Section VI · Products of the chemical or allied industries
Chapter 38: Miscellaneous chemical products
Chapter 38 of the Harmonized System has 27 four-digit headings, from 38.01 to 38.27. Each heading is split further into six-digit subheadings, then into national 8- and 10-digit commodity codes.
Headings in chapter 38
| Heading | Description |
|---|---|
| 38.01 | Artificial graphite; colloidal or semi-colloidal graphite; preparations based on graphite or other carbon in the form of pastes, blocks, plates or other semi-manufactures |
| 38.02 | Activated carbon; activated natural mineral products; animal black, including spent animal black |
| 38.03 | Tall oil, whether or not refined |
| 38.04 | Residual lyes from the manufacture of wood pulp, whether or not concentrated, desugared or chemically treated, including lignin sulphonates, but excluding tall oil of heading 3803 |
| 38.05 | Gum, wood or sulphate turpentine and other terpenic oils produced by the distillation or other treatment of coniferous woods; crude dipentene; sulphite turpentine and other crude para-cymene; pine oil containing alpha-terpineol as the main constituent |
| 38.06 | Rosin and resin acids, and derivatives thereof; rosin spirit and rosin oils; run gums |
| 38.07 | Wood tar; wood tar oils; wood creosote; wood naphtha; vegetable pitch; brewers' pitch and similar preparations based on rosin, resin acids or on vegetable pitch |
| 38.08 | Insecticides, rodenticides, fungicides, herbicides, anti-sprouting products and plant-growth regulators, disinfectants and similar products, put up in forms or packings for retail sale or as preparations or articles (for example, sulphur-treated bands, wicks and candles, and fly-papers) |
| 38.09 | Finishing agents, dye carriers to accelerate the dyeing or fixing of dyestuffs and other products and preparations (for example, dressings and mordants), of a kind used in the textile, paper, leather or like industries, not elsewhere specified or included |
| 38.10 | Pickling preparations for metal surfaces; fluxes and other auxiliary preparations for soldering, brazing or welding; soldering, brazing or welding powders and pastes consisting of metal and other materials; preparations of a kind used as cores or coatings for welding electrodes or rods |
| 38.11 | Anti-knock preparations, oxidation inhibitors, gum inhibitors, viscosity improvers, anti-corrosive preparations and other prepared additives, for mineral oils (including gasoline) or for other liquids used for the same purposes as mineral oils |
| 38.12 | Prepared rubber accelerators; compound plasticisers for rubber or plastics, not elsewhere specified or included; anti-oxidising preparations and other compound stabilisers for rubber or plastics |
| 38.13 | Preparations and charges for fire-extinguishers; charged fire-extinguishing grenades |
| 38.14 | Organic composite solvents and thinners, not elsewhere specified or included; prepared paint or varnish removers |
| 38.15 | Reaction initiators, reaction accelerators and catalytic preparations, not elsewhere specified or included |
| 38.16 | Refractory cements, mortars, concretes and similar compositions, including dolomite ramming mix, other than products of heading 3801 |
| 38.17 | Mixed alkylbenzenes and mixed alkylnaphthalenes, other than those of heading 2707 or 2902 |
| 38.18 | Chemical elements doped for use in electronics, in the form of discs, wafers or similar forms; chemical compounds doped for use in electronics |
| 38.19 | Hydraulic brake fluids and other prepared liquids for hydraulic transmission, not containing or containing less than 70% by weight of petroleum oils or oils obtained from bituminous minerals |
| 38.20 | Anti-freezing preparations and prepared de-icing fluids |
| 38.21 | Prepared culture media for the development or maintenance of micro-organisms (including viruses and the like) or of plant, human or animal cells |
| 38.22 | Diagnostic or laboratory reagents on a backing, prepared diagnostic or laboratory reagents whether or not on a backing, whether or not put up in the form of kits, other than those of heading 3006; certified reference materials |
| 38.23 | Industrial monocarboxylic fatty acids; acid oils from refining; industrial fatty alcohols |
| 38.24 | Prepared binders for foundry moulds or cores; chemical products and preparations of the chemical or allied industries (including those consisting of mixtures of natural products), not elsewhere specified or included |
| 38.25 | Residual products of the chemical or allied industries, not elsewhere specified or included; municipal waste; sewage sludge; other wastes specified in note 6 to this chapter |
| 38.26 | Biodiesel and mixtures thereof, not containing or containing less than 70% by weight of petroleum oils or oils obtained from bituminous minerals |
| 38.27 | Mixtures containing halogenated derivatives of methane, ethane or propane, not elsewhere specified or included |
Classifying goods in chapter 38
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 38 in the UK Trade Tariff, the EU TARIC and the US HTS.