Thirty-eight years ago today, on September 23, 1987 (August 1, 1987 lunar calendar), the unification of commodity naming and coding systems in international trade began. On September 23, 1987, representatives of more than 20 countries, mainly member states of the European Community and the European Free Trade Association, officially signed the International Unified Commodity Naming and Coding System Agreement at the headquarters of the Customs Cooperation Council in Brussels. This marked the beginning of January 1, 1988. The different commodity classification and coding systems used by countries in international trade will be unified. At the signing ceremony, the Customs Cooperation Council announced that in addition to the 12 member states of the European Community, 24 other countries, including Japan and Australia, have agreed to adopt the new system. The United States and Canada are currently stepping up preparations for the introduction of the new system. It is estimated that the two major trading countries will also complete the necessary legal procedures before the new system takes effect. The Customs Cooperation Council also estimates that by the end of 1988, about 80% to 90% of international trade will use the new commodity naming system. This new naming system uses 6 digits to classify 5,019 commodities that often appear in international trade, which will help customs, transportation, trade negotiations and information, statistics and other aspects of work to proceed smoothly. Adopting a unified commodity naming and coding system is equivalent to using the same language for international trade all over the world. It avoids duplicate labor caused by different naming systems of each party in foreign trade transactions, thus saving costs and greatly improving the accuracy and validity of documents. This is a very useful technical guarantee for strengthening the exchange of commodity information among countries and promoting the development of international trade.