Chapter notes
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Revision 29 (2025)
Annotated for Statistical Reporting Purposes
CHAPTER 38
MISCELLANEOUS CHEMICAL PRODUCTS
VI
38-1
Notes
1. This chapter does not cover:
(a) Separate chemically defined elements or compounds with the exception of the following:
(1) Artificial graphite (heading 3801);
(2) Insecticides, rodenticides, fungicides, herbicides, antisprouting products and plant-growth regulators, disinfectants and
similar products put up as described in heading 3808;
(3) Products put up as charges for fire-extinguishers or put up in fire-extinguishing grenades (heading 3813);
(4) Certified reference materials specified in note 2 below;
(5) Products specified in note 3(a) or 3(c) below.
(b) Mixtures of chemicals with foodstuffs or other substances with nutritive value, of a kind used in the preparation of human
foodstuffs (generally, heading 2106);
(c) Products of heading 2404;
(d) Slag, ash and residues (including sludges, other than sewage sludge), containing metals, arsenic or their mixtures and
meeting the requirements of note 3(a) or 3(b) to chapter 26 (heading 2620);
(e) Medicaments (heading 3003 or 3004); or
(f) Spent catalysts of a kind used for the extraction of base metals or for the manufacture of chemical compounds of base metals
(heading 2620), spent catalysts of a kind used principally for the recovery of precious metal (heading 7112) or catalysts
consisting of metals or metal alloys in the form of, for example, finely divided powder or woven gauze (section XIV or XV).
2.
(a) For the purposes of heading 3822, the expression "certified reference materials" means reference materials which are
accompanied by a certificate which indicates the values of the certified properties, the methods used to determine these
values and the degree of certainty associated with each value and which are suitable for analytical, calibrating or referencing
purposes.
(b) With the exception of the products of chapter 28 or 29, for the classification of certified reference materials, heading 3822
shall take precedence over any other heading in the tariff schedule.
3. Heading 3824 includes the following goods which are not to be classified in any other heading of the tariff schedule:
(a) Cultured crystals (other than optical elements) weighing not less than 2.5 g each, of magnesium oxide or of the halides of
the alkali or alkaline-earth metals;
(b) Fusel oil; Dippel's oil;
(c) Ink removers put up in packings for retail sale;
(d) Stencil correctors, other correcting fluids and correction tapes (other than those of heading 9612), put up inpackings for retail
sale; and
(e) Ceramic firing testers, fusible (for example, Seger cones).
4. Throughout the tariff schedule, "municipal waste" means waste of a kind collected from households, hotels, restaurants, hospitals,
shops, offices, etc., road and pavement sweepings, as well as construction and demolition waste. Municipal waste generally
contains a large variety of materials such as plastics, rubber, wood, paper, textiles, glass, metals, food materials, broken furniture
and other damaged or discarded articles.The term "municipal waste," does not cover:
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Revision 29 (2025)
Annotated for Statistical Reporting Purposes
VI
38-2
Notes (con.)
(a) Individual materials or articles segregated from the waste, for example wastes of plastics, rubber, wood, paper, textiles,
glass or metals, electrical and electronic waste and scrap (including spent batteries) which fall in their appropriate headings
of the tariff schedule;
(b) Industrial waste:
(c) Waste pharmaceuticals, as defined in note 4(k) to chapter 30; or
(d) Clinical waste, as defined in note 6(a), below.
5. For the purposes of heading 3825, "sewage sludge" means sludge arising from urban effluent treatment plants and includes
pre-treatment waste, scourings and unstabilized sludge. Stabilized sludge, when suitable for use as fertilizer, is excluded (chapter
31).
6. For the purposes of heading 3825, the expression "other wastes" applies to:
(a) Clinical waste, that is, contaminated waste arising from medical research, diagnosis, treatment or other medical, surgical,
dental or veterinary procedures, which often contain pathogens and pharmaceutical substances and require special disposal
procedures (for example, soiled dressings, used gloves and used syringes);
(b) Waste organic solvents;
(c) Wastes of metal pickling liquors, hydraulic fluids, brake fluids and anti-freezing fluids; and
(d) Other wastes from chemical or allied industries.
The expression "other wastes" does not, however, cover wastes which contain mainly petroleum oils or oils obtained from
bituminous materials (heading 2710).
7. For the purposes of heading 3826, the term “biodiesel” means mono-alkyl esters of fatty acids of a kind used as a fuel, derived
from animal, vegetable or microbial fats and oils, whether or not used.
Subheading Notes
1. Subheadings 3808.52 and 3808.59 cover only goods of heading 3808, containing one or more of the following substances:
alachlor (ISO); aldicarb (ISO); aldrin (ISO); azinphos-methyl (ISO); binapacryl (ISO); camphechlor (ISO) (toxaphene); captafol
(ISO); carbofuran (ISO); chlordane (ISO); chlordimeform (ISO); chlorobenzilate (ISO); DDT (ISO) (clofenotane (INN),
1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane); dieldrin (ISO, INN); 4,6-dinitro-o-cresol (DNOC (ISO)) or its salts; dinoseb (ISO),
its salts or its esters; endosulfan (ISO); ethylene dibromide (ISO) (1,2- dibromoethane; ethylene dichloride (ISO)
(1,2-dichloroethane); fluoroacetamide (ISO); heptachlor (ISO); hexachlorobenzene (ISO); 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexachlorocyclohexane
(HCH (ISO)), including lindane (ISO, INN); mercury compounds; methamidophos (ISO); monocrotophos (ISO); oxirane (ethylene
oxide); parathion (ISO); parathion-methyl (ISO) (methylparathion); pentachlorophenol (ISO), its salts or its esters; perfluorooctane
sulphonic acid and its salts; perfluorooctane sulphonamides; perfluorooctane sulphonyl fluoride; phosphamidon (ISO); 2,4,5-T
(ISO) (2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid), its salts or its esters; tributyltin compounds; trichlorfon (ISO).
Subheading 3808.59 also covers dustable powder formulations containing a mixture of benomyl (ISO), carbofuran (ISO) and thiram
(ISO).
2. Subheadings 3808.61 to 3808.69 cover only goods of heading 3808, containing alpha-cypermethrin (ISO), bendiocarb (ISO),
bifenthrin (ISO), chlorfenapyr (ISO), cyfluthrin (ISO), deltamethrin (INN, ISO), etofenprox (INN), fenitrothion (ISO),
lambda-cyhalothrin (ISO), malathion (ISO), pirimiphos-methyl (ISO) or propoxur (ISO).
3. Subheadings 3824.81 to 3824.89 cover only mixtures and preparations containing one or more of the following substances:
oxirane (ethylene oxide); polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs); polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); polychlorinated terphenyls (PCTs);
tris(2,3-dibromopropyl) phosphate; aldrin (ISO); camphechlor (ISO) (toxaphene); chlordane (ISO); chlordecone (ISO); DDT (ISO)
(clofenotane (INN); 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane); dieldrin (ISO, INN); endosulfan (ISO); endrin (ISO); heptachlor
(ISO); mirex (ISO); 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH (ISO)), including lindane (ISO, INN); pentachlorobenzene (ISO);
hexachlorobenzene (ISO); perfluorooctane sulphonic acid, its salts; perfluorooctane sulphonamides; perfluorooctane sulphonyl
fluoride; tetra-, penta-, hexa-, hepta- or octabromodiphenyl ethers; short-chain chlorinated paraffins.
Short-chain chlorinated paraffins are mixtures of compounds, with a chlorination degree of more than 48 percent by weight, with the
following molecular formula: CH( )Cl, where x=10 - 13 and y= 1 – 13.
x 2x-y+2 y
4. For the purposes of subheadings 3825.41 and 3825.49, "waste organic solvents" are wastes containing mainly organic solvents,
not fit for further use as presented as primary products, whether or not intended for recovery of the solvents.
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Revision 29 (2025)
Annotated for Statistical Reporting Purposes
VI
38-3
Statistical Notes
1. For the purposes of statistical reporting number 3808.94.5080, hand sanitizer must meet the requirements of the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration for the preparation of the disinfecting hand sanitizers.
2. For the purposes of heading 3824, the term "biodiesel" means fatty acid esters of a kind used as fuel, derived from animal or
vegetable fats and oils, whether or not used.
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Revision 29 (2025)
Annotated for Statistical Reporting Purposes
VI
38-4
Section notes
SECTION VI
PRODUCTS OF THE CHEMICAL OR ALLIED INDUSTRIES
VI-1
Notes
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