Classifying organic chemicals for import and export
Get help to classify organic chemicals that contain certain permitted additives or can be dissolved in water, for import and export.
This guidance refers to chapters and headings in the UK Global Online Tariff. If you’re importing goods into Northern Ireland, or if this guidance does not include your item, read more information.
When classifying organic chemicals (for the purposes of the Tariff), the following terms and abbreviations may be used:
- Chemical Abstracts Service registration number (CAS RN) – a unique number allocated to a chemical by the American Chemical Society (used worldwide)
- Customs Union and statistics number (CUS)
- European Customs Inventory of Chemicals (ECICS) - a database containing details of the Tariff classifications for inorganic and organic chemicals
Chapter 29 mainly covers separate chemically defined organic compounds. They must also be intended for a general use, rather than for a specific use.
Chapter 29 has detailed notes to help you when classifying organic chemicals. The guidance given in notes 2 to 8 provides information on classifying certain specific chemicals.
Permitted additives
To be covered in this chapter, the compounds must comply with strict conditions that specify which additives are allowed (as set out in note 1(a) to note 1(g) to chapter 29).
Compounds can be dissolved in water or some other solvent. If dissolved in some other solvent, the solution must be a normal and necessary method to transport the compound or for safety reasons; the solution must not be used to give the compound a specific use. Stabilisers (such as anti-caking agent) can be added, but only to preserve or transport the compound.
For example, if an essential trace element (such as chromium picolinate) is prepared as a dietary supplement in the form of tablets or capsules, it would not be covered in chapter 29. This is because the ingredients added (such as a binder and the capsule shell) have not been added for the purposes of preservation or transport. This type of product is classified in heading 2106.
Heading 2936 specifically covers:
- provitamins
- vitamins
- derivatives used mainly as vitamins
- mixtures of provitamins, vitamins and vitamin derivatives
Certain specified additives (such as anti-oxidants) are allowed, so long as the amount added is just enough to preserve or transport the vitamins. Vitamins in capsules for use as dietary supplements are not covered under heading 2936, they’re covered under heading 2106.
Suitability for general use
To classify a compound in chapter 29, ingredients must not added with the intention of giving the product a specific use – rather than it being used for general use.
For example, vitamins and provitamins are normally classified in heading 2936. However, if they’re prepared as food supplements in the form of tablets, capsules or caplets, they cannot be classified here. This is because they’re presented with an intended daily dosage, meaning they’re suitable for a specific use.
These types of product are also excluded from heading 2936 because the additives are used to do more than just preserve or transport the vitamins; they’re added to make the product convenient and easy to use.
Antibiotics
Antibiotics (such as penicillin and streptomycin) are classified under heading 2941, which covers compounds that have an antibiotic activity. They are substances produced by micro-organisms, with the ability to destroy or stop the growth of other micro-organisms. Substances that have low antibiotic activity are classified elsewhere in chapter 29, depending on their chemical structure.
Heading 2941 excludes certain other antibiotic products, including:
- antibiotics intended to treat or prevent a disease or ailment (classified in heading 3003 or 3004, depending on how they’re presented)
- antibiotic preparations used in animal feed where the antibiotic content is usually between 8% and 16% – for example, a mixture of a dried antibiotic with a cereal product (classified in heading 2309)
Combined products (or sets)
Some products are made by combining two or more separate elements or constituents. They’re intended to be mixed together to produce a product covered either in section VI or section VII. Some or all of these constituents may be covered in section VI of the tariff, as products of the chemical or allied industries. These combined products (or sets) are classified under the heading appropriate to the finished product, if the constituents are:
- made up in a way that’s clear they should be used together, without first being repacked
- presented together
- complementary to one another, either because of their nature or because of the proportions in which they are combined
- chemicals which could be covered under more than one heading
Some items can be classified under two or more headings in this chapter 29. If so, you should generally use the heading that comes last in numerical order.
Finding the right heading or subheading
In chapter 29, derivatives of a chemical compound (or group of chemical compounds) are classified under the same subheading as the compound or group itself. This applies as long as:
- they’re not covered more specifically by another subheading
- the relevant series of subheadings does not have an ‘other’ subheading, where the compound would otherwise fit
If you’re having difficulty in finding the heading or subheading you need, the ECICS database can help you. It covers organic chemicals found in chapter 29, inorganic chemicals found in chapter 28 and other chemical products.
Items excluded from chapter 29
Chemicals that to not meet the criteria to be classified in chapter 29 include:
- compounds classified as medicaments, such as paracetamol (chapter 30)
- disinfectants intended for retail sale, or as preparations or articles (heading 3808)
- vitamins intended for use as food supplements in the form of tablets, capsules and caplets, with a recommended daily dosage – these are considered suitable for a specific use (many are classified in heading 2106 – see Classifying herbal medicines, supplements and tonics
- products with ingredients other than the permitted additives for preservation and transport of the compound (generally classified in chapter 21 or chapter 22, depending on the ingredients and how they’re presented) – these include tonic drinks with vitamins and other ingredients such as:
- other organic chemicals
- minerals
- herbs
- other parts of plants
- food ingredients
- feed supplements for animals that contain vitamins and other ingredients, such as cereals and proteins (classified in heading 2309)
- antibiotics intended for therapeutic or prophylactic uses (classified in heading 3003 or 3004, depending on how they’re presented – see Classifying pharmaceutical products
- antibiotic preparations used in animal feeding, for example, a dried antibiotic mass on a carrier – the antibiotic content is usually between 8% and 16% (classified in heading 2309)
- intermediate products – products that have been produced as part of the antibiotics manufacturing process and are intended to be processed further (classified in heading 3824)
- certain chemicals, such as crude glycerol, are specifically excluded from this chapter – they are listed in note 2a to note 2k to chapter 29
More information
If this guidance does not cover your specific item in detail and you’re importing goods into Great Britain, you can search for it in the Online Trade Tariff.
If you’re importing goods into Northern Ireland from outside the UK, and the EU and the goods are not ‘at risk’ of onward movement to the EU, you should also use the Online Trade Tariff.
If you’re importing goods into Northern Ireland from outside the UK and the EU, and the goods are at risk of onward movement to the EU, you should use the Northern Ireland (EU) Tariff.
If this guidance does cover your item, you’ll still need to look up the full commodity code to use in your declaration on the appropriate tariff.
You can find more ways to help you find a commodity code by referring to the links given in this section.
Updates to this page
Last updated 2 November 2015 + show all updates
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Further information section has been updated.
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Fixing references to specialist guides
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Text changes from Lisa Cureton-Burgess. Suzanne Meek
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First published.