Customs - Tariff Book Last updated: 9 May 2025

For the purposes of this Chapter, except where the context otherwise requires, a reference to "paper" includes references to paperboard (irrespective of the thickness or mass per m2).

This Chapter does not cover the following:

Subject to the provisions of Note 7, headings 48.01 to 48.05 include paper and paperboard which have been subjected to calendering, super-calendering, glazing or similar finishing, false water-marking or surface sizing, and also paper, paperboard, cellulose wadding and webs of cellulose fibres, coloured or marbled throughout the mass by any method. Except where heading 48.03 otherwise requires, these headings do not apply to paper, paperboard, cellulose wading or webs of cellulose fibres which have been otherwise processed.

In this Chapter the expression "newsprint" means uncoated paper of a kind used for the printing of newspapers, of which not less than 50 per cent by mass of the total fibre content consists of wood fibres obtained by a mechanical or chemi-mechanical process, unsized or very lightly sized, having a surface roughness Parker Print Surf (1 MPa) on each side exceeding 2.5 micrometers (microns), weighing not less than 40 g/m2 and not more than 65 g/m2, and appllies only to paper: (a) in strips or rolls of a width exceeding 28 cm; or (b) in rectangular (including square) sheets with one side exceeding 28 cm and the other side exceeding 15 cm in the unfolded state.

For the purposes of heading 48.02, the expressions "paper and paperboard, of a kind used for writing, printing or other graphic purposes" and "non perforated punch-cards and punch tape paper" mean paper and paperboard made mainly from bleached pulp or from pulp obtained by a mechanical or chemi-mechanical process and satisfying any of the following criteria:

In this Chapter "kraft paper and paperboard" means paper and paperboard of which not less than 80 per cent by mass of the total fibre content consists of fibres obtained by the chemical sulphate or soda processes.

Except where the terms of the headings otherwise require, paper, paperboard, cellulose wadding and webs of cellulose fibres answering to a description in two or more of the headings 48.01 to 48.11 are to be classified under that one of such headings which occurs last in numerical order in this Schedule.

Headings 48.03 to 48.09 apply only to paper, paperboard, cellulose wadding and webs of cellulose fibres:

For the purposes of heading 48.14, the expression "wallpaper and similar wall coverings" applies only to:

Heading 48.20 does not cover loose sheets or cards, cut to size, whether or not printed, embossed or perforated.

Heading 48.23 applies, inter alia, to perforated paper or paperboard cards for Jacquard or similar machines and paper lace.

Except for the goods of heading 48.14 or 48.21, paper, paperboard, cellulose wadding and articles thereof, printed with motifs, characters or pictorial representations, which are not merely subsidiary to the primary use of the goods, fall in Chapter 49.

For the purposes of subheadings 4804.11 and 4804.19, "kraftliner" means machine-finished or machine-glazed paper and paperboard, of which not less than 80 per cent by mass of the total fibre content consists of wood fibres obtained by the chemical sulphate or soda processes, in rolls, of a mass exceeding 115 g/m2 and having a minimum Mullen bursting strength as indicated in the following table or the linearly interpolated or extrapolated equivalent for any other mass.

For the purposes of subheadings 4804.21 and 4804.29, "sack kraft paper" means machine-finished paper, of which not less than 80 per cent by mass of the total fibre content consists of fibres obtained by the chemical sulphate or soda processes, in rolls, of a mass of not less than 60 g/m2 but not more than 115 g/m2 and meeting one of the following sets of specifications:

For the purposes of subheading 4805.11, "semi-chemical fluting paper" means paper, in rolls, of which not less than 65 per cent by mass of the total fibre content consists of unbleached hardwood fibres obtained by a combination of mechanical and chemical pulping processes, and having a CMT 30 (Corrugated Medium Test with 30 minutes of conditioning) crush resistance exceeding 1,8 newtons/g/m2 at 50 per cent relative humidity, at 23°C.

Subheading 4805.12 covers paper, in rolls, made mainly of straw pulp obtained by a combination of mechanical and chemical processes, of a mass of 130 g/m2 or more, and having a CMT 30 (Corrugated Medium Test with 30 minutes of conditioning) crush resistance exceeding 1,4 newtons/g/m2 at 50 per cent relative humidity, at 23°C.

Subheadings 4805.24 and 4805.25 cover paper and paperboard made wholly or mainly of pulp of recovered (waste and scrap) paper or paperboard. Testliner may also have a surface layer of dyed paper or of paper made of bleached or unbleached non-recovered pulp. These products have a Mullen burst index of not less than 2 kPa m2/g.

For the purposes of subheading 4805.30, "sulphite wrapping paper" means machine-glazed paper, of which more than 40 per cent by mass of the total fibre content consists of wood fibres obtained by the chemical sulphite process, having an ash content not exceeding 8 per cent and having a Mullen burst index of not less than 1,47 kPa m2/g.

For the purposes of subheading 4810.22, "light-mass coated paper" means paper, coated on both sides, of a total mass not exceeding 72 g/m2, with a coating mass not exceeding 15 g/m2 per side, on a base of which not less than 50 per cent by mass of the total fibre content consists of wood fibres obtained by a mechanical process.