Chapter 72: Iron and steel

1. In this chapter and, in the case of notes (d), (e) and (f) throughout the nomenclature, the following expressions have the meanings hereby assigned to them:

1. (a) Pig iron

   Iron-carbon alloys not usefully malleable, containing more than 2 % by weight of carbon and which may contain by weight one or more other elements within the following limits:

   • not more than 10 % of chromium,

   • not more than 6 % of manganese,

   • not more than 3 % of phosphorus,

   • not more than 8 % of silicon,

   • a total of not more than 10 % of other elements.

2. (b) Spiegeleisen

   Iron-carbon alloys containing by weight more than 6 % but not more than 30 % of manganese and otherwise conforming to the specification at (a) above.

3. (c) Ferro-alloys

   Alloys in pigs, blocks, lumps or similar primary forms, in forms obtained by continuous casting and also in granular or powder forms, whether or not agglomerated, commonly used as an additive in the manufacture of other alloys or as de-oxidants, de-sulphurising agents or for similar uses in ferrous metallurgy and generally not usefully malleable, containing by weight 4 % or more of the element iron and one or more of the following:

   • more than 10 % of chromium,

   • more than 30 % of manganese,

   • more than 3 % of phosphorus,

   • more than 8 % of silicon,

   • a total of more than 10 % of other elements, excluding carbon, subject to a maximum content of 10 % in the case of copper.

4. (d) Steel

   Ferrous materials other than those of heading 7203 which (with the exception of certain types produced in the form of castings) are usefully malleable and which contain by weight 2 % or less of carbon. However, chromium steels may contain higher proportions of carbon.

5. (e) Stainless steel

   Alloy steels containing, by weight, 1,2 % or less of carbon and 10,5 % or more of chromium, with or without other elements.

6. (f) Other alloy steel

   Steels not complying with the definition of stainless steel and containing by weight one or more of the following elements in the proportion shown:

   • 0,3 % or more of aluminium,

   • 0,0008 % or more of boron,

   • 0,3 % or more of chromium,

   • 0,3 % or more of cobalt,

   • 0,4 % or more of copper,

   • 0,4 % or more of lead,

   • 1,65 % or more of manganese,

   • 0,08 % or more of molybdenum,

   • 0,3 % or more of nickel,

   • 0,06 % or more of niobium,

   • 0,6 % or more of silicon,

   • 0,05 % or more of titanium,

   • 0,3 % or more of tungsten (wolfram),

   • 0,1 % or more of vanadium,

   • 0,05 % or more of zirconium,

   • 0,1 % or more of other elements (except sulphur, phosphorus, carbon and nitrogen), taken separately.

7. (g) Remelting scrap ingots of iron or steel

   Products roughly cast in the form of ingots without feeder-heads or hot tops, or of pigs, having obvious surface faults and not complying with the chemical composition of pig iron, spiegeleisen or ferro-alloys.

8. (h) Granules

   Products of which less than 90 % by weight passes through a sieve with a mesh aperture of 1 mm and of which 90 % or more by weight passes through a sieve with a mesh aperture of 5 mm.

9. (ij) Semi-finished products

   Continuous cast products of solid section, whether or not subjected to primary hot-rolling; and other products of solid section, which have not been further worked than subjected to primary hot-rolling or roughly shaped by forging, including blanks for angles, shapes or sections.

   These products are not presented in coils.

10. (k) Flat-rolled products

    Rolled products of solid rectangular (other than square) cross-section, which do not conform to the definition at (ij) above in the form of:

    • coils of successively superimposed layers, or

    • straight lengths, which if of a thickness less than 4,75 mm are of a width measuring at least 10 times the thickness or if of a thickness of 4,75 mm or more are of a width which exceeds 150 mm and measures at least twice the thickness.

    Flat-rolled products include those with patterns in relief derived directly from rolling (for example, grooves, ribs, chequers, tears, buttons, lozenges) and those which have been perforated, corrugated or polished, provided that they do not thereby assume the character of articles or products of other headings.

    Flat-rolled products of a shape other than rectangular or square, of any size, are to be classified as products of a width of 600 mm or more, provided that they do not assume the character of articles or products of other headings.

11. (l) Bars and rods, hot-rolled, in irregularly wound coils

    Hot-rolled products in irregularly wound coils, which have a solid cross-section in the shape of circles, segments of circles, ovals, rectangles (including squares), triangles or other convex polygons (including ‘flattened circles’ and ‘modified rectangles’, of which two opposite sides are convex arcs, the other two sides being straight, of equal length and parallel). These products may have indentations, ribs, grooves or other deformations produced during the rolling process (reinforcing bars and rods).

12. (m) Other bars and rods

    Products which do not conform to any of the definitions at (ij), (k) or (l) above or to the definition of wire, which have a uniform solid cross-section along their whole length in the shape of circles, segments of circles, ovals, rectangles (including squares), triangles or other convex polygons (including ‘flattened circles’ and ‘modified rectangles’, of which two opposite sides are convex arcs, the other two sides being straight, of equal length and parallel).

    These products may:

    • have indentations, ribs, grooves or other deformations produced during the rolling process (reinforcing bars and rods),

    • be twisted after rolling.

13. (n) Angles, shapes and sections

    Products having a uniform solid cross-section along their whole length which do not conform to any of the definitions at (ij), (k), (l) or (m) above or to the definition of wire.

    Chapter 72 does not include products of heading 7301 or 7302.

14. (o) Wire

    Cold-formed products in coils, of any uniform solid cross-section along their whole length, which do not conform to the definition of flat-rolled products.

15. (p) Hollow drill bars and rods

    Hollow bars and rods of any cross-section, suitable for drills, of which the greatest external dimension of the cross-section exceeds 15 mm but does not exceed 52 mm, and of which the greatest internal dimension does not exceed one half of the greatest external dimension. Hollow bars and rods of iron or steel not conforming to this definition are to be classified in heading 7304.

2. Ferrous metals clad with another ferrous metal are to be classified as products of the ferrous metal predominating by weight.

3. Iron or steel products obtained by electrolytic deposition, by pressure casting or by sintering are to be classified, according to their form, their composition and their appearance, in the headings of this chapter appropriate to similar hot-rolled products.

1. In this chapter, the following expressions have the meanings hereby assigned to them:

1. (a) Alloy pig iron

   Pig iron containing, by weight, one or more of the following elements in the specified proportions:

   • more than 0,2 % of chromium,

   • more than 0,3 % of copper,

   • more than 0,3 % of nickel,

   • more than 0,1 % of any of the following elements: aluminium, molybdenum, titanium, tungsten (wolfram), vanadium.

2. (b) Non-alloy free-cutting steel

   Non-alloy steel containing, by weight, one or more of the following elements in the specified proportions:

   • 0,08 % or more of sulphur,

   • 0,1 % or more of lead,

   • more than 0,05 % of selenium,

   • more than 0,01 % of tellurium,

   • more than 0,05 % of bismuth.

3. (c) Silicon-electrical steel

   Alloy steels containing by weight at least 0,6 % but not more than 6 % of silicon and not more than 0,08 % of carbon. They may also contain by weight not more than 1 % of aluminium but no other element in a proportion that would give the steel the characteristics of another alloy steel.

4. (d) High-speed steel

   Alloy steels containing, with or without other elements, at least two of the three elements molybdenum, tungsten and vanadium with a combined content by weight of 7 % or more, 0,6 % or more of carbon and 3 to 6 % of chromium.

5. (e) Silico-manganese steel

   Alloy steels containing by weight:

   • not more than 0,7 % of carbon,

   • 0,5 % or more but not more than 1,9 % of manganese, and

   • 0,6 % or more but not more than 2,3 % of silicon, but no other element in a proportion that would give the steel the characteristics of another alloy steel.

2. For the classification of ferro-alloys in the subheadings of heading 7202, the following rule should be observed:

A ferro-alloy is considered as binary and classified under the relevant subheading (if it exists) if only one of the alloy elements exceeds the minimum percentage laid down in note 1(c) to this chapter; by analogy, it is considered respectively as ternary or quaternary if two or three alloy elements exceed the minimum percentage.

For the application of this rule, the unspecified ‘other elements’ referred to in note 1(c) to this chapter must each exceed 10 % by weight.

1. The following expressions have the meanings hereby assigned to them:

• ‘Electrical’: for the purposes of subheadings 72091610, 72091710, 72091810, 72092610, 72092710, 72092810 and 72112320, flat-rolled products which under a current at 50 Hz and a magnetic flux of 1 T have a watt-loss per kilogram, calculated by the Epstein method, of:

  • 2,1 W or less, when their thickness does not exceed 0,20 mm,

  • 3,6 W or less, when their thickness is not less than 0,20 mm but less than 0,60 mm,

  • 6 W or less, when their thickness is not less than 0,60 mm but not greater than 1,50 mm.

• ‘Tinplate’: for the purposes of subheadings 72101220, 72107010, 72121010 and 72124020, flat-rolled products (of a thickness of less than 0,5 mm) coated with a layer of metal containing, by weight, 97 % or more of tin.

• ‘Tool steel’: for the purposes of subheadings 72241010, 72249002, 72253010, 72254012, 72269120, 72283020, 72284010, 72285020 and 72286020, alloy steels, other than stainless or high-speed steel, containing, by weight, one of the following compositions, with or without other elements:

  • less than 0,6 % of carbon

    and

    0,7 % or more of silicon and 0,05 % or more of vanadium

    or

    4 % or more of tungsten,

  • 0,8 % or more of carbon

    and

    0,05 % or more of vanadium,

  • more than 1,2 % of carbon

    and

    not less than 11 % but not more than 15 % of chromium,

  • 0,16 % or more but not more than 0,5 % of carbon

    and

    3,8 % or more but not more than 4,3 % of nickel

    and

    1,1 % or more but not more than 1,5 % of chromium

    and

    0,15 % or more but not more than 0,5 % of molybdenum,

  • 0,3 % or more but not more than 0,5 % of carbon

    and

    1,4 % or more but not more than 2,1 % of chromium

    and

    0,15 % or more but not more than 0,5 % of molybdenum

    and

    less than 1,2 % of nickel,

  • 0,3 % or more of carbon

    and

    less than 5,2 % of chromium

    and

    0,65 % or more of molybdenum or 0,4 % or more of tungsten,

  • 0,5 % or more but not more than 0,6 % of carbon

    and

    1,25 % or more but not more than 1,8 % of nickel

    and

    0,5 % or more but not more than 1,2 % of chromium

    and

    0,15 % or more but not more than 0,5 % of molybdenum.