navigation and notes, but the enforceable reference remains the administration's publication as at the date of your declaration.
Can a product fall under two chapters at once?
It can seem to, never actually. Where two headings appear equally applicable, the General Rules of Interpretation decide, in order: GRI 3(a) gives priority to the most specific heading, GRI 3(b) retains the material or component that gives the product its essential character, and GRI 3(c), as a last resort, designates the heading that occurs last in numerical order. The result is single and justifiable.
What do I do if no chapter seems to fit my product?
In almost every case it is the reasoning that needs redoing, not the tariff that is incomplete: the nomenclature is designed to cover the totality of goods traded. Go back to the product's principal function rather than its material, check the section notes, and look at the residual chapters of section XX. If doubt persists on an atypical or new product, tariff information from the administration is the only safe answer.
Should I read the WCO explanatory notes as well as the legal notes?
The explanatory notes are not binding but they carry authority, and the administration refers to them. On a contested file, a position resting on the explanatory notes and on WCO classification opinions defends itself markedly better than one resting on the wording alone.
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