BTI is a written decision on classification of a specific product or item of goods in accordance with the EU Combined Nomenclature (CN) issued upon request of a business and it is legally binding for all customs administrations within the EU territory for a period of up to 6 years from the date of issuing the BTI as the Community customs regulations are equally applicable across the whole Community territory.

BIT helps one to get oriented in the CN coding and defines precise classification of imported or exported goods which constitutes the basis for accurate estimation of customs fees. Laws and regulations governing the BTI and definitions of different legal terms may be found under Articles 6-12 of the Community Customs Code (Council Regulation (EEC) NR 2913/92 on Development of Community Customs Code) and under Article 514 of Regulations on Application of Community Customs Code defining the enforcement procedure of the Council Regulation (EEC) NR 2913/92 on Development of Community Customs Code.

Pursuant to the provisions BTI may not be applied to goods that were imported to or exported from the EU prior to the date of issuance of the BTI.

BTI may be used in:

• defining the import or export customs duties;
• calculating export compensation fees or other fees granted upon export from or import into the EU within the framework of common agricultural policy;
• certificates on import, export or pre-defined compensation fees that were during performance of customs formalities issued for acceptance of customs declarations of goods if these have been issued based on the respective BTI.