How to read an HS code before you place an order
The first six digits are the same in every country. The last two or four are not, and that is where duty disputes begin.
An HS code is the common language of customs. The World Customs Organization sets the first six digits, and every member country uses them identically. Chapter, heading, subheading. A cotton terry towel is 6302.60 in Mumbai, in Jebel Ali and in Rotterdam.
What differs is what comes after. Countries extend the code to eight or ten digits for their own tariff and statistical purposes, and those extra digits carry the duty rate. A buyer who quotes only six digits has told you what the goods are, not what they will cost to clear.
Before an order is confirmed we ask for the destination country's full tariff line, not just the six-digit heading. If the buyer does not have it, their customs broker does. It takes one email and it prevents the argument that otherwise arrives with the vessel.