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

Section VI — Products of the chemical or allied industries · 7 headings · 24 subheadings

Duty in chapter 34 at a glance

Counted across the 52 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
19 of 52 stating a rate
Ad valorem range
0.2% – 6.5%

Preference programmes appearing in this chapter

AAUBHCLCODEILJOJPKKRLMAOMPPAPESSG

Named from General Note 3(c)(i). A programme appearing here does not mean it applies to your goods — that depends on the line, the origin and the agreement's rules of origin.

What this chapter excludes

These notes push goods out of chapter 34 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) 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

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 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.

Headings in chapter 34

3401 Soap; organic surface-active products and preparations for use as soap, in the form of bars, cakes, molded pieces or shapes, whether or not containing soap; organic surface-active products and preparations for washing the skin, in the form of liquid or cream and put up for retail sale, whether or not containing soap; paper, wadding, felt and nonwovens, impregnated, coated or covered with soap or detergent

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

3403 Lubricating preparations (including cutting-oil preparations, bolt or nut release preparations, antirust or anticorrosion preparations and mold release preparations, based on lubricants) and preparations of a kind used for the oil or grease treatment of textile materials, leather, furskins or other materials, but excluding preparations containing, as basic constituents, 70 percent or more by weight of petroleum oils or oils obtained from bituminous minerals

3405 Polishes and creams, for footwear, furniture, floors, coachwork, glass or metal, scouring pastes and powders and similar preparations (whether or not in the form of paper, wadding, felt, nonwovens, cellular plastics or cellular rubber, impregnated, coated or covered with such preparations), excluding waxes of heading 3404

3407 Modeling pastes, including those put up for children's amusement; preparations known as "dental wax" or as "dental impression compounds", put up in sets, in packings for retail sale or in plates, horseshoe shapes, sticks or similar forms; other preparations for use in dentistry, with a basis of plaster (of calcined gypsum or calcium sulfate)

Common questions

What does HS chapter 34 cover?

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. It contains 7 headings and 24 six-digit subheadings, and sits in Section VI (products of the chemical or allied industries).

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).

Are chapter 34's notes legally binding?

This chapter carries 18 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.