2805 19 90 — Alkali metals (excl. sodium)

2805 Alkali or alkaline-earth metals; rare-earth metals, scandium and yttrium, whether or not intermixed or interalloyed; mercury: – Alkali or alkaline-earth metals: 2805 11 – – Sodium 2805 12 – – Calcium 2805 19 – – Other 2805 30 – Rare-earth metals, scandium and yttrium, whether or not intermixed or interalloyed 2805 40 – Mercury

The five alkali metals are soft and light enough. They decompose in cold water; they oxidize in air to form hydroxides. (1) Lithium. This is the lightest (specific gravity 0.54) and the hardest of the metals of this group. It is stored in mineral oil or in inert gases. Lithium helps to improve the quality characteristics of metals, used in

various alloys (for example, antifriction alloys). Due to its high affinity for other elements, it is used, inter alia, to produce other metals in their purest form. (2) Sodium. A solid (specific gravity 0.97) with a metallic luster that fades rapidly after cutting. It is stored in mineral oil or in hermetically sealed tin dishes. Sodium is obtained by electrolysis of molten sodium chloride or sodium hydroxide. Sodium is used in the production of sodium peroxide (“dioxide”), sodium cyanide, sodium amide, etc., in the production of indigo, in the production of explosives (chemical initiating explosives), in the polymerization of butadiene, used in antifriction alloys and in metallurgy of titanium or zirconium. This heading does not cover sodium amalgam (heading 2853). (3) Potassium. Silver-white metal (specific weight 0.85), which can be cut against a bull knife. It is stored in mineral oil or in sealed ampoules. Potassium is used in the manufacture of some photovoltaic cells and in antifriction alloys. (4) Rubidius. Silver-white solid (specific gravity of 1.5), melts more easily than sodium. It is stored in sealed ampoules or in mineral oil. Like sodium, rubidium is used in antifriction alloys. (5) Cesius. Silver-white or yellowish metal (specific gravity 1.9), which ignites when in contact with air; most rapidly oxidizing metal; stored in sealed ampoules or mineral oil. Radioactive alkali metal francium is excluded (heading 2844). (B) Alkaline earth metals The three alkaline earth metals below are malleable by you, rapidly and completely decompose in cold water; their qualities deteriorate when stored in a moist atmosphere. (1) Calcium. It is obtained by alumothermic reduction of calcium oxide or electrolysis of molten calcium chloride. Calcium is a white metal (specific weight 1.57), used in the purification of argon, in the refining of copper or steel, in the production of zirconium, calcium hydride (hydrolite), in antifriction alloys, etc. (2) Strontium. White or pale yellow viscous metal (specific gravity 2.5). (3) Barium. White metal (specific gravity 4.2); used in certain antifriction alloys and in the manufacture of gas absorbers for vacuum tubes (heading 3824). This heading does not include radium, a radioactive element (heading 2844), magnesium

(heading 8104) or beryllium (heading 8112); all these alkali-earth metals are in some respects similar.

(C) RARE-EARTH METALS; SCANDIUM AND YTTRIUM, WHETHER OR NOT INTERMIXED OR INTERALLOYED The rare-earth metals (the term "rare earths" also applies to their oxides) or lanthanides comprise the elements with atomic numbers (*) 57 – 71 in the periodic table, namely: Cerium group Terbium group Erbium group 57 lanthanum 63 europium 66 dysprosium 58 cerium 64 gadolinium 67 holmium 59 praseodymium 65 terbium 68 erbium 60 neodymium 69 thulium 62 samarium 70 ytterbium 71 lutetium Promethium (element 61), which is a radioactive element, falls in heading 2844. The rare-earth metals are generally greyish or yellowish in colour and are ductile or malleable. Cerium, the most important of the rare-earth group, is obtained from monazite (rare-earth phosphates) or from thorite (rare-earth silicates) after the removal of thorium. Cerium is obtained by metallothermic reduction of the halides with calcium or lithium used as the reducing agent, or by electrolysis of the fused chloride. It is a grey, ductile metal, slightly harder than lead, which gives off sparks when rubbed against a rough surface. Lanthanum, present in the crude state in cerium salts, is used in the manufacture of blue glass. This heading also covers scandium and yttrium, which closely resemble the rare-earth metals; scandium, moreover, is similar to the metals of the iron group. These two metals are extracted from thortveitite ore, which is a scandium silicate containing yttrium and other elements. These elements fall in this heading whether they are intermixed or interalloyed. For example, the heading covers "mischmetall", an alloy containing 45 – 55 % cerium, 22 – 27 % lanthanum, other lanthanides, yttrium and various impurities (up to 5 % iron, traces of silicon, calcium, aluminium). "Mischmetall" is used mainly in metallurgy and for the production of clearer optical glass. When alloyed with more than 5 % iron, or with magnesium or other metals, it is classified in other headings (e.g., if it has the character of a pyrophoric alloy, it falls in heading 3606). The heading excludes salts and compounds of the rare-earth metals, of yttrium and of scandium (heading 2846). (D) MERCURY Mercury is the only metal which is liquid at room temperature.

(*) The atomic number of an element is the total number of orbital electrons contained in the atom of that element.

It is obtained by firing natural mercury sulfide (cinema) and separated from other metals contained in the ore (lead, zinc, tin, bismuth), by filtration, vacuum distillation and treatment with diluted nitric acid. Mercury is a brilliant silvery liquid, heavy (specific gravity 13.59), toxic and corroding precious metals. At room temperature, pure mercury in the air is not oxidized, but the metal with impurities is covered with a brownish film of mercury oxide. Mercury is stored in special iron vessels ("flasks"). Mercury is used for the preparation of amalgams (heading 2843 or 2853). It is used in the metallurgy of gold and silver, in the production of gilded and silvered products and in the production of chlorine, triium hydroxide, mercury salts, artificial cinnabar or fulminates. It is also used in the production of mercury lamps and in various physical devices, in medicine, etc.

Subgroup II Acids: Non-Organic Acids and Non-Organic Oxygen Combinations of Nemetals contain hydrogen, which can be completely or partially replaced by metals (or ions with similar properties, for example, ammonium ion (NH4+)); as a result, salts are formed. Acids react with bases, forming salts, and with alcohols, forming esters. In the liquid state or in solution, they are electrolytes that release hydrogen at the cathode. When one or more water molecules are removed from acids containing oxygen, oxides are obtained. Most nonmetal oxides are acid oxides. This subgroup includes inorganic compounds of nonmetals with oxygen (oxides, etc.), as well as inorganic acids, the anode radical of which is a nonmetal. However, it does not include oxides and acids formed, respectively, by metal oxides or hydroxides; they are mainly included in subgroup IV (for example, metal oxides, hydroxides and peroxides, such as acids or oxides of chromium, molybdenum, tungsten and vanadium). In some cases, however, they are classified in other headings, such as heading 2843 (compounds of precious metals), heading 2844 or 2845 (compounds of radioactive elements and isotopes), or heading 2846 (compounds of rare earth metals, scandium or yttrium). Also excluded are the oxygen compounds of hydrogen covered in heading 2201 (water), heading 2845 (heavy water), heading 2847 (hydrogen peroxide) or heading

Notes

English text as published in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2021/1832 (Combined Nomenclature). The EAEU tariff and the EU nomenclature copy these notes from the same convention. For a Russian declaration the binding version is the Russian one: Annex to Decision No 80 of the EEC Council of 14 September 2021.

1. Except where the context otherwise requires, the headings of this chapter apply only to:

(a) separate chemical elements and separate chemically defined compounds, whether or not containing impurities;

(b) the products mentioned in (a) above dissolved in water;

(c) the products mentioned in (a) above dissolved in other solvents provided that the solution constitutes a normal and necessary method of putting up these products adopted solely for reasons of safety or for transport and that the solvent does not render the product particularly suitable for specific use rather than for general use;

(d) the products mentioned in (a), (b) or (c) above with an added stabiliser (including an anti-caking agent) necessary for their preservation or transport;

(e) the products mentioned in (a), (b), (c) or (d) above with an added anti-dusting agent or a colouring substance added to facilitate their identification or for safety reasons, provided that the additions do not render the product particularly suitable for specific use rather than for general use.

2. In addition to dithionites and sulphoxylates, stabilised with organic substances (heading 2831), carbonates and peroxocarbonates of inorganic bases (heading 2836), cyanides, cyanide oxides and complex cyanides of inorganic bases (heading 2837), fulminates, cyanates and thiocyanates, of inorganic bases (heading 2842), organic products included in headings 2843 to 2846 and 2852 and carbides (heading 2849), only the following compounds of carbon are to be classified in this chapter:

(a) oxides of carbon, hydrogen cyanide and fulminic, isocyanic, thiocyanic and other simple or complex cyanogen acids (heading 2811);

(b) halide oxides of carbon (heading 2812);

(c) carbon disulphide (heading 2813);

(d) thiocarbonates, selenocarbonates, tellurocarbonates, selenocyanates, tellurocyanates, tetrathiocyanatodiamminochromates (reineckates) and other complex cyanates, of inorganic bases (heading 2842);

(e) hydrogen peroxide, solidified with urea (heading 2847), carbon oxysulphide, thiocarbonyl halides, cyanogen, cyanogen halides and cyanamide and its metal derivatives (heading 2853) other than calcium cyanamide, whether or not pure (Chapter 31).

3. Subject to the provisions of note 1 to Section VI, this chapter does not cover:

(a) sodium chloride or magnesium oxide, whether or not pure, or other products of Section V;

(b) organo-inorganic compounds other than those mentioned in note 2 above;

(c) products mentioned in note 2, 3, 4 or 5 to Chapter 31;

(d) inorganic products of a kind used as luminophores, of heading 3206; glass frit and other glass in the form of powder, granules or flakes, of heading 3207;

(e) artificial graphite (heading 3801); products put up as charges for fire-extinguishers or put up in fire-extinguishing grenades, of heading 3813; ink removers put up in packings for retail sale, of heading 3824; cultured crystals (other than optical elements) weighing not less than 2,5 g each, of the halides of the alkali or alkaline-earth metals, of heading 3824;

(f) precious or semi-precious stones (natural, synthetic or reconstructed) or dust or powder of such stones (headings 7102 to 7105), or precious metals or precious-metal alloys of Chapter 71;

(g) the metals, whether or not pure, metal alloys or cermets, including sintered metal carbides (metal carbides sintered with a metal), of Section XV; or

(h) optical elements, for example, of the halides of the alkali or alkaline-earth metals (heading 9001).

4. Chemically defined complex acids consisting of a non-metal acid of sub-chapter II and a metal acid of sub-chapter IV are to be classified in heading 2811.

5. Headings 2826 to 2842 apply only to metal or ammonium salts or peroxysalts. Except where the context otherwise requires, double or complex salts are to be classified in heading 2842.

6. Heading 2844 applies only to:

(a) technetium (atomic No 43), promethium (atomic No 61), polonium (atomic No 84) and all elements with an atomic number greater than 84;

(b) natural or artificial radioactive isotopes (including those of the precious metals or of the base metals of Sections XIV and XV), whether or not mixed together;

(c) compounds, inorganic or organic, of these elements or isotopes, whether or not chemically defined, whether or not mixed together;

(d) alloys, dispersions (including cermets), ceramic products and mixtures containing these elements or isotopes or inorganic or organic compounds thereof and having a specific radioactivity exceeding 74 Bq/g (0,002 μCi/g);

(e) spent (irradiated) fuel elements (cartridges) of nuclear reactors;

(f) radioactive residues whether or not usable. The term ‘isotopes’, for the purposes of this note and of the wording of headings 2844 and 2845, refers to: — individual nuclides, excluding, however, those existing in nature in the monoisotopic state, — mixtures of isotopes of one and the same element, enriched in one or several of the said isotopes, that is, elements of which the natural isotopic composition has been artificially modified.

7. Heading 2853 includes copper phosphide (phosphor copper) containing more than 15 % by weight of phosphorus.

8. Chemical elements (for example, silicon and selenium) doped for use in electronics are to be classified in this chapter, provided that they are in forms unworked as drawn, or in the form of cylinders or rods. When cut in the form of discs, wafers or similar forms, they fall in heading 3818.

Subheading note

Machine translation. The original is the Russian text of the EAEU tariff, and customs goes by it; this translation is for understanding only and has no legal force.

1. В субпозиции 2852 10 термин «определенного химического состава» означает все органические или неорганические соединения ртути, удовлетворяющие требованиям примечаний 1 (а) – 1 (д) к группе 28 и примечаний 1 (а) – 1 (з) к группе 29.

Additional note

Machine translation. The original is the Russian text of the EAEU tariff, and customs goes by it; this translation is for understanding only and has no legal force.

1. Unless otherwise specified, the salts referred to in the subheadings include acid salts and basic salts.