Customs Tariff 

Chapter 38

Miscellaneous Chemical Products

1. This Chapter does not cover:
(a) Separate chemically defined elements or compounds with the exception of the following:
(1) Artificial graphite (heading 38.01);
(2) Insecticides, rodenticides, fungicides, herbicides, anti-sprouting products and plant-growth regulators, disinfectants and similar products, put up as described in heading 38.08;
(3) Products put up as charges for fire-extinguishers or put up in fire-extinguishing grenades (heading 38.13);
(4) Certified reference materials specified in Note 2 below;
(45 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 21.06);
(c) 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 26.20);
(d) Medicaments (heading 30.03 or 30.04);
(e) Spent catalysts of a kind used for the extraction of base metals or for the manufacture of chemical compounds of base metals (heading 26.20), spent catalysts of a kind used principally for the recovery of precious metal (heading 71.12) 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 purpose of heading 38.22, 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 38.22 shall take precedence over any other heading in the Nomenclature.

3. Heading 38.24 includes the following goods which are not to be classified in any other heading of this 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 and other correcting fluids put up in packings for retail sale; and
(e) Ceramic firing testers, fusible (for example, Seger cones).

4. Throughout the Nomenclature, "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", however, does not cover:
(a) Individual materials or articles segregated from the waste, such as wastes of plastics, rubber, wood, paper, textiles, glass or metals and spent batteries which fall in their appropriate headings of the Nomenclature;
(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 38.25, "sewage sludge" means sludge arising from urban effluent treatment plant and includes pre-treatment waste, scourings and unstabilised sludge. Stabilised sludge when suitable for use as fertiliser is excluded (Chapter 31).

6. For the purposes of heading 38.25, 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 minerals (heading 27.10).

SUB-HEADING NOTE

1. For the purposes of sub-headings 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.