44 Wood and articles of wood; wood charcoal
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 IX, Wood & Wood Products — wood, charcoal, cork and articles of straw or basketware.
- 44 Chapter Wood and articles of wood; wood charcoal
- —— Heading Pick one of the 21 headings below
- —— Subheading Six digits, the level every country shares
Chapter 44 covers wood and articles of wood; wood charcoal: raw lumber, sawn timber, plywood, particleboard, and finished wood products like frames and tools. It is one of the largest manufacturing chapters, spanning everything from raw logs to finished wooden goods, with treatment method (sawn, planed, veneered) driving much of the subheading structure. Classification tip: Wood packaging material (pallets, crates) usually needs ISPM 15 heat-treatment or fumigation certification stamped on the item itself, separate from and in addition to the HS code on the invoice.
21 headings in chapter 44
Four-digit groups. Pick the one that fits, then the six-digit code inside it.
- 44.01 Fuel wood, in logs, billets, twigs, faggots or similar forms; wood in chip or particles; sawdust and wood waste and scrap, whether or not agglomerated in logs, briquettes, pellets or similar forms 9 codes
- 44.02 Wood charcoal (including shell or nut charcoal), whether or not agglomerated 3 codes
- 44.03 Wood in the rough, whether or not stripped of bark or sapwood, or roughly squared 19 codes
- 44.04 Hoopwood; split poles; piles, pickets, stakes of wood, pointed, not sawn lengthwise; wooden sticks, roughly trimmed, not turned, bent, etc., suitable for walking sticks, umbrellas, tool handles, etc. 2 codes
- 44.05 Wood wool; wood flour 1 code
- 44.06 Railway or tramway sleepers (cross-ties) of wood 4 codes
- 44.07 Wood sawn or chipped lengthwise, sliced or peeled, whether or not planed, sanded or finger-jointed, of a thickness exceeding 6mm 21 codes
- 44.08 Sheets for veneering (including those obtained by slicing laminated wood), for plywood or for similar laminated wood and other wood, sawn lengthwise, sliced or peeled, planed or not, sanded, spliced or end-jointed, of a thickness not exceeding 6 mm 4 codes
- 44.09 Wood (including strips, friezes for parquet flooring, not assembled), continuously shaped (tongued, grooved, v-jointed, beaded or the like) along any edges, ends or faces, whether or not planed, sanded or end-jointed 4 codes
- 44.10 Particle board, oriented strand board (OSB) and similar board (e.g. waferboard) of wood or other ligneous materials, whether or not agglomerated with resins or other organic binding substances 4 codes
- 44.11 Fibreboard of wood or other ligneous materials, whether or not bonded with resins or other organic substances 6 codes
- 44.12 Plywood, veneered panels and similar laminated wood 14 codes
- 44.13 Densified wood, in blocks, plates, strips or profile shapes 1 code
- 44.14 Wooden frames; for paintings, photographs, mirrors or similar objects 2 codes
- 44.15 Packing cases, boxes, crates, drums and similar packings, of wood; cable-drums of wood; pallets, box pallets and other load boards, of wood; pallet collars of wood 2 codes
- 44.16 Casks, barrels, vats, tubs and other coopers' products and parts thereof, of wood, including staves 1 code
- 44.17 Tools, tool bodies, tool handles, broom or brush bodies and handles, of wood; boot or shoe lasts and trees, of wood 1 code
- 44.18 Builders' joinery and carpentry of wood, including cellular wood panels, assembled flooring panels, shingles and shakes 18 codes
- 44.19 Tableware and kitchenware, of wood 5 codes
- 44.20 Wood marquetry and inlaid wood; caskets and cases for jewellery or cutlery, and similar articles of wood; statuettes and other ornaments of wood; wooden articles of furniture not falling in chapter 94 3 codes
- 44.21 Wooden articles n.e.c. in heading no. 4414 to 4420 4 codes
Other chapters in Section IX
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 44? 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 44 FAQ
Chapter 44 covers wood and articles of wood; wood charcoal: raw lumber, sawn timber, plywood, particleboard, and finished wood products like frames and tools. It is one of the largest manufacturing chapters, spanning everything from raw logs to finished wooden goods, with treatment method (sawn, planed, veneered) driving much of the subheading structure. Classification tip: Wood packaging material (pallets, crates) usually needs ISPM 15 heat-treatment or fumigation certification stamped on the item itself, separate from and in addition to the HS code on the invoice.
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 IX and to chapter 44. 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.