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Chapter 12 - Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits; miscellaneous grains, seeds and fruit; industrial or medicinal plants; straw and fodder

• Chapter: 12
• Classification: Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits; miscellaneous grains, seeds and fruit; industrial or medicinal plants; straw and fodder
• Date of trade: 2 June 2026
• Date of trade: Change

Chapter 12 contains 14 headings. Choose the heading that best matches your goods.

There are important notes for classifying your goods shown further down this page

12 01	Soya beans, whether or not broken
12 02	Groundnuts, not roasted or otherwise cooked, whether or not shelled or broken
12 03	Copra
12 04	Linseed, whether or not broken
12 05	Rape or colza seeds, whether or not broken
12 06	Sunflower seeds, whether or not broken
12 07	Other oil seeds and oleaginous fruits, whether or not broken
12 08	Flours and meals of oil seeds or oleaginous fruits, other than those of mustard
12 09	Seeds, fruit and spores, of a kind used for sowing
12 10	Hop cones, fresh or dried, whether or not ground, powdered or in the form of pellets; lupulin
12 11	Plants and parts of plants (including seeds and fruits), of a kind used primarily in perfumery, in pharmacy or for insecticidal, fungicidal or similar purposes, fresh, chilled, frozen or dried, whether or not cut, crushed or powdered
12 12	Locust beans, seaweeds and other algae, sugar beet and sugar cane, fresh, chilled, frozen or dried, whether or not ground; fruit stones and kernels and other vegetable products (including unroasted chicory roots of the variety cichorium intybus sativum) of a kind used primarily for human consumption, not elsewhere specified or included
12 13	Cereal straw and husks, unprepared, whether or not chopped, ground, pressed or in the form of pellets
12 14	Swedes, mangolds, fodder roots, hay, lucerne (alfalfa), clover, sainfoin, forage kale, lupines, vetches and similar forage products, whether or not in the form of pellets

Chapter notes

1. Heading 1207 applies inter alia, to palm nuts and kernels, cotton seeds, castor oil seeds, sesamum seeds, mustard seeds, safflower seeds, poppy seeds and shea nuts (karite nuts). It does not apply to products of heading 0801 or 0802 or to olives (Chapter 7 or 20).

2. Heading 1208 applies not only to non-defatted flours and meals but also to flours and meals which have been partially defatted or defatted and wholly or partially refatted with their original oils. It does not, however, apply to residues of heading 2304 to 2306.

3. For the purposes of heading 1209, beet seeds, grass and other herbage seeds, seeds of ornamental flowers, vegetable seeds, seeds of forest trees, seeds of fruit trees, seeds of vetches (other than those of the species Vicia faba) or of lupines are to be regarded as ‘seeds of a kind used for sowing’.

   Heading 1209 does not, however, apply to the following even if for sowing:

   • a) leguminous vegetables or sweetcorn (Chapter 7);

   • b) spices or other products of Chapter 9;

   • c) cereals (Chapter 10); or

   • d) products of heading 1201 to 1207 or 1211.

4. Heading 1211 applies inter alia to the following plants or parts thereof: basil, borage, ginseng, hyssop, liquorice, all species of mint, rosemary, rue, sage and wormwood.

   Heading 1211 does not, however apply to:

   • a) medicaments of Chapter 30;
   • b) perfumery, cosmetic or toilet preparations of Chapter 33; or
   • c) insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, disinfectants or similar products of heading 3808.

5. For the purposes of heading 1212, the term ‘seaweeds and other algae’ does not include:

   • a) dead single-cell micro-organisms of heading 2102;
   • b) cultures of micro-organisms of heading 3002; or
   • c) fertilisers of heading 3101 or 3105.

Subheading note

1. For the purposes of subheading 1205 10, the expression ‘low erucic acid rape or colza seeds’ means rape or colza seeds yielding a fixed oil which has an erucic acid content of less than 2% by weight and yielding a solid component which contains less than 30 micromoles of glucosinolates per gram.

Additional chapter note

1. Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits shall be classified in the appropriate subheadings for seed or for sowing provided that:

   • the goods comply with The Oil and Fibre Plant Seeds Regulations 1993 or
   • it is established that the goods are actually intended for sowing.

Section notes

1. In this section the term ‘pellets’ means products which have been agglomerated either directly by compression or by the addition of a binder in a proportion not exceeding 3% by weight.

General Rules for the Interpretation of goods

Classification of goods in the Tariff shall be governed by the following principles:

Rule 1

The titles of sections, chapters and sub-chapters are provided for ease of reference only. For legal purposes, classification shall be determined according to the terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes and, provided such headings or notes do not otherwise require, according to the following provisions.

Rule 2

1. Any reference in a heading to an article shall be taken to include a reference to that article incomplete or unfinished, provided that, as presented, the incomplete or unfinished article has the essential character of the complete or finished article. It shall also be taken to include a reference to that article complete or finished (or falling to be classified as complete or finished by virtue of this rule), presented unassembled or disassembled.
2. Any reference in a heading to a material or substance shall be taken to include a reference to mixtures or combinations of that material or substance with other materials or substances. Any reference to goods of a given material or substance shall be taken to include a reference to goods consisting wholly or partly of such material or substance. The classification of goods consisting of more than one material or substance shall be according to the principles of rule 3.

Rule 3

When, by application of rule 2(b) or for any other reason, goods are prima facie classifiable under two or more headings, classification shall be effected as follows:

1. the heading which provides the most specific description shall be preferred to headings providing a more general description. However, when two or more headings each refer to part only of the materials or substances contained in mixed or composite goods or to part only of the items in a set put up for retail sale, those headings are to be regarded as equally specific in relation to those goods, even if one of them gives a more complete or precise description of the goods;
2. mixtures, composite goods consisting of different materials or made up of different components, and goods put up in sets for retail sale, which cannot be classified by reference to 3(a), shall be classified as if they consisted of the material or component which gives them their essential character, insofar as this criterion is applicable;
3. when goods cannot be classified by reference to 3(a) or (b), they shall be classified under the heading which occurs last in numerical order among those which equally merit consideration.

Rule 4

Goods which cannot be classified in accordance with the above rules shall be classified under the heading appropriate to the goods to which they are most akin.

Rule 5

In addition to the foregoing provisions, the following rules shall apply in respect of the goods referred to therein:

1. camera cases, musical instrument cases, gun cases, drawing-instrument cases, necklace cases and similar containers, specially shaped or fitted to contain a specific article or set of articles, suitable for long-term use and presented with the articles for which they are intended, shall be classified with such articles when of a kind normally sold therewith. This rule does not, however, apply to containers which give the whole its essential character;
2. subject to the provisions of rule 5(a), packing materials and packing containers ( 1 ) presented with the goods therein shall be classified with the goods if they are of a kind normally used for packing such goods. However, this provision is not binding when such packing materials or packing containers are clearly suitable for repetitive use.

Rule 6

For legal purposes, the classification of goods in the subheadings of a heading shall be determined according to the terms of those subheadings and any related subheading notes and, mutatis mutandis, to the above rules, on the understanding that only subheadings at the same level are comparable. For the purposes of this rule, the relative section and chapter notes also apply, unless the context requires otherwise.

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