3402.31
Linear alkylbenzene sulfonic acids and their salts
Organic surface-active agents (other than soap); surface-active preparations, washing preparations (including auxiliary washing preparations) and cleaning preparations, whether or not containing soap, other than those of heading 3401 > Anionic organic surface-active agents, whether or not put up for retail sale
Where this code sits
- Section VI · Chapter34 — SOAP, ORGANIC SURFACE-ACTIVE AGENTS, WASHING PREPARATIONS, LUBRICATING PREPARATIONS, ARTIFICIAL WAXES, PREPARED WAXES, POLISHING OR SCOURING PREPARATIONS, CANDLES AND SIMILAR ARTICLES, MODELING PASTES, "DENTAL WAXES" AND DENTAL PREPARATIONS WITH A BASIS OF PLASTERPRODUCTS OF THE CHEMICAL OR ALLIED INDUSTRIES
- Heading3402 — Organic surface-active agents (other than soap); surface-active preparations, washing preparations (including auxiliary washing preparations) and cleaning preparations, whether or not containing soap, other than those of heading 3401
- Subheading3402.31 — Linear alkylbenzene sulfonic acids and their salts
Six digits is as far as the international nomenclature goes, and it is the same six digits in every country that applies the Harmonized System. Your destination adds further digits of its own, and the rate lives on that national line — which is why the US lines below run to eight and ten digits, and why the lookups go to each authority's own tariff.
Duty rate
This subheading splits into national lines with different duties. Which one applies is a classification decision about your specific goods, and picking one for you would be making that decision on your behalf. The national lines are listed below — choose the one that describes what you are importing.
Look it up in the authority's own tariff — the only place it is legally meaningful — then bring it back to the calculator, which will do the valuation basis, VAT treatment and statutory fees for you.
Paste 3402.31 into the lookup and follow it down to your national line.
US national lines under 3402.31
The United States subdivides this subheading into 2 lines. They do not all carry the same duty, so which one your goods fall in changes what you pay.
| Line | Description | General | Preferential |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3402.31.10.00 | Aromatic or modified aromatic | 6.5% | Free (A, AU, BH, CL, CO, D, E, IL, JO, KR, MA, OM, P, PA, PE, S, SG) |
| 3402.31.90.00 | Other | 3.7% | Free (A, AU, BH, CL,CO, D, E, IL, JO, KR, MA, OM, P, PA, PE, S, SG) |
A blank General cell means the line states no rate of its own and takes the one above it — the line it is stated on is named, so the figure can be checked where it actually appears. Preferential rates are listed with the programme codes that grant them; the schedule offering a rate is not the same as your goods qualifying for it.
Preferential rates for 3402.31
The US lines under this subheading offer a reduced or free rate under 17 programmes. Each is named from General Note 3(c)(i) — the schedule prints only the letter.
Generalized System of Preferences
Normally supported by: GSP claim
United States-Australia Free Trade Agreement
Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement
United States-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act
Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement
United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement
Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement
United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act
Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement
African Growth and Opportunity Act
Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act
United States-Israel Free Trade Area
Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement
United States-Jordan Free Trade Area Implementation Act
Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement
United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act
Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement
United States-Morocco Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act
Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement
United States-Oman Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act
Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement
Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act
Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement
United States-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act
Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement
United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act
Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement
Normally supported by: USMCA certification of origin
United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement
Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement
Origin is determined by the agreement’s product-specific rules applied to your bill of materials. We hold the tariff schedule and the programme legend, not your inputs — nothing here determines that goods qualify.
What chapter 34 excludes
A subheading's wording does not decide a classification — the legal notes do. These are the notes that push goods out of this chapter even when the description seems to fit.
1. This chapter does not cover:
- (a) Edible mixtures or preparations of animal, vegetable or microbial fats or oils of a kind used as mold release preparations (heading 1517);
- (b) Separate chemically defined compounds; or
- (c) Shampoos, dentifrices, shaving creams and foams or bath preparations, containing soap or other organic surface-active agents (heading 3305, 3306 or 3307).
The heading does not apply to:
- (a) Goods of heading 1516, 3402 or 3823 even if having a waxy character;
- (b) Unmixed animal waxes or unmixed vegetable waxes, whether or not refined or colored, of heading 1521;
- (c) Mineral waxes or similar products of heading 2712, whether or not intermixed or merely colored; or
- (d) Waxes mixed with, dispersed in or dissolved in a liquid medium (headings 3405, 3809, etc.).
Legal notes that govern this code
Reproduced from the published tariff schedule. Section and chapter notes are binding and are part of the nomenclature itself; statistical notes are US reporting rules and are not classification law.
Section VI notes PRODUCTS OF THE CHEMICAL OR ALLIED INDUSTRIES
1. (a) Goods (other than radioactive ores) answering to a description in heading 2844 or 2845 are to be classified in those headings and in no other heading of the tariff schedule.
(b) Subject to paragraph (a) above, goods answering to a description in heading 2843, 2846 or 2852 are to be classified in those headings and in no other heading of this section.
2. Subject to note 1 above, goods classifiable in heading 3004, 3005, 3006, 3212, 3303, 3304, 3305, 3306, 3307, 3506, 3707 or 3808 by reason of being put up in measured doses or for retail sale are to be classified in those headings and in no other heading of the tariff schedule.
3. Goods put up in sets consisting of two or more separate constituents, some or all of which fall in this section and are intended to be mixed together to obtain a product of section VI or VII, are to be classified in the heading appropriate to that product, provided that the constituents are:
(a) Having regard to the manner in which they are put up, clearly identifiable as being intended to be used together without first being repacked;
(b) Entered together; and
(c) Identifiable, whether by their nature or by the relative proportions in which they are present, as being complementary one to another.
4. Where a product answers to a description in one or more of the headings in section VI by virtue of being described by name or function and also to heading 3827, then it is classifiable in a heading that references the product by name or function and not under heading 3827.
Additional U.S. Notes
1. In determining the amount of duty applicable to a solution of a single compound in water subject to duty in this section at a specific rate, an allowance in weight or volume, as the case may be, shall be made for the water in excess of any water of crystallization which may be present in the undissolved compound.
2. For the purposes of the tariff schedule:
(a) The term "aromatic" as applied to any chemical compound refers to such compound containing one or more fused or unfused benzene rings;
(b) The term "modified aromatic" describes a molecular structure having at least one six-membered heterocyclic ring which contains at least four carbon atoms and having an arrangement of molecular bonds as in the benzene ring or in the quinone ring, but does not include any such molecular structure in which one or more pyrimidine rings are the only modified aromatic rings present;
(c) For the purposes of headings 2902, 2907 and 3817, the term "alkyl" describes any saturated acyclic hydrocarbon group having six or more carbon atoms or, subject to note 1 to chapter 29, any mixtures of such groups averaging six or more carbon atoms.
3. The term "products described in additional U.S. note 3 to section VI" refers to any product not listed in the Chemical Appendix to the Tariff Schedule and--
(a) For which the importer furnishes the Chemical Abstracts Service (C.A.S.) registry number and certifies that such registry number is not listed in the Chemical Appendix to the Tariff Schedule; or
(b) Which the importer certifies not to have a C.A.S. registry number and not to be listed in the Chemical Appendix to the Tariff Schedule, either under the name used to make Customs entry or under any other name by which it may be known.
Chapter 34 — Notes
Legal Notes of the Harmonized System. Binding, and part of the international nomenclature.
1. This chapter does not cover:
(a) Edible mixtures or preparations of animal, vegetable or microbial fats or oils of a kind used as mold release preparations (heading 1517);
(b) Separate chemically defined compounds; or
(c) Shampoos, dentifrices, shaving creams and foams or bath preparations, containing soap or other organic surface-active agents (heading 3305, 3306 or 3307).
2. For the purposes of heading 3401, the expression "soap" applies only to soap soluble in water. Soap and the other products of heading 3401 may contain added substances (for example, disinfectants, abrasive powders, fillers or medicaments). Products containing abrasive powders remain classified in heading 3401 only if in the form of bars, cakes or molded pieces or shapes. In other forms they are to be classified in heading 3405 as "scouring powders and similar preparations".
3. For the purposes of heading 3402, "organic surface-active agents" are products which when mixed with water at a concentration of 0.5 percent at 20°C and left to stand for one hour at the same temperature:
(a) Give a transparent or translucent liquid or stable emulsion without separation of insoluble matter; and
(b) Reduce the surface tension of water to 4.5 x 10 -2 N/m (45 dyne/cm) or less.
4. In heading 3403 the expression "petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals" applies to the products defined in note 2 to chapter 27.
5. In heading 3404, subject to the exclusions provided below, the expression "artificial waxes and prepared waxes" applies only to:
(a) Chemically produced organic products of a waxy character, whether or not water-soluble;
(b) Products obtained by mixing different waxes;
(c) Products of a waxy character with a basis of one or more waxes and containing fats, resins, mineral substances or other materials.
The heading does not apply to:
(a) Goods of heading 1516, 3402 or 3823 even if having a waxy character;
(b) Unmixed animal waxes or unmixed vegetable waxes, whether or not refined or colored, of heading 1521;
(c) Mineral waxes or similar products of heading 2712, whether or not intermixed or merely colored; or
(d) Waxes mixed with, dispersed in or dissolved in a liquid medium (headings 3405, 3809, etc.).
Notes are reproduced from the published tariff schedule. They govern classification, but reading them is not the same as applying them to your goods — that is what a broker or a binding ruling is for.
Other chapters that mention heading 3402
An exclusion pointing into this heading from another chapter is as decisive as one in your own, and it is the one nobody finds by reading their own chapter.
3. For the purposes of heading 3402, "organic surface-active agents" are products which when mixed with water at a concentration of 0.5 percent at 20°C and left to stand for one hour at the same temperature:
(a) Goods of heading 1516, 3402 or 3823 even if having a waxy character;
(f) Organic surface-active agents or preparations of heading 3402;
Other subheadings under 3402
Elsewhere in chapter 34
Importing 3402.31 into
Each guide covers how duty and tax are assessed there, the authority with jurisdiction, and what catches importers out.
Common questions
What is HS code 3402.31?
3402.31 covers Linear alkylbenzene sulfonic acids and their salts. It sits under heading 3402 (Organic surface-active agents (other than soap); surface-active preparations, washing preparations (including auxiliary washing preparations) and cleaning preparations, whether or not containing soap, other than those of heading 3401) in chapter 34, soap, organic surface-active agents, washing preparations, lubricating preparations, artificial waxes, prepared waxes, polishing or scouring preparations, candles and similar articles, modeling pastes, "dental waxes" and dental preparations with a basis of plaster.
What is the US duty rate for 3402.31?
There is no single rate: this subheading splits into 2 US national lines with 2 different duty rates. Which one applies is a classification decision about your specific goods — the lines are listed on this page.
What is excluded from chapter 34?
1. This chapter does not cover: (a) Edible mixtures or preparations of animal, vegetable or microbial fats or oils of a kind used as mold release preparations (heading 1517); (b) Separate chemically defined compounds; or (c) Shampoos, dentifrices, shaving creams and foams or bath preparations, containing soap or other organic surface-active agents (heading 3305, 3306 or 3307).