WCO Explanatory Notes reproduced for reference. © World Customs Organization. Verify against official WCO publication.
32.15 - Printing ink, writing or drawing ink and other inks, whether or not concentrated or solid. - Printing ink : 3215.11 - - Black 3215.19 3215.90 - - Other - Other consistency, obtained by mixin a finely (A) Pxintin inks (or colours) are pastes of v divided lack or coloured pigment with a ve ic e. The pigment is usually carbon lack for black inks and may be organic or inorganic for coloured inks. The vehicle consists of either natural resins or synthetic polymers, dispersed in oils or dissolved in solvents, and contains a small quantity of additives to impart desired functional properties. T f % % (B) Ordinav writing or drawing inks are solutions or suspensions of a black or coloured material m water, usually with the addition of and other products (e.g., preservatives). These include inks based on iron salts, inks ased on logwood extracts or on s organic colours. Indian ink, used mainly for drawin$, consists usually of carbon lack in suspension in water (with the addition of gum Arablc, shellac, etc.), or in certain animal glues. fY rthetlC (C) Other inks in this heading include : (1) Copying and hectographic inks (ordinary inks thickened with glycerol, sugar, etc.). (2) Inks for ball point pens. (3) Inks for duplicating machines or for impregnating ink-pads or typewriter ribbons. (4) Marking inks (e.g., based on silver nitrate). (5) Metallic inks finely divided metals or alloys in suspension in a solution of gum, e.g., gold, silver or ronze inks). (6) Prepared sympathetic or invisible inks (e-g.,based on cobalt chloride). These products are generally in the form of li uids or astes, but they are also included in this heading when concentrated or solid (i.e., pow ers, tab ets, sticks, etc.) to be used as inks after simple dilution or dispersion. \ P This heading does not include : a toner (a mixture of carbon black and thermoplastic resins) compounded with a carrier (grams of sand coated with ethylcellulose), used in photocopying machines (heading 37.07). (a) Developers consisting of (b) Refills for ball point fountain pens comprising the ball point and ink-reservoir (heading 96.08). On the other hand, mere ink-filled cartridges for ordinary fountain pens remain in this heading. (c) Inked ribbons for typewriters or ink-pads (heading 96.12).
1.- This Chapter does not cover : (a) Separate chemically defined elements or compounds (except those of heading 32.03 or 32.04, inorganic products of a kind used as luminophores (heading 32.06), glass obtained from fused quartz or other fused silica in the forms provided for in heading 32.07, and also dyes and other colouring matter put up in forms or packings for retail sale, of heading 32.12); (b) Tannates or other tannin derivatives of products of headings 29.36 to 29.39, 29.41 or 35.01 to 35.04; or (c) Mastics of asphalt or other bituminous mastics (heading 27.15). 2.- Heading 32.04 includes mixtures of stabilised diazonium salts and couplers for the production of azo dyes. 3.- Headings 32.03, 32.04, 32.05 and 32.06 apply also to preparations based on colouring matter (including, in the case of heading 32.06, colouring pigments of heading 25.30 or Chapter 28, metal flakes and metal powders), of a kind used for colouring any material or used as ingredients in the manufacture of colouring preparations. The headings do not apply, however, to pigments dispersed in non-aqueous media, in liquid or paste form, of a kind used in the manufacture of paints, including enamels (heading 32.12), or to other preparations of heading 32.07, 32.08, 32.09, 32.10, 32.12, 32.13 or 32.15. 4.- Heading 32.08 includes solutions (other than collodions) consisting of any of the products specified in headings 39.01 to 39.13 in volatile organic solvents when the weight of the solvent exceeds 50 % of the weight of the solution. 5.- The expression “colouring matter” in this Chapter does not include products of a kind used as extenders in oil paints, whether or not they are also suitable for colouring distempers. 6.- The expression “stamping foils” in heading 32.12 applies only to thin sheets of a kind used for printing, for example, book covers or hat bands, and consisting of : (a) Metallic powder (including powder of precious metal) or pigment, agglomerated with glue, gelatin or other binder; or (b) Metal (including precious metal) or pigment, deposited on a supporting sheet of any material.