08 Fruit and nuts, edible; peel of citrus fruit or melons
The broadest level of the Harmonized System. Pick the heading below that fits your goods, then the six-digit code under it — that last one is what you declare.
Section II, Vegetable Products — plants, vegetables, fruit, nuts, coffee, tea, cereals, seeds and flours.
- 08 Chapter Fruit and nuts, edible; peel of citrus fruit or melons
- —— Heading Pick one of the 14 headings below
- —— Subheading Six digits, the level every country shares
Chapter 8 covers edible fruit and nuts, fresh, dried or otherwise simply preserved, plus the peel of citrus fruit or melons. Like vegetables, once fruit is cooked, candied or turned into jam or juice concentrate, it moves to chapter 20 or chapter 22 instead. Classification tip: Fresh versus dried state is the main classification fork here, and fresh fruit shipments are usually subject to the tightest phytosanitary and pest-inspection scrutiny of any chapter in Section II.
14 headings in chapter 08
Four-digit groups. Pick the one that fits, then the six-digit code inside it.
- 08.01 Nuts, edible; coconuts, Brazil nuts and cashew nuts, fresh or dried, whether or not shelled or peeled 7 codes
- 08.02 Nuts (excluding coconuts, Brazils and cashew nuts); fresh or dried, whether or not shelled or peeled 17 codes
- 08.03 Bananas, including plantains; fresh or dried 2 codes
- 08.04 Dates, figs, pineapples, avocados, guavas, mangoes and mangosteens; fresh or dried 5 codes
- 08.05 Citrus fruit; fresh or dried 7 codes
- 08.06 Grapes; fresh or dried 2 codes
- 08.07 Melons (including watermelons) and papaws (papayas); fresh 3 codes
- 08.08 Apples, pears and quinces; fresh 3 codes
- 08.09 Apricots, cherries, peaches (including nectarines), plums and sloes, fresh 5 codes
- 08.10 Fruit, fresh; n.e.c. in chapter 08 8 codes
- 08.11 Fruit and nuts; uncooked or cooked by steaming or boiling in water, frozen, whether or not containing added sugar or other sweetening matter 3 codes
- 08.12 Fruit and nuts provisionally preserved, but unsuitable in that state for immediate consumption 2 codes
- 08.13 Fruit, dried, other than that of heading no. 0801 to 0806; mixtures of nuts or dried fruits of this chapter 5 codes
- 08.14 Peel of citrus fruit or melons (including watermelons); fresh, frozen dried or provisionally preserved in brine, in sulphur water or in other preservative solutions 1 code
Other chapters in Section II
The wording above is the Harmonized System nomenclature as published by the World Customs Organization, HS 2022 edition. It is a classification reference, not a tariff: it carries no duty rates, and it stops at six digits — the importing country adds its own beyond that.
Classification is decided by the General Rules of Interpretation and the section and chapter notes, and it is the importing country’s customs authority that makes it binding.
Shipping goods from chapter 08? A customs hold shows up as a milestone that stops moving — follow the container or the air waybill from departure to delivery.
Track a shipmentChapter 08 FAQ
Chapter 8 covers edible fruit and nuts, fresh, dried or otherwise simply preserved, plus the peel of citrus fruit or melons. Like vegetables, once fruit is cooked, candied or turned into jam or juice concentrate, it moves to chapter 20 or chapter 22 instead. Classification tip: Fresh versus dried state is the main classification fork here, and fresh fruit shipments are usually subject to the tightest phytosanitary and pest-inspection scrutiny of any chapter in Section II.
Pick the heading below that describes the goods, then the six-digit subheading under it. Six digits is the level the Harmonized System defines and the level customs everywhere recognises; anything beyond that is added by the importing country.
The General Rules of Interpretation, read together with the notes to Section II and to chapter 08. A description that reads right is not enough on its own — the notes routinely pull goods out of the chapter they obviously belong to and put them somewhere else. Where duty or licensing turns on the answer, ask the importing country’s customs authority for a binding ruling.
A wrong or missing code is one of the common reasons customs holds a container, and a hold shows up as a milestone that stops moving. Watch for it in the container tracking app, on the air waybill in the air cargo tracker, or through the tracking API.