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Chapter 18 - Cocoa and cocoa preparations

Chapter
18
Classification
Cocoa and cocoa preparations
Date of trade
2 June 2026
Change

Chapter 18 contains 6 headings. Choose the heading that best matches your goods.

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

18
01
Heading 01: Cocoa beans, whole or broken, raw or roasted
18
02
Heading 02: Cocoa shells, husks, skins and other cocoa waste
18
03
Heading 03: Cocoa paste, whether or not defatted
18
04
Heading 04: Cocoa butter, fat and oil
18
05
Heading 05: Cocoa powder, not containing added sugar or other sweetening matter
18
06
Heading 06: Chocolate and other food preparations containing cocoa

Chapter notes

  1. This Chapter does not cover:

    • (a) Food preparations containing more than 20 % by weight of sausage, meat, meat offal, blood, insects, fish or crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates, or any combination thereof (Chapter 16);

    • (b) Preparations of heading 0403, 1901, 1902, 1904, 1905, 2105, 2202, 2208, 3003 or 3004.

  2. Heading 1806 includes sugar confectionery containing cocoa and, subject to Note 1 to this chapter, other food preparations containing cocoa.

Additional chapter notes

  1. When imported in the form of an assortment, goods of subheadings 1806 20, 1806 31, 1806 32 and 1806 90 are subject to an agricultural component (AC) fixed according to the average content in milkfats, milk proteins, sucrose, isoglucose, glucose and starch of the assortment as a whole.

  2. Codes 1806 90 11 and 1806 90 19 do not cover chocolates made entirely of one type of chocolate.

Section notes

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.