3912 39 85 — Cellulose ethers in primary forms (excl. carboxymethylcellulose and its salts and hydroxypropylcellulose)

3912 Cellulose and its chemical derivatives, in primary forms, not elsewhere specified or included: - cellulose acetates: 3912 11 - - - unplasticized 3912 12 - - plasticized 3912 20 - cellulose nitrates (including collodies) - cellulose esters simple: 3912 31 - - - carboxymethyl cellulose and its salts 3912 39 - - other 3912 90 - other

(A) Cellulose is a high molecular weight carbohydrate forming a solid structure of plant matter. It is contained in cotton in almost a hundredth state. Cellulose in primary forms, not elsewhere named or included, is classified in this heading. Regenerated cellulose is a brilliant transparent material, usually obtained by precipitation and coagulation and when an alkaline solution of cellulose xanthogenate is extruded into an acid bath. It is usually of thin transparent sheets which fall in heading 3920 or 3921 or of textile threads of Chapter 54 or 55. Vulcanized fibre, which is produced by treating paper or sheets of cellulosic mass with zinc chloride, is generally in the form of rods, tubes, sheets, plates or strips or bands and is therefore also excluded (usually classified in heading 3916, 3917, 3920 or 3921). (B) CHEMICAL PRODUCTION CELLULOSES This includes chemical cellulose derivatives which serve as the basis for the production of plastics as well as for other purposes.

The main chemical derivatives of cellulose, plasticized or unplasticized, are: (1) Cellulose acetates. They are obtained by treating cellulose (usually cotton linen or soluble wood pulp varieties) with acetic anhydride and acetic acid in the presence of a catalyst (e.g., sulfuric acid). When a plasticizer is added, they can form plastics that are non-flammable and suitable for injection molding. They are usually presented in the form of powders, granules or solutions. Cellulose acetates presented as sheets, films, rods, tubes, etc. are not included (usually heading 3916, 3917, 3920 or 3921). (2) Cellulose nitrates (nitrocellulose) These products are obtained by processing cellulose (usually cotton linen) with a mixture of nitric and sulfuric acids. They are easily flammable, and products with a high degree of nitrovan i (pyroxyline) are used as explosives; for safety reasons they should be transported soaked in alcohol, usually ethyl, isopropyl or butyl, or impregnated or plasticized phthalates. Cellulose nitrate, plasticized with camphor, in the presence of alcohol forms celluloid. Celluloid is usually presented in the form of sheets, films, rods or tubes or other extruded forms and is not included in this heading (usually heading 3916, 3917, 3920 or 3921); it is not suitable for injection molding and is therefore not packaged in the form of a press powder. Cellulose nitrate mixed with other types of plasticizers is widely used as a base for varnishes and for this purpose can be prepared as a dry or paste product. Solutions of ocellulose nitrate in a mixture of ether (ether diethyl) and alcohol (ethanol) are collodies which are also included in this heading. If the solution is partially evaporated, solid celloidin is obtained. (3) Cellulose acetobutyrate and cellulose propionate. These are cellulose esters that form polymers of the same type as cellulose acetate. (4) Cellulose esters. The most important are carboxymethyl cellulose, methyl cellulose and oxyethyl cellulose. They are dissolved in water and are used as thickeners or as adhesives (see general provisions for this group, exception (b), for the classification of adhesives). Other esters of cellulose of industrial importance include ethyl cellulose, which is a lightweight plastic. Chemically derived plastics usually require the introduction of plasticizers. For the classification of polymers (including copolymers), chemically modified polymers and polymer mixtures, see the general provisions of this chapter.

Notes

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. Throughout the Nomenclature, the term “plastics” means materials of headings 3901 to 3914 which are capable, upon polymerization or at any subsequent stage, of taking a given shape under the influence of external influence (usually temperature and pressure, and if necessary with the use of a solvent or plasticizer) and of retaining it after the elimination of external influences such as pressing, casting, extruding, calendration or otherwise.

Throughout the Nomenclature, the term “plastic” also means vulcanized fibre, but does not apply to materials considered textile in Section XI.

2. This group does not include:

(a) lubricants of heading 2710 or 3403;

(b) waxes of heading 2712 or 3404;

(c) individual organic compounds of a particular chemical composition (Chapter 29);

(d) heparin or its salts (heading 3001);

(e) solutions (other than collodes) consisting of any products of headings 3901 to 3913 in volatile organic solvents, provided that the mass of the solvent exceeds 50% of the mass of the solution (heading 3208); stamping foil of heading 3212;

(е) органические поверхностно-активные вещества или средства товарной позиции 3402;

(g) remelted resins or resins of ester (heading 3806);

(h) additives prepared for petroleum products (including gasoline) or other liquids used for the same purposes as petroleum products (heading 3811);

(ij) prepared hydraulic liquids based on polyglycols, silicones or other polymers of Chapter 39 (heading 3819);

(k) diagnostic or laboratory reagents on a substrate of plastics (heading 3822);

(l) synthetic rubber of Chapter 40 or articles thereof;

(m) saddleware or harness (heading 4201) or trunks, suitcases, bags or other articles of heading 4202;

(n) wicker, basket or other articles of Chapter 46;

(o) the wall coverings of heading 4814;

(p) goods of Section XI (textile materials and textile articles);

(q) Articles of Section XII (e.g. footwear, hats, umbrellas, sun umbrellas, canes, whips, whips or parts thereof);

(r) jewelry of heading 7117;

(s) goods of Section XVI (machinery and mechanical or electrical appliances);

(t) part of aircraft or vehicles of Section XVII;

(u) articles of Chapter 90 (e.g. optical elements, eyeglass frames, drawing tools);

(v) Articles of Chapter 91 (for example, watch cases of all kinds);

(w) Articles of Chapter 92 (for example, musical instruments or parts thereof);

(x) articles of Chapter 94 (e.g. furniture, lamps and lighting equipment, light signs, prefabricated constructions);

(y) Articles of Chapter 95 (e.g. toys, games, sports equipment); or

(z) articles of Chapter 96 (e.g., brushes, buttons, zippers, combs, mouthpieces or tubular chusks or similar articles, parts for thermoses or similar articles, pens, pencils with a retractable rod and monopores, bipeds, tripods and the like).

3. Headings 3901 to 3911 cover only the following products of chemical synthesis:

(a) Liquid synthetic polyolefins less than 60 vol.% of which are distilled at 300 °C and a pressure of 1013 mbar when distillation is used at reduced pressure (headings 3901 and 3902);

(b) resins with a low degree of polymerization of the coumarono-indeno type (heading 3911);

(c) other synthetic polymers containing at least 5 monomer units on average;

(d) silicones (heading 3910);

(e) resols (heading 3909) and other prepolymers.

4. The term “copolymers” means all polymers in which no monomer unit constitutes 95 % or more by weight of the total polymer content.

For the purposes of this Chapter, unless otherwise specified in the context, copolymers (including copolycondensates, additive copolymerization products, block copolymers and grafted copolymers) and mixtures of polymers are classified in the same heading as polymers of a comonomer unit predominant by weight over any other individual comonomer unit. In this note, comonomeric units forming polymers falling within the same heading are to be considered together.

If no comonomer unit predominates, copolymers or polymer mixtures shall, as the case may be, be classified in the heading, the latter in ascending order of codes among the equivalent headings in question.

5. Chemically modified polymers in which only the side chains of the main polymer chain have been altered by chemical action are classified in the heading corresponding to the unmodified polymer. This condition does not apply to grafted copolymers.

6. For the purposes of headings 3901 to 3914, the term “primary forms” means only the following forms:

(a) liquids and pastes, including dispersions (emulsions, suspensions) and solutions;

(b) irregularly shaped blocks, pieces, powders (including press powders), granules, flakes and similar bulk forms.

7. Heading 3915 does not cover waste, pruning and scraping of a single thermoplastic material processed into primary forms (headings 3901 to 3914).

8. For the purposes of heading 3917, the term “pipes, tubes and hoses” means hollow articles or semi-finished articles or finished articles commonly used for the transport, supply or distribution of gases or liquids (e.g., grooved garden hose, perforated pipes). This term also means shells for sausage products and other pipes taking a flat shape. However, with the exception of the latter, articles having an internal cross-section of a different shape than a circle, an oval, a rectangle (in which the length is not more than 1.5 times the width) or a regular polygon are considered not as pipes, tubes and hoses, but as shaped profiles.

9. For the purpose of heading 3918, the term “wall or ceiling coverings of plastics” means articles in rolls of not less than 45 cm wide, used for the decoration of walls or ceilings, consisting of plastics fixed on a substrate of any material other than paper, the plastic layer (on the front surface) being generally decorated by embossing, ruffling, staining, printing or otherwise.

10. For the purposes of headings 3920 and 3921, the term “slabs, sheets, film and strips or tapes” means only plates, sheets, film and strips or tapes (other than those included in Chapter 54), and blocks of regular geometric shape, with or without a pattern or with a surface treated in another way, not cut or cut into rectangles (including squares), but without further processing (even if by such operations they become finished products).

11. Heading 3925 covers only the following articles which are not products of the preceding headings of sub-heading II of this Chapter:

(a) tanks, tanks (including septic tanks), barrels and similar containers of more than 300 litres;

(b) building elements used, for example, for floors, walls or partitions, ceilings or roofs;

(c) drains and fittings thereof;

(d) doors, windows and frames thereof and thresholds for doors;

(e) balconies, balustrades, fences, wickets and similar fencing;

(f) shutters, curtains (including Venetian blinds) and similar articles and parts and accessories thereto;

(g) large structural elements of racks for assembly and permanent installation, for example, in shops, workshops, warehouses;

(h) decorative architectural details such as canelleurs, domes, dovecotes; and

(ij) fittings and fittings intended for fixed installation in/or on doors, windows, stairs, walls or other parts of buildings, such as buttons, handles, hooks, brackets, towel hooks, circuit breakers and other protective boards.

Subheading 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. Within any one heading of this chapter, polymers (including copolymers) and chemically modified polymers are to be classified according to the following provisions:

(a) where there is a subheading named ‘Other’ in the same series:

(1) the designation in a subheading of a polymer by the prefix ‘poly’ (for example, polyethylene and polyamide-6,6) means that the constituent monomer unit or monomer units of the named polymer taken together must contribute 95 % or more by weight of the total polymer content;

(2) the copolymers named in subheadings 3901 30, 3901 40, 3903 20, 3903 30 and 3904 30 are to be classified in those subheadings, provided that the comonomer units of the named copolymers contribute 95 % or more by weight of the total polymer content;

(3) chemically modified polymers are to be classified in the subheading named ‘Other’, provided that the chemically modified polymers are not more specifically covered by another subheading;

(4) polymers not meeting (1), (2) or (3) above, are to be classified in the subheading, among the remaining subheadings in the series, covering polymers of that monomer unit which predominates by weight over every other single comonomer unit. For this purpose, constituent monomer units of polymers falling in the same subheading shall be taken together. Only the constituent comonomer units of the polymers in the series of subheadings under consideration are to be compared;

(b) where there is no subheading named ‘Other’ in the same series:

(1) polymers are to be classified in the subheading covering polymers of that monomer unit which predominates by weight over every other single comonomer unit. For this purpose, constituent monomer units of polymers falling in the same subheading shall be taken together. Only the constituent comonomer units of the polymers in the series under consideration are to be compared;

(2) chemically modified polymers are to be classified in the subheading appropriate to the unmodified polymer. Polymer blends are to be classified in the same subheading as polymers of the same monomer units in the same proportions.

2. For the purposes of subheading 3920 43, the term ‘plasticisers’ includes secondary plasticisers.

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. Sleeves, gloves or mittens impregnated or coated with porous plastics, in which textile materials, woven or machine or hand knitted, felt or felt or nonwoven materials are presented merely for reinforcement purposes, belong to Chapter 39, even if they:

are made of textile materials, woven or machine or hand knitted (other than those of heading 5903), felt or felt or nonwoven materials impregnated or coated with porous plastics, or

- made of unimpregnated or uncoated textile materials, woven or machine or hand knitted, felt or felt or nonwoven materials and subsequently impregnated or coated with porous plastics.

(Note 3(c) to chapter 56 and note 2(a)(5) to chapter 59.)

Additional notes of the Eurasian Economic Union

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. Subheading 3901 40 000 1 covers ethylene-alpha-olefin copolymers having a specific gravity of less than 0.94 provided that they have one or more of the following characteristics:

- contain octen-1 comonomer;

have a specific gravity less than 0.916;

have a melting point of less than 120 °C.

2. В подсубпозиции 3904 10 000 1:

the term "polyvinyl chloride emulsion resins" means polyvinyl chloride resins obtained during emulsion polymerization, the size of the primary particles of which is 0.1-3 μm;

the term "polyvinyl chloride microsuspension resins" means polyvinyl chloride resins obtained during microsuspension polymerization, the size of the primary particles of which is 0.1-3 μm;

The term "polyvinyl chloride extender resin" means obtained during suspension polymerization polyvinyl chloride resins, the particle size of which is 20-50 μm.