2815 12 — Sodium hydroxide "caustic soda" in aqueous solution "soda lye or liquid soda"

2815 Sodium hydroxide (caustic soda); potassium hydroxide (caustic potassium); sodium or potassium peroxides: - sodium hydroxide (caustic soda): 2815 11 - - - - solid 2815 12 - in aqueous solution (alkali soda or liquid soda) 2815 20 - potassium hydroxide (caustic potassium) 2815 30 - sodium or potassium peroxides

(A) Natria hydroxide (Caustic soda) Sodium hydroxide (Caustic soda) (NaOH) is to be distinguished from technical soda (Sodium carbonate) (heading 2836). Sodium hydroxide is obtained, for example, by caustification of sodium carbonate with lime milk or electrolysis of sodium chloride. It can be both in an aqueous solution and in anhydrous solid state. When evaporating an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide, solid sodium hydroxide is obtained in the form of flakes or pieces. The pure product is presented in the form of tablets or cubes and stored in glassware. In solid form, sodium hydroxide corrodes the skin and irritates the mucous membrane. It is very hygroscopic and well soluble in water; therefore, it should be stored in well-sealed steel vessels. Sodium hydroxide is a strong base and is widely used in industry: in the manufacture of certain types of wood cellulose by cleavage of lignin, in the production of regenerated cellulose, cotton mercerization, in the metallurgy of tantalum or niobium, in the production of solid varieties of soap, many chemical products, including phenol compounds (phenol, resorcin, alizarin, etc.). This heading excludes the lye (sodium lye) remaining in the manufacture of wood pulp by the alkaline or sulphate method (heading 3804); from this lye can be obtained talc oil of heading 3803 and regenerated sodium hydroxide. This heading also excludes mixtures of sodium hydroxide and lime known as “sodium lime” (heading 3824). (B) Potassium Hydroxide (Cali Eating) Potassium Hydroxide (Cali caustic) (KOH) is similar to sodium hydroxide discussed above. It is to be distinguished from potassium carbonate (heading 2836) or technical potassium (in some countries all potassium salts, especially chloride, are referred to by the general term "technical potassium").

Potassium hydroxide is usually obtained by electrolysis of solutions of natural potassium chloride (commodity at item 3104), but it can also be obtained by caustification of potassium carbonate with lime milk (forming "lime potash"). Pure potassium hydroxide is obtained by alcohol treatment or double decomposition of barium hydroxide and potassium sulfate. Potassium hydroxide can exist as a more or less highly concentrated (usually about 50%) aqueous solution (potassium lye), and as a solid containing (among other impurities) potassium chloride. It is stored in the same way as sodium hydroxide and has similar properties. It is used in the production of liquid varieties of soap, for etching surfaces in the process of preparing them for metallization or re-dyeing, for bleaching, in the production of potassium permanganate, etc. Also used in medicine as a cauterizer (in the form of sticks), for this purpose it is sometimes mixed with lime and in such cases is considered in heading 3003 or 3004. (C) Sodium peroxide (dynatrium dioxide, Na2O2) produced by the combustion of sodium is a rapidly spreading white or yellowish powder with a specific gravity of about 2.8. Decomposes with water with the release of heat and with the formation of hydrogen peroxide. Stored as pieces placed in welded metal containers. Sodium peroxide is used in the production of soap, for bleaching tissues, as an oxidizer in organic synthesis and for cleaning air in a confined space (for example, on submarines). When mixed with catalysts (small amounts of copper or nickel salts, etc.), it is used for the rapid production of hydrogen peroxide and is dealt with in heading 3824. (D) Potassium peroxide (Dicalium Dioxide) (K2O2) is similar to sodium peroxide in methods of production, properties and use.

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.