Section II · Vegetable products
Chapter 12: Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits; miscellaneous grains, seeds and fruit; industrial or medicinal plants; straw and fodder
Chapter 12 of the Harmonized System has 14 four-digit headings, from 12.01 to 12.14. Each heading is split further into six-digit subheadings, then into national 8- and 10-digit commodity codes.
Headings in chapter 12
| Heading | Description |
|---|---|
| 12.01 | Soya beans, whether or not broken |
| 12.02 | Groundnuts, not roasted or otherwise cooked, whether or not shelled or broken |
| 12.03 | Copra |
| 12.04 | Linseed, whether or not broken |
| 12.05 | Rape or colza seeds, whether or not broken |
| 12.06 | Sunflower seeds, whether or not broken |
| 12.07 | Other oil seeds and oleaginous fruits, whether or not broken |
| 12.08 | Flours and meals of oil seeds or oleaginous fruits, other than those of mustard |
| 12.09 | Seeds, fruit and spores, of a kind used for sowing |
| 12.10 | Hop cones, fresh or dried, whether or not ground, powdered or in the form of pellets; lupulin |
| 12.11 | Plants and parts of plants (including seeds and fruits), of a kind used primarily in perfumery, in pharmacy or for insecticidal, fungicidal or similar purposes, fresh, chilled, frozen or dried, whether or not cut, crushed or powdered |
| 12.12 | Locust beans, seaweeds and other algae, sugar beet and sugar cane, fresh, chilled, frozen or dried, whether or not ground; fruit stones and kernels and other vegetable products (including unroasted chicory roots of the variety cichorium intybus sativum) of a kind used primarily for human consumption, not elsewhere specified or included |
| 12.13 | Cereal straw and husks, unprepared, whether or not chopped, ground, pressed or in the form of pellets |
| 12.14 | Swedes, mangolds, fodder roots, hay, lucerne (alfalfa), clover, sainfoin, forage kale, lupines, vetches and similar forage products, whether or not in the form of pellets |
Classifying goods in chapter 12
Start with the chapter and section notes: they are legally binding and often decide what is included or excluded. Then choose the heading whose wording best describes your product (GRI 1), and work down to the six-digit subheading before choosing the national commodity code.
The six-digit code is shared internationally. The UK and EU add digits for their own tariffs and statistics, and the US uses its own 10-digit HTS lines, so always confirm the final code in the tariff of the country you are importing into.
Official sources
Check chapter 12 in the UK Trade Tariff, the EU TARIC and the US HTS.