27 Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation; bituminous substances; mineral waxes
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 V, Mineral Products — salt, sulphur, earths, stone, ores, mineral fuels and mineral oils.
- 27 Chapter Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation; bituminous substances; mineral waxes
- —— Heading Pick one of the 16 headings below
- —— Subheading Six digits, the level every country shares
Chapter 27 covers mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation; bituminous substances; mineral waxes: crude petroleum, refined petroleum products, natural gas, coal and coke, plus bituminous substances and mineral waxes. It is one of the highest-value chapters in world trade by volume, and many countries apply separate energy-specific duties or exemptions on top of the base tariff. Classification tip: Crude versus refined petroleum products (gasoline, diesel, jet fuel) each sit on distinct subheadings with very different duty and excise treatment, and many countries additionally regulate fuel imports through licensing separate from customs.
16 headings in chapter 27
Four-digit groups. Pick the one that fits, then the six-digit code inside it.
- 27.01 Coal; briquettes, ovoids and similar solid fuels manufactured from coal 4 codes
- 27.02 Lignite; whether or not agglomerated, excluding jet 2 codes
- 27.03 Peat; (including peat litter), whether or not agglomerated 1 code
- 27.04 Coke and semi-coke; of coal, lignite or peat, whether or not agglomerated; retort carbon 1 code
- 27.05 Coal gas, water gas, producer gas and similar gases, other than petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons 1 code
- 27.06 Tar distilled from coal, from lignite, peat and other mineral tars, whether or not dehydrated or partially distilled; including reconstituted tars 1 code
- 27.07 Oils and other products of the distillation of high temperature coal tar; similar products in which the weight of the aromatic constituents exceeds that of the non-aromatic constituents 7 codes
- 27.08 Pitch and pitch coke; obtained from coal tar or from other mineral tars 2 codes
- 27.09 Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals; crude 1 code
- 27.10 Petroleum oils and oils from bituminous minerals, not crude; preparations n.e.c, containing by weight 70% or more of petroleum oils or oils from bituminous minerals; these being the basic constituents of the preparations; waste oils 5 codes
- 27.11 Petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons 7 codes
- 27.12 Petroleum jelly; paraffin wax, micro-crystalline petroleum wax, slack wax, ozokerite, lignite wax, peat wax, other mineral waxes, similar products obtained by synthesis, other processes; coloured or not 3 codes
- 27.13 Petroleum coke, petroleum bitumen; other residues of petroleum oils or oils obtained from bituminous minerals 4 codes
- 27.14 Bitumen and asphalt, natural; bituminous or oil shale and tar sands; asphaltites and asphaltic rocks 2 codes
- 27.15 Bituminous mixtures based on natural asphalt; on natural bitumen, on petroleum bitumen, on mineral tar or on mineral tar pitch (e.g. bituminous mastics, cut-backs) 1 code
- 27.16 Electrical energy 1 code
Other chapters in Section V
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 27? 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 27 FAQ
Chapter 27 covers mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation; bituminous substances; mineral waxes: crude petroleum, refined petroleum products, natural gas, coal and coke, plus bituminous substances and mineral waxes. It is one of the highest-value chapters in world trade by volume, and many countries apply separate energy-specific duties or exemptions on top of the base tariff. Classification tip: Crude versus refined petroleum products (gasoline, diesel, jet fuel) each sit on distinct subheadings with very different duty and excise treatment, and many countries additionally regulate fuel imports through licensing separate from customs.
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 V and to chapter 27. 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.