Chapter 31

Fertilizers

Section VI — Products of the chemical or allied industries · 5 headings · 24 subheadings

Duty in chapter 31 at a glance

Counted across the 33 US national lines beneath this chapter's subheadings. It says what kind of chapter this is before you read ninety headings to find out.

Duty-free lines
33 of 33 stating a rate
Ad valorem range
No percentage rates in this chapter

What this chapter excludes

These notes push goods out of chapter 31 even when a subheading's wording seems to fit. They are the fastest way to find out you are in the wrong chapter.

1. This chapter does not cover:

  • (a) Animal blood of heading 0511;
  • (b) Separate chemically defined compounds (other than those answering to the descriptions in note 2(a), 3(a), 4(a) or 5, below); or
  • (c) Cultured potassium chloride crystals (other than optical elements) weighing not less than 2.5 g each, of heading 3824; optical elements of potassium chloride (heading 9001).

(c) Cultured potassium chloride crystals (other than optical elements) weighing not less than 2.5 g each, of heading 3824; optical elements of potassium chloride (heading 9001).

Legal notes

Reproduced from the published tariff schedule. Section and chapter notes are binding and part of the nomenclature; 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 31 — Notes

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

1. This chapter does not cover:

(a) Animal blood of heading 0511;

(b) Separate chemically defined compounds (other than those answering to the descriptions in note 2(a), 3(a), 4(a) or 5, below); or

(c) Cultured potassium chloride crystals (other than optical elements) weighing not less than 2.5 g each, of heading 3824; optical elements of potassium chloride (heading 9001).

2. Heading 3102 applies only to the following goods, provided that they are not put up in the forms or packages described in heading 3105:

(a) Goods which answer to one or other of the descriptions given below:

(i) Sodium nitrate, whether or not pure;

(ii) Ammonium nitrate, whether or not pure;

(iii) Double salts (whether or not pure) of ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate;

(iv) Ammonium sulfate, whether or not pure;

(v) Double salts (whether or not pure) or mixtures of calcium nitrate and ammonium nitrate;

(vi) Double salts (whether or not pure) or mixtures of calcium nitrate and magnesium nitrate;

(vii) Calcium cyanamide, whether or not pure or treated with oil;

(viii) Urea, whether or not pure.

(b) Fertilizers consisting of any of the goods described in (a) above mixed together.

(c) Fertilizers consisting of ammonium chloride or of any of the goods described in (a) or (b) above mixed with chalk, gypsum or other inorganic nonfertilizing substances.

(d) Liquid fertilizers consisting of the goods of subparagraph (a)(ii) or (a)(viii) above, or of mixtures of those goods, in an aqueous or ammoniacal solution.

3. Heading 3103 applies only to the following goods, provided that they are not put up in the forms or packages described in heading 3105:

(a) Goods which answer to one or other of the descriptions given below:

(i) Basic slag;

(ii) Natural phosphates of heading 2510, calcined or further heat-treated than for the removal of impurities;

(iii) Superphosphates (single, double or triple);

(iv) Calcium hydrogenorthophosphate containing not less than 0.2 percent by weight of fluorine calculated on the dry anhydrous product.

(b) Fertilizers consisting of any of the goods described in (a) above, mixed together, but with no account being taken of the fluorine content limit.

(c) Fertilizers consisting of any of the goods described in (a) or (b) above, but with no account being taken of the fluorine content limit, mixed with chalk, gypsum or other inorganic nonfertilizing substances. Notes (con.)

4. Heading 3104 applies only to the following goods, provided that they are not put up in the forms or packages described in heading 3105:

(a) Goods which answer to one or other of the descriptions given below:

(i) Crude natural potassium salts (for example, carnallite, kainite and sylvite);

(ii) Potassium chloride, whether or not pure, except as provided in note 1(c) above;

(iii) Potassium sulfate, whether or not pure;

(iv) Magnesium potassium sulfate, whether or not pure.

(b) Fertilizers consisting of any of the goods described in (a) above mixed together.

5. Ammonium dihydrogenorthophosphate (monoammonium phosphate) and diammonium hydrogenorthophosphate (diammonium phosphate), whether or not pure, and intermediates thereof, are to be classified in heading 3105.

6. For the purposes of heading 3105, the term "other fertilizers" applies only to products of a kind used as fertilizers and containing, as an essential constituent, at least one of the fertilizing elements nitrogen, phosphorus or potassium.

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.

Headings in chapter 31

3105 Mineral or chemical fertilizers containing two or three of the fertilizing elements nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium; other fertilizers; goods of this chapter in tablets or similar forms or in packages of a gross weight not exceeding 10 kg

Common questions

What does HS chapter 31 cover?

Fertilizers. It contains 5 headings and 24 six-digit subheadings, and sits in Section VI (products of the chemical or allied industries).

What is excluded from chapter 31?

1. This chapter does not cover: (a) Animal blood of heading 0511; (b) Separate chemically defined compounds (other than those answering to the descriptions in note 2(a), 3(a), 4(a) or 5, below); or (c) Cultured potassium chloride crystals (other than optical elements) weighing not less than 2.5 g each, of heading 3824; optical elements of potassium chloride (heading 9001).

Are chapter 31's notes legally binding?

This chapter carries 34 binding note paragraph(s) — legal notes of the Harmonized System, plus any US-specific Additional U.S. Notes. They decide classification, and they outrank the wording of an individual subheading.