T.C.

GÜMRÜK VE TİCARET BAKANLIĞI

Gümrükler Genel Müdürlüğü

Sayı :17474625-109

Konu :Sodium Naphtalene Sulfonate

06.07.2018 / 35654109 sayılı yazıda atıf yapılmıştır

26.07.2017 / 26838779

DAĞITIM YERLERİNE

İlgi :Doğu Marmara Gümrük ve Ticaret Bölge Müdürlüğü'nün 01.03.2017 tarihli ve 23057339 sayılı yazısı.

İlgide kayıtlı yazı konusu; sodium naphtalene sulfonate ticari isimli eşyanın sınıflandırılmasına ilişkin, Dünya Gümrük Örgütü Sekreteryasının görüşü ilişikte yer almakta olup, söz konusu görüş Genel Müdürlüğümüzce de uygun değerlendirilmiştir.

Bilgi ve gereğini rica ederim.

Ahmet ATASORKUN

Bakan a.

Daire Başkanı

Ek: DGÖ Armonize Sistem Sınıflandırma Kararı

Dağıtım:

Gereği: Bilgi:

Doğu Marmara Gümrük ve Ticaret Bölge Müdürlüğü Ege Gümrük ve Ticaret Bölge Müdürlüğü

Uludağ Gümrük ve Ticaret Bölge Müdürlüğü

İstanbul Gümrük ve Ticaret Bölge Müdürlüğü

Orta Anadolu Gümrük ve Ticaret Bölge Müdürlüğü

Orta Akdeniz Gümrük ve Ticaret Bölge Müdürlüğü

WORLD CUSTOMS ORGANIZATION

ORGANISATION MONDIALE DES DOUANES

Mr. Hasan KOSEOGLU

Ministry of Customs and Trade

Director General for the EU and External Relations

Dumlupinar Bulvari No : 151 Eskisehir Yolu 9

Km. 06530 Cankaya /Ankara

TURKEY

FAX: 0032-2-513 41 66

Brussels, 6 July 2017.

Dear Sir,

This is with reference to your letter of 27 April 2017 (Ref. 31779692-730.07), requesting the Secretariat's advice on the Harmonized System (HS) classification of a product commercially named "sodium naphthalene sulfonate".

Description of the product

In your letter, you affirm that the "sodium naphthalene sulfonate" is a dispersing agent. Since it contains a sodium ion bound to a large organic molecule, it has surface active property and its structure enables the homogeneous dispersion of organic and inorganic dispersions.

This chemical product can be presented under two different trade names: "Sodium naphthalene ZWL-I" and "Powercon-100". Both are presented in the form of brown powders with the same chemical properties although they are used in different sectors. Both are water soluble products.

"Sodium naphthalene ZWL-I" is a ready to use superplasticizer used in concrete, in industrial and civil buildings and in miscellaneous engineering. It consists of an aromatic sulfonated polymer (92 %) and the dosage in the concrete might range from 0.3% to 1.8%.

On the other hand, "Powercon-100" consists of sodium salt of poly(naphtalenesulfonic acid) (94 %). Its recommended use is as super plasticizer for cement concrete, mortar and grout.

Classification

In your letter, you indicate that there are four possible options for the classification of the product under consideration. These subheadings are: 3202.10, 3402.11, 3824.40 and 3824.99. In addition, the Secretariat wishes to consider also heading 34.01.

First of all, the Secretariat wishes to mention that the product at issue is the sodium salt of poly(naphtalenesulfonic acid). It is, therefore, a polymer without a chemically defined structure that cannot be covered by the scope of Chapter 29 (heading 29.04: sulphonated derivatives of hydrocarbons). In addition, this polymer is not covered by any of the headings of Chapter 39.

Heading 32.02 covers: "Synthetic organic tanning substances; inorganic tanning substances; tanning preparations, whether or not containing natural tanning substances; enzymatic preparations for pre-tanning".

The Secretariat is of the opinion that, considering the information provided by your Administration regarding the uses of the product under consideration, it should be considered neither as a tanning preparation nor as an enzymatic preparation for pre-tanning and that, accordingly, its classification in heading 32.02 should be ruled out.

Moreover, heading 34.02 covers "Organic surface-active agents (other than soap); surface-active preparations, washing preparations (including auxiliary washing preparations) and cleaning preparations, whether or not containing soap, other than those of heading 34.01".

The scope covered by heading 34.02 is governed by Note 3 to Chapter 34 which stipulates : "For the purposes of heading 34.02, organic surface-active agents are products which when mixed with water at a concentration of 0.5% at 20 °C and left to stand for one hour at the same temperature: (a) give a transparent or translucent liquid or stable emulsion without separation of insoluble matter; and (b) reduce the surface tension of water to 4.5 x 10~² N/m (45 dyne/cm) or less".

The scope of heading 34.02 is further clarified by its corresponding Explanatory Note which stipulates (on Page VI-3402-1, Part (I)):

"The organic surface-active agents of this heading are chemical compounds, not chemically defined, which contain one or more hydrophilic or hydrophobic functional groups (...). Organic surface-active agents maybe: (1) Anionic, in which case they ionise in aqueous solution to produce negatively charged organic ions responsible for the surface activity. Examples are : sulphates and sulphonates of fats, vegetable oils (triglycerides) or resin acids; sulphates and sulphonates derived from fatty alcohols; petroleum sulphonates, e.g., of alkali metals (including those containing a proportion of mineral oils), of ammonium or of ethanolamines; alkylpolyethersulphates; alkylsulphonates or alkylphenylethersulphonates; alkylsulphates, alkylarylsulphonates (e.g., technical dodecylbenzenesulphonates)".

On the other hand, heading 38.24 is a residual provision which covers: "Prepared binders for foundry moulds or cores; chemical products and preparations of the chemical or allied industries (including those consisting of mixtures of natural products), not elsewhere specified or included".

The scope of heading 38.24 is clarified by its corresponding Explanatory Note (on Page VI-3824-3, Part (B), item (8)) which stipulates that the preparations and chemical products falling here include:

"Petroleum sulphonates, not water-soluble, obtained from petroleum or petroleum fractions by sulphonation, for example, with sulphuric acid, oleum or sulphur trioxide dissolved in liquid sulphur dioxide, this process usually being followed by neutralisation. Water-soluble petroleum sulphonates, e.g., of alkali metals, of ammonium or of ethanolamines are, however, excluded (heading 34.02)".

The Secretariat assumes that the polymer under consideration is the result of the treatment with sulphuric acid of petroleum fractions (naphtalenes) and that the resulting product is a water soluble sulphonate of an alkali metal (sodium) specifically excluded from heading 38.24. In these circumstances, considering also that heading 38.24 is a residual provision, the Secretariat is of the opinion that the classification of the product under consideration in heading 38.24 should be ruled out.

The Secretariat is not in a position to determine if the products at issue satisfy the requirements stipulated by Note 3 to Chapter 34. In the affirmative, in the absence of a more specific provision, the Secretariat would be inclined to classify the sodium salt of poly (naphtalenesulfonic acid) (i.e., "Sodium naphthalene ZWL-I" and "Powercon-10") in heading 34.02, more specifically in subheading 3402.11 by application of GIRs 1 and 6.

However, if the products under consideration do not satisfy the requirements of the Note 3 to Chapter 34, the Secretariat would be inclined to classify them in heading 34.01 (subheading 3401.20) by application of GIRs 1 and 6.

Publication on the Internet

The Secretariat will publish an extract of the above classification advice on the WCO Members Web site, one month after the date of this letter, unless you have notified the Secretariat that this correspondence should not be included in that publication.

WCO Recommendations

In conclusion, the Secretariat would like to draw your attention to the fact that the WCO has been pursuing correct and uniform application of the Harmonized System, since its introduction on 1 January 1988. One of the most practical means for reaching this goal is the use of the WCO Recommendations.

Since these Recommendations are not binding instruments, accession procedures are not foreseen. Therefore, administrations are requested to notify the WCO Secretariat of the acceptance of one or more Recommendations and of the date of their application. The Secretariat informs the Harmonized System Contracting Parties about the acceptance of HS related Recommendations at the Harmonized System Committee sessions, i.e., twice a year.

I have noted that your administration has not yet notified the Secretariat about the acceptance of the following Recommendations:

- Recommendation on the insertion in national statistical nomenclatures of subheadings to facilitate the collection and comparison of trade data on hand­ made products (7 July 2000);

- Recommendation on the insertion in national statistical nomenclatures of subheadings to facilitate the monitoring and control of products specified in the Protocol concerning firearms covered by the UN convention against transnational organized crime (29 June 2002) (amended 24 June 2011);

- Recommendation on the insertion in national statistical nomenclatures of subheadings to facilitate the monitoring of the international movement of goods required for the production and use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) (14 July 2016).

I would be grateful if you could take the appropriate steps in this respect. You are also invited to take the appropriate measures (national or regional, as the case may be) with a view to adopting and implementing the above-mentioned Council Recommendations. However, if there are problems with respect to the adoption of any of the Council Recommendations mentioned, you are kindly invited to inform the Secretariat accordingly.

Feedback to the Secretariat

The WCO Secretariat issues around 150 classification advice per year to its Members. In order to improve our work in this respect, it would be appreciated if you could complete the attached Feedback form and send it to the Secretariat in electronic format in due course. Thank you for your cooperation.

It is trusted that the above information will be of help to you.

Yours faithfully,

Ping LIU