4907 00 30 — Banknotes

4907 Unused postage, revenue or similar stamps of current or new issue in the country in which they have, or will have, a recognised face value; stamp-impressed paper; banknotes; cheque books; shares, bonds or debentures and similar documents of title

The essential characteristic of the articles of this heading is that, once issued (if necessary, after completion and authentication) by the appropriate authorities, they have a fiduciary value in excess of their intrinsic value. These articles include: (A) Printed stamps, unused (i.e., uncancelled) and of current or new issue in the country in which they have, or will have, a recognised face value. The stamps of this heading are printed on paper, usually gummed, with various designs and in various colours, and bear printed indications of their value and sometimes of their particular use or of the purpose for which they are intended. They include: (1) Postage stamps, generally used for the prepayment of postal services, but in some countries also used as revenue stamps (e.g., for receipts or certificates). "Postage due" stamps, used for surcharging letters which have been stamped, etc., are also included. (2) Revenue stamps, used for affixing to various documents, legal, commercial, etc., and sometimes to goods, as a means of paying government taxes or duties in an amount equal to the stated value of the stamps. The heading includes revenue stamps in the form of labels for attaching to certain kinds of taxable goods as evidence of payment of duties. (3) Other stamps, for example, those purchased by the public as a means of payment, compulsory or voluntary, to the State or other public authorities, for example, as a contribution to State welfare or other social service projects or as national savings.

The heading excludes: (a) Vouchers in the form of stamps, sometimes issued by retailers to their customers as a discount on purchases, religious stamps issued for schoolchildren, stamps issued by charitable organisations, etc., as a means of raising funds or for publicity, and "savings stamps" issued by private or commercial organisations for consumers (heading 4911); (b) Used stamps, and unused stamps not of current or new issue in the country for which they are intended (heading 9704). (B) Stamped envelopes, correspondence cards, postcards, etc., bearing uncancelled printed or impressed postage stamps of the kind described above, of current or new issue in the country in which they have, or will have, a recognised face value, or bearing the postal mark "reply paid". (C) Other stamp-impressed paper, such as official forms and blanks (e.g., for legal documents subject to stamp duty), bearing printed or impressed revenue stamps. (D) Banknotes. This term means notes of all denominations issued by the State or authorised by banks of issue for use as currency or legal tender in the country of issue or in other countries. It includes banknotes which at the time of presentation are not yet or no longer legal tender in any country. However, banknotes presented as collections or as individual collectors' pieces fall in heading 9705. (E) Cheque books, i.e., cheque forms, stamped or not, often in paper covers or in booklet form, issued by banks, including postal banks in some countries, for use by their customers. (F) Shares, bonds or debentures and similar documents of title. These are official documents, issued or for issue by public or private bodies, conferring rights of ownership or giving entitlement to certain financial interests, goods or profits specified in them. Apart from the certificates mentioned, these documents include letters of credit, bills of exchange, travellers' cheques, bills of lading, documents of title to property, and dividend coupons. They usually require completion and authentication. Banknotes, cheque books, share certificates, etc., are usually printed on special paper with special watermarks or other markings and are usually serially numbered. Lottery tickets, printed on special security paper and serially numbered, however, are excluded from this heading and generally fall in heading 4911. Goods of the kinds described fall in this heading when their quantity represents a commercial transaction, usually by the organisation entitled to issue them, irrespective of whether or not the documents (e.g., bonds) require completion and authentication.

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. This group does not include:

(a) photographic negatives or positives on a transparent basis (Chapter 37);

(b) relief geographical maps, plans or globes, whether printed or unprinted (heading 9023);

(c) playing cards or other goods of Chapter 95; or

(d) the originals of engravings, prints or lithographs (heading 9702), postage or duty stamps, postage stamps including the first day of cancellation, post office supplies or similar items of heading 9704, antiques over 100 years old or other articles of Chapter 97.

2. In Chapter 49, the term “printed” also applies to materials reproduced on multiplication machines obtained by a computer, as well as by embossing, photographing, photocopying, thermal copying or typing.

3. Newspapers, magazines and other periodicals in bounds other than paper and the filing of newspapers, magazines or other periodicals of more than one copy under a single cover are classified in heading 4901 regardless of whether they contain advertising material.

4. Heading 4901 also includes:

(a) collections of printed reproductions, such as works of art or drawings with explanatory text, with numbered pages in a form suitable for brochure in one or more volumes;

(b) illustrated appendices accompanying and supplementing the intertwined volumes; and

(c) printed parts of books or pamphlets in the form of selected or separate sheets or signatures constituting all or part of the work and intended for binding.

However, reproductions of paintings or illustrations without explanatory text in the form of signatures or separate sheets are classified in heading 4911.

5. Subject to note 3 to this chapter, heading 4901 does not include publications which are essentially devoted to advertising (e.g. brochures, brochures, leaflets, trade catalogues, yearbooks published by trade associations, tourist brochures). Such publications are classified in heading 4911.

6. For the purpose of heading 4903, the term “picture books” means children’s books in which pictures are of primary interest and the text is auxiliary.