<h1>Government Guidebook assigns 12,167 HSN codes to 31 ministries, clarifying custodianship and streamlining regulatory responsibilities</h1> The government released a Guidebook mapping 12,167 Harmonized System of Nomenclature (HSN) codes to 31 Ministries and Departments, based on Allocation of Business rules, value-chain and use-case analyses, and extensive inter-ministerial and industry consultations. The Guidebook clarifies custodianship of tariff classifications previously treated as residual, aims to streamline regulatory responsibility, ease of doing business, and support sectoral policy alignment, investment promotion and trade negotiations. Legally, it formalizes administrative ownership of specific product codes, which may affect regulatory jurisdiction, compliance obligations, dispute resolution in trade negotiations, and future policy or tariff measures tied to mapped HSN codes.