28 Inorganic chemicals; organic and inorganic compounds of precious metals; of rare earth metals, of radio-active elements and of isotopes
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 VI, Chemical Products — inorganic and organic chemicals, pharmaceuticals, fertilisers, paints and cosmetics.
- 28 Chapter Inorganic chemicals; organic and inorganic compounds of precious metals; of rare earth metals, of radio-active elements and of isotopes
- —— Heading Pick one of the 50 headings below
- —— Subheading Six digits, the level every country shares
Chapter 28 covers inorganic chemicals; organic and inorganic compounds of precious metals, rare earth metals, radioactive elements and isotopes: acids, oxides, salts and elemental chemicals used as industrial feedstocks. It sits alongside chapter 29 (organic chemicals) as one of the two large chemical-industry chapters. Classification tip: Many chapter 28 compounds are also dual-use precursor chemicals monitored under international non-proliferation and narcotics-precursor regimes, so check for export-control flags before shipping, not just the customs tariff.
50 headings in chapter 28
Four-digit groups. Pick the one that fits, then the six-digit code inside it.
- 28.01 Fluorine, chlorine, bromine and iodine 3 codes
- 28.02 Sulphur; sublimed or precipitated, colloidal sulphur 1 code
- 28.03 Carbon; carbon blacks and other forms of carbon n.e.c. 1 code
- 28.04 Hydrogen, rare gases and other non-metals 11 codes
- 28.05 Alkali or alkaline-earth metals; rare-earth metals, scandium and yttrium, whether or not intermixed or interalloyed; mercury 5 codes
- 28.06 Hydrogen chloride (hydrochloric acid); chlorosulphuric acid 2 codes
- 28.07 Sulphuric acid; oleum 1 code
- 28.08 Nitric acid; sulphonitric acids 1 code
- 28.09 Diphosphorus pentaoxide; phosphoric acid; polyphosphoric acids, whether or not chemically defined 2 codes
- 28.10 Oxides of boron; boric acids 1 code
- 28.11 Inorganic acids and other inorganic oxygen compounds of non-metals; n.e.c. in heading no. 2806 to 2810 6 codes
- 28.12 Halides and halide oxides of non-metals 9 codes
- 28.13 Sulphides of non-metals; commercial phosphorus trisulphide 2 codes
- 28.14 Ammonia; anhydrous or in aqueous solution 2 codes
- 28.15 Sodium hydroxide (caustic soda); potassium hydroxide (caustic potash) peroxides of sodium or potassium 4 codes
- 28.16 Hydroxide and peroxide of magnesium; oxides, hydroxides and peroxides of strontium or barium 2 codes
- 28.17 Zinc; oxide and peroxide 1 code
- 28.18 Aluminium oxide (including artificial corundum); aluminium hydroxide 3 codes
- 28.19 Chromium oxides and hydroxides 2 codes
- 28.20 Manganese oxides 2 codes
- 28.21 Iron oxides and hydroxides; earth colours containing 70% or more by weight of combined iron evaluated as Fe2o3 2 codes
- 28.22 Cobalt oxides and hydroxides; commercial cobalt oxides 1 code
- 28.23 Titanium oxides 1 code
- 28.24 Lead oxides; red lead and orange lead 2 codes
- 28.25 Hydrazine and hydroxylamine and their inorganic salts; other inorganic bases; other metal oxides, hydroxides and peroxides 9 codes
- 28.26 Fluorides; fluorosilicates, fluoroaluminates and other complex fluorine salts 4 codes
- 28.27 Chlorides; chloride oxides and chloride hydroxides; bromides and bromide oxides; iodides and iodide oxides 11 codes
- 28.28 Hypochlorites; commercial calcium hypochlorite; chlorites; hypobromites 2 codes
- 28.29 Chlorates and perchlorates; bromates and perbromates; iodates and periodates 3 codes
- 28.30 Sulphides; polysulphides whether or not chemically defined 2 codes
- 28.31 Dithionites and sulphoxylates 2 codes
- 28.32 Sulphites; thiosulphates 3 codes
- 28.33 Sulphates; alums; peroxosulphates (persulphates) 10 codes
- 28.34 Nitrites; nitrates 3 codes
- 28.35 Phosphinates (hypophosphites), phosphonates (phosphites), and phosphates; and polyphosphates, whether or not chemically defined 8 codes
- 28.36 Carbonates; peroxocarbonates (percarbonates); commercial ammonium carbonate containing ammonium carbamate 8 codes
- 28.37 Cyanides, cyanide oxides and complex cyanides 3 codes
- 28.39 Silicates; commercial alkali metal silicates 3 codes
- 28.40 Borates; peroxoborates (perborates) 4 codes
- 28.41 Salts of oxometallic or peroxometallic acids 7 codes
- 28.42 Salts of inorganic acids or peroxoacids, n.e.c. including aluminosilicates whether or not chemically defined, but excluding azides 2 codes
- 28.43 Colloidal precious metals; inorganic or organic compounds of precious metals, whether or not chemically defined; amalgams of precious metals 5 codes
- 28.44 Radioactive chemical elements and radioactive isotopes (including the fissile or fertile chemical elements and isotopes); and their compounds; mixtures and residues containing these products 8 codes
- 28.45 Isotopes other than those of heading no. 2844; compounds, inorganic or organic, of such isotopes, whether or not chemically defined 5 codes
- 28.46 Compounds, inorganic or organic, of rare-earth metals; of yttrium or of scandium or of mixtures of these metals 2 codes
- 28.47 Hydrogen peroxide; whether or not solidified with urea 1 code
- 28.49 Carbides, whether or not chemically defined 3 codes
- 28.50 Hydrides, nitrides, azides, silicides and borides, whether or not chemically defined, other than compounds which are also carbides of heading no. 2849 1 code
- 28.52 Inorganic or organic compounds of mercury, excluding amalgams, whether or not chemically defined 2 codes
- 28.53 Phosphides, chemically defined or not, not ferrophosphorus; other inorganic compounds n.e.c. (including distilled, conductivity water and water of like purity); liquid air, rare gases removed or not; compressed air; amalgams, not precious metal amalgams 2 codes
Other chapters in Section VI
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 28? 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 28 FAQ
Chapter 28 covers inorganic chemicals; organic and inorganic compounds of precious metals, rare earth metals, radioactive elements and isotopes: acids, oxides, salts and elemental chemicals used as industrial feedstocks. It sits alongside chapter 29 (organic chemicals) as one of the two large chemical-industry chapters. Classification tip: Many chapter 28 compounds are also dual-use precursor chemicals monitored under international non-proliferation and narcotics-precursor regimes, so check for export-control flags before shipping, not just the customs tariff.
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 VI and to chapter 28. 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.