Study Guide

8. Part 2: The Classification structure

8.2. ‘Type’ chapters and ‘Materials’ chapters

The chapters are generally arranged into two broad classes.

'Type' chapters Chapters 64 to 66 and 84 to 97	'Materials' chapters Chapters 1 to 63 and 67 to 83
Also called 'specific description' chapters. The product to be classified is specifically covered or mentioned in its own right within a particular chapter.	Each chapter deals with a particular material and its products, or related groups of materials or substances and their products.
Headings describe particular or specific machinery or articles.	Products derived from a particular raw material are listed in the same chapter with that material.
Classifications of similar types of articles are normally grouped together.	Headings progress from raw materials at the beginning, through intermediate forms, to the finished product at the end.
Prime example: Chapter 84 (machinery and mechanical appliances).	Prime example: Chapter 39 (plastics and articles thereof).

Example ‘Type’ chapter: Chapter 84 (machinery and mechanical appliances)

Heading range	Type of machinery
84.01 – 84.12	Energy producing machinery
84.56 – 84.65	Machine tools

Why this matters for classifiers

If you are looking for the classification of, for example, machine tools for working metal, and you find heading 84.65 (machine tools for working wood or plastics), you may be assured that you are reasonably close to the classification you are looking for.

Note:

It is established classification practice to look for an answer within the "type" chapters before considering the "materials" chapters. In other words, classify a product by what it is, rather than by what it is made of.

For example, carbon electrodes are specifically mentioned in heading 85.45. They are classified within that heading rather than in the headings of Chapter 68 or Chapter 25, even though those chapters in part cover the material the electrodes are made of.