ics2_check
Check any goods description against the official EU ICS2 stop-words list. Flags vague or generic terms that could cause rejection in an ENS filing, with notes on how to make them more specific.
Instructions
Check a goods description against the official EU ICS2 stop-words list — terms the European Commission deems too vague or generic for an entry summary declaration (ENS) goods-description field (data element 18 05 000 000).
Pass description=. Behavior: deterministic term matching against the in-force EU list; each flagged term carries a note (a standalone stop-word means automatic rejection, an embedded one means make the description more specific); clean=true means no listed term matched — it does NOT guarantee acceptance, and no binary accepted/rejected verdict is given. Rate-limited (anonymous use: 25 requests/day per IP): a 429 error body carries retry_after_seconds and a Retry-After header — back off and retry, or call get_subscribe_link for higher limits.
Returns: the description echo, flagged[] (term + note), clean, caveat and disclaimer under result, plus a _source citing the EU list and legal basis, plus confidence, _source and citation (the FreightUtils v1 response envelope).
Limitations: STRICTLY a reference check — not an ENS filing, not a customs-compliance determination, not legal advice; the EU list is non-exhaustive and updated periodically.
Related: hs_code_lookup (commodity codes — a different field of the ENS), uk_duty_calculator (duty/VAT, unrelated to ENS screening). Use BEFORE filing an ENS — for customs/documentation teams, brokers and agents building filing pipelines.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| description | Yes | The goods description to check. Example: "gifts" (flagged) vs "wooden toys for retail" (specific). |
Output Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| ok | Yes | ||
| result | Yes | ||
| _source | Yes | ||
| citation | Yes | ||
| validity | No | ||
| warnings | No | ||
| confidence | Yes | ||
| blocking_errors | No | ||
| envelope_version | Yes | ||
| normalized_input | No |