Crude or roughly trimmed

25.15 - Marble, travertine, ecaussine and other calcareous monumental or building stone of an apparent specific gravity of 2.5 or more, and alabaster, whether or not roughly trimmed or merely cut, b sawing or otherwise, into blocks or slabs of a rectangular (including square) shape 6). - Marble and travertine : 2515.11 - - Crude or roughly trimmed 2515.12 - - Merely cut, by sawing or otherwise, into blocks or slabs of a rectangular (including square) shape 2515.20 - Ecaussine and other calcareous monumental or building stone; alabaster Marble is a hard calcareous stone, homogeneous and fine- ained, often crystalline and either opaque or translucent. Marble is usually variously tinted y the presence of mineral oxides (coloured veined marble, onyx marble, etc.), but there are pure white varieties. f Travertines are varieties of calcareous stone containing layers of open cells. Ecaussine is extracted from various quarries in Belgium and particularly at Ecaussines. It is a bluish-grey stone with an irregular crystalline structure and contains man fossilised shells. On fracture Ecaussine shows a granular surface similar to granite and is there ore sometimes known as " Belgian granite "," Flanders granite " or "petit granit ". r The heading covers other similar hard calcareous monumental or building stones, rovided their apparent specific gravi is 2.5 or more (i.e., effective weight in kgll, 00 cm3). Calcareous monumental or buil ng stones of an apparent specific gravlty of less than 2.5 are classified in heading 25.16. The heading also includes both gypseous alabaster, which is usually white and uniformly translucent, and calcareous alabaster, normally yellowish and veined. The heading is restricted to the stones specified, presented in the mass or roughly w e d or merely cut, b sawing or otherwise, into blocks or slabs of a rectangular (including square) shape. In the o m of granules, chippings or powder, they fall in heading 25.17. B Blocks, etc., which have been fiuther worked, i.e., bossed, dressed yith %e pick, bushin hammer or chisel, etc., sand-dressed, ground, polished, chamfered, etc., are classified in heading 68. 2. The same classification applies to blanks of articles. The heading also excludes : (a) Serpentine or ophite (a magnesium silicate sometimes called marble) (heading 25.16). (b) Limestone (known as " lithographic stone " and used in the printing industry) (heading 25.30 when in the crude state). (c) Stones identifiable as mosaic cubes or as paving flagstones, even if merely shaped or processed as specified in the text of this heading (heading 68.02 or 68.01 respectively).

Subheading Explanatory Notes. Subheading 2515.11 For the purposes of this subheading, " crude "refers to blocks or slabs which have been merely split along the natural cleava e planes of the stone. Their surfaces are oRen uneven or undulating and fi-equentlybear marks of &e tools used to separate them (crowbars, wedges, picks, etc.). This subheading also covers unshaped stone (quarrystone, rubble) obtained by breakin out rocks fiom the quarry face (using picks, explosives, etc.). They have uneven, broken surfaces anfirregular edges. This $e of stone often bears the marks of quarrying (blast holes, wedge marks,etc.). Unshaped stone is used or the construction of dykes, breakwaters, road foundations, etc. The subheadin also includes waste of irregular shape arising fiom the actual extraction or fiom subsequent wor ng (quarry stones, waste fiom sawin etc.), but only if large enough to be used for cutting or construct~on.Otherwise it is classified in hea&ng 25.17. b ? " Rou ly-trimmed " stone is stone which has been very crudely worked after quarrying, to form blocks or sla s, still having some rough, uneven surfaces. This working involves removing superfluous protuberances by means of hammer or chisel-type tools. This subheading does not cover blocks or slabs which have been cut to a rectangular (including square) shape. Subheading 2515.12 To fall in this subheading, the blocks and slabs which have been merely cut by sawin must bear discernible traces of the sawing (by wire strand or other saws) on their surfaces. If care was en with the sawing, these traces may be very slight. In such cases, it is useful to apply a sheet of thrn paper to the stone and to rub it gently and evenly with a penciI held as flat as possible. This often reveals saw marks even on carefully sawn or very granular surfaces. & This subheading also covers blocks and slabs of a rectangular (including square) shape obtained otherwise than by sawing, e.g., by working with a hammer or chisel.