3801.90

Other

Artificial graphite; colloidal or semi-colloidal graphite; preparations based on graphite or other carbon in the form of pastes, blocks, plates or other semimanufactures

Where this code sits

  1. Section VI · Chapter
    38 — MISCELLANEOUS CHEMICAL PRODUCTS
    PRODUCTS OF THE CHEMICAL OR ALLIED INDUSTRIES
  2. Heading
    3801 — Artificial graphite; colloidal or semi-colloidal graphite; preparations based on graphite or other carbon in the form of pastes, blocks, plates or other semimanufactures
  3. Subheading
    3801.90 — Other

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

Duty rate into United States 4.9%

USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, Revision 18 (2026) · retrieved 13/09/2026

Measures in force on top of this rate

  • Antidumping/countervailing duties not checked — they are administered separately, keyed to the exporter, and can exceed the tariff rate. Check for an order in force before relying on this total.

Paste 3801.90 into the lookup and follow it down to your national line.

US national lines under 3801.90

The United States subdivides this subheading into 3 lines. They share a duty rate, so the classification below the subheading affects reporting rather than the amount.

Line Description General Preferential
3801.90.00 Other 4.9% Free (A,AU,BH,CL,CO,D,E,IL,JO,KR,MA,OM,P,PA,PE,S,SG)
3801.90.00.10 Active anode material containing silicon 4.9% stated on 38019000 Free (A,AU,BH,CL,CO,D,E,IL,JO,KR,MA,OM,P,PA,PE,S,SG)
3801.90.00.50 Other 4.9% stated on 38019000 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 3801.90

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.

A Free

Generalized System of Preferences

Normally supported by: GSP claim

AU Free

United States-Australia Free Trade Agreement

Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement

BH Free

United States-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act

Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement

CL Free

United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement

Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement

CO Free

United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act

Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement

D Free

African Growth and Opportunity Act

E Free

Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act

IL Free

United States-Israel Free Trade Area

Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement

JO Free

United States-Jordan Free Trade Area Implementation Act

Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement

KR Free

United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act

Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement

MA Free

United States-Morocco Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act

Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement

OM Free

United States-Oman Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act

Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement

P Free

Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act

Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement

PA Free

United States-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act

Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement

PE Free

United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act

Normally supported by: Certification / claim under a US free trade agreement

S Free

United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement

Normally supported by: USMCA certification of origin

SG Free

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 38 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) Separate chemically defined elements or compounds with the exception of the following:

(d) Slag, ash and residues (including sludges, other than sewage sludge), containing metals, arsenic or their mixtures and meeting the requirements of note 3(a) or 3(b) to chapter 26 (heading 2620);

4. Throughout the tariff schedule, "municipal waste" means waste of a kind collected from households, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, shops, offices, etc., road and pavement sweepings, as well as construction and demolition waste. Municipal waste generally contains a large variety of materials such as plastics, rubber, wood, paper, textiles, glass, metals, food materials, broken furniture and other damaged or discarded articles. The term "municipal waste," does not cover: Notes (con.)

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 38 — Notes

Legal Notes of the Harmonized System. Binding, and part of the international nomenclature.

1. This chapter does not cover:

(a) Separate chemically defined elements or compounds with the exception of the following:

(1) Artificial graphite (heading 3801);

(2) Insecticides, rodenticides, fungicides, herbicides, antisprouting products and plant-growth regulators, disinfectants and similar products put up as described in heading 3808;

(3) Products put up as charges for fire-extinguishers or put up in fire-extinguishing grenades (heading 3813);

(4) Certified reference materials specified in note 2 below;

(5) Products specified in note 3(a) or 3(c) below.

(b) Mixtures of chemicals with foodstuffs or other substances with nutritive value, of a kind used in the preparation of human foodstuffs (generally, heading 2106);

(c) Products of heading 2404;

(d) Slag, ash and residues (including sludges, other than sewage sludge), containing metals, arsenic or their mixtures and meeting the requirements of note 3(a) or 3(b) to chapter 26 (heading 2620);

(e) Medicaments (heading 3003 or 3004); or

(f) Spent catalysts of a kind used for the extraction of base metals or for the manufacture of chemical compounds of base metals (heading 2620), spent catalysts of a kind used principally for the recovery of precious metal (heading 7112) or catalysts consisting of metals or metal alloys in the form of, for example, finely divided powder or woven gauze (section XIV or XV).

2.

(a) For the purposes of heading 3822, the expression "certified reference materials" means reference materials which are accompanied by a certificate which indicates the values of the certified properties, the methods used to determine these values and the degree of certainty associated with each value and which are suitable for analytical, calibrating or referencing purposes.

(b) With the exception of the products of chapter 28 or 29, for the classification of certified reference materials, heading 3822 shall take precedence over any other heading in the tariff schedule.

3. Heading 3824 includes the following goods which are not to be classified in any other heading of the tariff schedule:

(a) Cultured crystals (other than optical elements) weighing not less than 2.5 g each, of magnesium oxide or of the halides of the alkali or alkaline-earth metals;

(b) Fusel oil; Dippel's oil;

(c) Ink removers put up in packings for retail sale;

(d) Stencil correctors, other correcting fluids and correction tapes (other than those of heading 9612), put up inpackings for retail sale; and

(e) Ceramic firing testers, fusible (for example, Seger cones).

4. Throughout the tariff schedule, "municipal waste" means waste of a kind collected from households, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, shops, offices, etc., road and pavement sweepings, as well as construction and demolition waste. Municipal waste generally contains a large variety of materials such as plastics, rubber, wood, paper, textiles, glass, metals, food materials, broken furniture and other damaged or discarded articles. The term "municipal waste," does not cover: Notes (con.)

(a) Individual materials or articles segregated from the waste, for example wastes of plastics, rubber, wood, paper, textiles, glass or metals, electrical and electronic waste and scrap (including spent batteries) which fall in their appropriate headings of the tariff schedule;

(b) Industrial waste:

(c) Waste pharmaceuticals, as defined in note 4(k) to chapter 30; or

(d) Clinical waste, as defined in note 6(a), below.

5. For the purposes of heading 3825, "sewage sludge" means sludge arising from urban effluent treatment plants and includes pre-treatment waste, scourings and unstabilized sludge. Stabilized sludge, when suitable for use as fertilizer, is excluded (chapter 31).

6. For the purposes of heading 3825, the expression "other wastes" applies to:

(a) Clinical waste, that is, contaminated waste arising from medical research, diagnosis, treatment or other medical, surgical, dental or veterinary procedures, which often contain pathogens and pharmaceutical substances and require special disposal procedures (for example, soiled dressings, used gloves and used syringes);

(b) Waste organic solvents;

(c) Wastes of metal pickling liquors, hydraulic fluids, brake fluids and anti-freezing fluids; and

(d) Other wastes from chemical or allied industries.

The expression "other wastes" does not, however, cover wastes which contain mainly petroleum oils or oils obtained from bituminous materials (heading 2710).

7. For the purposes of heading 3826, the term “biodiesel” means mono-alkyl esters of fatty acids of a kind used as a fuel, derived from animal, vegetable or microbial fats and oils, whether or not used.

Chapter 38 — Subheading Notes

Subheading Notes. Binding, scoped to subheadings.

1. Subheadings 3808.52 and 3808.59 cover only goods of heading 3808, containing one or more of the following substances: alachlor (ISO); aldicarb (ISO); aldrin (ISO); azinphos-methyl (ISO); binapacryl (ISO); camphechlor (ISO) (toxaphene); captafol (ISO); carbofuran (ISO); chlordane (ISO); chlordimeform (ISO); chlorobenzilate (ISO); DDT (ISO) (clofenotane (INN), 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane); dieldrin (ISO, INN); 4,6-dinitro-o-cresol (DNOC (ISO)) or its salts; dinoseb (ISO), its salts or its esters; endosulfan (ISO); ethylene dibromide (ISO) (1,2- dibromoethane; ethylene dichloride (ISO) (1,2-dichloroethane); fluoroacetamide (ISO); heptachlor (ISO); hexachlorobenzene (ISO); 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH (ISO)), including lindane (ISO, INN); mercury compounds; methamidophos (ISO); monocrotophos (ISO); oxirane (ethylene oxide); parathion (ISO); parathion-methyl (ISO) (methylparathion); pentachlorophenol (ISO), its salts or its esters; perfluorooctane sulphonic acid and its salts; perfluorooctane sulphonamides; perfluorooctane sulphonyl fluoride; phosphamidon (ISO); 2,4,5-T (ISO) (2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid), its salts or its esters; tributyltin compounds; trichlorfon (ISO).

Subheading 3808.59 also covers dustable powder formulations containing a mixture of benomyl (ISO), carbofuran (ISO) and thiram (ISO).

2. Subheadings 3808.61 to 3808.69 cover only goods of heading 3808, containing alpha-cypermethrin (ISO), bendiocarb (ISO), bifenthrin (ISO), chlorfenapyr (ISO), cyfluthrin (ISO), deltamethrin (INN, ISO), etofenprox (INN), fenitrothion (ISO), lambda-cyhalothrin (ISO), malathion (ISO), pirimiphos-methyl (ISO) or propoxur (ISO).

3. Subheadings 3824.81 to 3824.89 cover only mixtures and preparations containing one or more of the following substances: oxirane (ethylene oxide); polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs); polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); polychlorinated terphenyls (PCTs); tris(2,3-dibromopropyl) phosphate; aldrin (ISO); camphechlor (ISO) (toxaphene); chlordane (ISO); chlordecone (ISO); DDT (ISO) (clofenotane (INN); 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane); dieldrin (ISO, INN); endosulfan (ISO); endrin (ISO); heptachlor (ISO); mirex (ISO); 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH (ISO)), including lindane (ISO, INN); pentachlorobenzene (ISO); hexachlorobenzene (ISO); perfluorooctane sulphonic acid, its salts; perfluorooctane sulphonamides; perfluorooctane sulphonyl fluoride; tetra-, penta-, hexa-, hepta- or octabromodiphenyl ethers; short-chain chlorinated paraffins.

Short-chain chlorinated paraffins are mixtures of compounds, with a chlorination degree of more than 48 percent by weight, with the following molecular formula: CxH(2x-y+2)Cly, where x=10 - 13 and y= 1 – 13.

4. For the purposes of subheadings 3825.41 and 3825.49, "waste organic solvents" are wastes containing mainly organic solvents, not fit for further use as presented as primary products, whether or not intended for recovery of the solvents.

Chapter 38 — Statistical Notes

US statistical reporting only. NOT classification law.

1. For the purposes of statistical reporting number 3808.94.5080, hand sanitizer must meet the requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the preparation of the disinfecting hand sanitizers.

2. For the purposes of statistical reporting number 3818.00.0040, “monocrystalline silicon wafers, Round (circular) shaped”, refers to doped monocrystalline silicon wafers, of a kind used for semiconductor fabrication, typically round with flats or notches for crystal orientation, produced in standard semiconductor wafer diameters, typically double-side polished or otherwise prepared to meet semiconductor device manufacturing specifications, and typically manufactured in accordance with SEMI M1 standards.

3. For the purposes of statistical reporting number 3818.00.0045, “monocrystalline silicon wafers pseudo-square or rectangular in shape” refers to doped monocrystalline silicon wafers, of a kind used in solar photovoltaic cells, generally thinner than semiconductor-grade wafers, and manufactured to photovoltaic cell production specifications, including but not limited to wafers conforming to SEMI PV standards.

4. For the purposes of heading 3824, the term "biodiesel" means fatty acid esters of a kind used as fuel, derived from animal or vegetable fats and oils, whether or not used.

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 3801

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.

Chapter 28

(e) Artificial graphite (heading 3801); products put up as charges for fire-extinguishers or put up in fire-extinguishing grenades, of heading 3813; ink removers put up in packings for retail sale, of heading 3824; cultured crystals (other than optical elements) weighing not less than 2.5 g each, of the halides of the alkali or alkaline-earth metals, of heading 3824;

Chapter 38

(1) Artificial graphite (heading 3801);

Other subheadings under 3801

Importing 3801.90 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 3801.90?

3801.90 covers Other. It sits under heading 3801 (Artificial graphite; colloidal or semi-colloidal graphite; preparations based on graphite or other carbon in the form of pastes, blocks, plates or other semimanufactures) in chapter 38, miscellaneous chemical products.

What is the US duty rate for 3801.90?

The Column 1 General rate is 4.9%, from US national line 3801.90.00. That is the rate before any preference you can claim, and it does not include antidumping or countervailing duties, which are administered separately and can exceed it.

What is excluded from chapter 38?

1. This chapter does not cover: (a) Separate chemically defined elements or compounds with the exception of the following: