HS codes for shipping pens

March 16, 2023

Does anyone have some HS codes for fountain pens, ballpens and mechanical pencils?

It is getting more complicated by the day.

March 16, 2023

What are HS codes?

March 16, 2023

More and more countries require codes instead of names for products sent to those countries.

If you don't add the code they can refuse to let your package in or they can add penalties.

https://www.trade.gov/harmonized-system-hs-codes

This year, it will become necessary for sending to Europe. I think next year it will be necessary for most countries.

March 16, 2023

3 hours ago, mke said:

Does anyone have some HS codes for fountain pens, ballpens and mechanical pencils?

It is getting more complicated by the day.

I have found the UK HMRC page for these codes to be more-informative than the US one.

HS commodity codes for pens

If you are outside the UK you can ignore the columns relating to VAT & Import Duty. The actual ‘HS’ codes are in the column on the right.

March 16, 2023

Thank you very much. This is really helpful.

March 16, 2023

Mercian's citation includes the statement that...

This chapter does not cover:

a. pencils for...toilet uses

Curious.

March 16, 2023

2 hours ago, lascosas said:

Mercian's citation includes the statement that...

This chapter does not cover:

a. pencils for...toilet uses

Curious.

So am I 😁

March 16, 2023

Do I understand this correctly?

Wikipedia says that an HS code is 6 digits, and the example says:

Quote

HS code 1006.30, for example indicates Chapter 10 (Cereals), Heading 06 (Rice), and Subheading 30 (Semi-milled or wholly milled rice, whether or not polished or glazed).

Testing that using the UK site, I navigate to https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/headings/1006, scroll down a bit, and there is indeed an entry "1006 30". But under it are entries like "1006 3021" and "1006 3021 10" that further subdivide it.

Based on that, the HS Code for a fountain pen looks like it would be "9608 30". Am I following that correctly?

And then ink would be "3215 90"?

No clue what to do for a gift set that includes pen and ink in one box, or pen+pencil set, etc. It may be in there, but I've just exhausted my curiosity about this.😜

March 18, 2023

On 3/16/2023 at 11:17 PM, XYZZY said:

No clue what to do for a gift set that includes pen and ink in one box, or pen+pencil set, etc. It may be in there, but I've just exhausted my curiosity about this.😜

The page I linked to above includes a heading that covers boxed sets of e.g. a pen & pencil, or FP/RB/MP.

It is listed about half way down, beneath “Propelling or sliding pencils”, as

”Sets of articles from two or more of the foregoing subheadings”. Its commodity code is given as 9608 5000 00.

Interestingly though, fountain pen ink does not appear to have been assigned a code at all.

The HMRC page for inks doesn’t list fountain pen ink - and even though ‘fountain pen ink’ and ‘India ink’ are both items that appear as suggested entries in the the search window, neither is explicitly covered by the list on the page for heading 3215.

My ‘best guess’ is that they are both covered by 3215 9070 90 at the very bottom of the list.

I am going to contact HMRC to ask for clarification about this - not least because some kinds of ink on the 3215 list attract an Import Duty of 6%, while others are zero-rated.
And because, although I suspect that a set consisting of a fountain pen with a bottle of ink would be declared as 9608 5000 00, I want to have that confirmed by someone at HMRC (even though they point out that their advice is not ‘legally binding’ 😕).

Obviously, I can’t contact them until their offices re-open on Monday.
Once they reply to me, I will post their advice here.

March 22, 2023

On 3/18/2023 at 12:37 PM, Mercian said:

Obviously, I can’t contact them until their offices re-open on Monday.
Once they reply to me, I will post their advice here.

Currently waiting for a response to the questions I sent them on an email.

Will post their answers once I receive them.