Customs - Tariff Book

Throughout this Schedule the expression "plastics" means those materials of headings 39.01 to 39.14 which are or have been capable, either at the moment of polymerisation or at some subsequent stage, of being formed under external influence (usually heat and pressure, if necessary with a solvent or plasticiser) by moulding, casting, extruding, rolling or other process into shapes which are retained on the removal of the external influence.

Throughout this Schedule any reference to "plastics" also includes vulcanised fibre. The expression, however, does not apply to materials regarded as textile materials of Section Xl.

This Chapter does not cover the following:

Headings 39.01 to 39.11 apply only to goods of a kind produced by chemical synthesis, falling in the following categories:

The expression "copolymers" cover all polymers in which no single monomer unit contributes 95 per cet or more by mass to the total polymer content.

For the purposes of this Chapter, except where the context otherwise requires, copolymers (including co-polycondensates, co-polyaddition products, block copolymers and graft copolymers) and polymer blends are to be classified in the heading covering polymers of that comonomer unit which predominates by mass over every other single comonomer unit. For the purposes of this Note, constituent comonomers units of polymers falling in the same heading shall be taken together.

If no single comonomer unit predominates, copolymers or polymer blends, as the case may be, are to be classified in the heading which occurs last in numerical order among those which equally merit consideration.

Chemically modified polymers, that is those in which only appendages to the main polymer chain have been changed by chemical reaction, are to be classified in the heading appropriate to the unmodified polymer.This provision does not apply to graft copolymers.

In headings 39.01 to 39.14, the expression "primary forms" applies only to the following forms:

Heading 39.15 does not apply to waste, parings and scrap of a single thermoplastic material, transformed into primary forms (headings 39.01 to 39.14).

For the purposes of heading 39.17, the expression "tubes, pipes and hoses" means hollow products, whether semi-manufactures or finished products, of a kind generally used for conveying, conducting or distributing gases or liquids (for example, ribbed garden hose, perforated tubes). This expression also includes sausage casings and other lay-flat tubing. However, except for the last-mentioned, those having an internal cross-section other than round, oval, rectangular (in which the length does not exceed 1,5 times the width) or in the shape of a regular polygon are not to be regarded as tubes, pipes and hoses but as profile shapes.

For the purposes of heading 39.18, the expression "wall or ceiling coverings of plastics" applies to products in rolls, of a width not less than 45 cm, suitable for wall or ceiling decoration, consisting of plastics fixed permanently on a backing of any material other than paper, the layer of plastics (on the face side) being grained, embossed, coloured, design-printed or otherwise decorated.

In headings 39.20 and 39.21, the expression "plates, sheets, film, foil and strip" applies only to plates, sheets, film, foil and strip (excluding those of Chapter 54) and to blocks of regular geometric shape, whether or not printed or otherwise surface-worked, uncut or cut into rectangles (including squares) but not further worked (even if when so cut they become articles ready for use).

Heading 39.25 applies only to the following articles, not being products covered by any of the earlier headings of Subchapter II:

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

For the purposes of subheading 3920.43, the term "plasticisers" includes secondary plasticisers.