Chapter 49

Printed books, newspapers, pictures and other products of the printing industry; manuscripts, typescripts and plans

Section X — Pulp of wood or of other fibrous cellulosic material; recovered (waste and scrap) paper or paperboard; paper and paperboard and articles thereof · 11 headings · 18 subheadings

Duty in chapter 49 at a glance

Counted across the 58 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
58 of 58 stating a rate
Ad valorem range
No percentage rates in this chapter

What this chapter excludes

These notes push goods out of chapter 49 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) Photographic negatives or positives on transparent bases (chapter 37);
  • (b) Maps, plans or globes, in relief, whether or not printed (heading 9023);
  • (c) Playing cards or other goods of chapter 95; or
  • (d) Original engravings, prints or lithographs (heading 9702), postage or revenue stamps, stamp-postmarks, first-day covers, postal stationery or the like of heading 9704, antiques of an age exceeding one hundred years or other articles of chapter 97.

5. Subject to note 3 of this chapter, heading 4901 does not cover publications which are essentially devoted to advertising (for example, brochures, pamphlets, leaflets, trade catalogs, yearbooks published by trade associations and tourist promotional literature). Such publications are to be classified in heading 4911.

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.

Chapter 49 — Notes

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

1. This chapter does not cover:

(a) Photographic negatives or positives on transparent bases (chapter 37);

(b) Maps, plans or globes, in relief, whether or not printed (heading 9023);

(c) Playing cards or other goods of chapter 95; or

(d) Original engravings, prints or lithographs (heading 9702), postage or revenue stamps, stamp-postmarks, first-day covers, postal stationery or the like of heading 9704, antiques of an age exceeding one hundred years or other articles of chapter 97.

2. For the purposes of chapter 49 the term "printed" also means reproduced by means of a duplicating machine, produced under the control of an automatic data processing machine, embossed, photographed, photocopied, thermocopied or typewritten.

3. Newspapers, journals and periodicals which are bound otherwise than in paper, and sets of newspapers, journals or periodicals comprising more than one issue under a single cover are to be classified in heading 4901, whether or not containing advertising material.

4. Heading 4901 also covers:

(a) A collection of printed reproductions of, for example, works of art or drawings, with a relative text, put up with numbered pages in a form suitable for binding into one or more volumes;

(b) A pictorial supplement accompanying and subsidiary to, a bound volume; and

(c) Printed parts of books or booklets, in the form of assembled or separate sheets or signatures, constituting the whole or a part of a complete work and designed for binding.

However, printed pictures or illustrations not bearing a text, whether in the form of signatures or separate sheets, fall in heading 4911.

5. Subject to note 3 of this chapter, heading 4901 does not cover publications which are essentially devoted to advertising (for example, brochures, pamphlets, leaflets, trade catalogs, yearbooks published by trade associations and tourist promotional literature). Such publications are to be classified in heading 4911.

6. For the purposes of heading 4903, the expression "children's picture books" means books for children in which the pictures form the principal interest and the text is subsidiary.

Chapter 49 — Additional U.S. Notes

Additional U.S. Notes. Binding in the United States; not part of the international HS.

1. For the purposes of determining the classification of printed matter produced in whole or in part by a lithographic process, the thickness of such printed matter is that of the thinnest paper contained therein, except that the thickness of a permanently mounted lithograph is the combined thickness of the lithograph and its mounting.

2. Currency in current circulation in any country imported for monetary purposes and securities and similar evidences of value provided for in heading 4907 shall be admitted without formal customs consumption entry or the payment of duty. This does not affect any requirement under other provisions of law to the effect that transfers of monetary instruments into or through the United States, in an amount exceeding $10,000 on any one occasion, shall be reported as prescribed therein.

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 49

4901 Printed books, brochures, leaflets and similar printed matter, whether or not in single sheets

4902 Newspapers, journals and periodicals, whether or not illustrated or containing advertising material

4905 Maps and hydrographic or similar charts of all kinds, including atlases, wall maps, topographical plans and globes, printed

Common questions

What does HS chapter 49 cover?

Printed books, newspapers, pictures and other products of the printing industry; manuscripts, typescripts and plans. It contains 11 headings and 18 six-digit subheadings, and sits in Section X (pulp of wood or of other fibrous cellulosic material; recovered (waste and scrap) paper or paperboard; paper and paperboard and articles thereof).

What is excluded from chapter 49?

1. This chapter does not cover: (a) Photographic negatives or positives on transparent bases (chapter 37); (b) Maps, plans or globes, in relief, whether or not printed (heading 9023); (c) Playing cards or other goods of chapter 95; or (d) Original engravings, prints or lithographs (heading 9702), postage or revenue stamps, stamp-postmarks, first-day covers, postal stationery or the like of heading 9704, antiques of an age exceeding one hundred years or other articles of chapter 97.

Are chapter 49's notes legally binding?

This chapter carries 16 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.