WCO Explanatory Notes reproduced for reference. © World Customs Organization. Verify against official WCO publication.
38.07 - Wood tar; wood tar oils; wood creosote; wood naphtha; vegetable pitch; brewers' pitch and similar preparations based on rosin, resin acids or on vegetable pitch. This heading covers products of complex composition obtained durin the distillation (or carbonisation) of resinous or non-resinous wood. Apart from gases, t ese processes give pyroligneous liquids, wood tar and wood charcoal in proportions varying according to the nature of the wood employed and the s eed of the operation. Pyroligneous liquids (sometimes known as raw pyroligneous acid), whic are not materials of international commerce, contain acetic acid, methanol, acetone, a little -aldehyde and ally1 alcohol. This heading also covers vegetable pitch of all kinds, brewers' pitch and similar compounds based on rosin, resin acids or on vegetable pitch. % ?I The products classified here are : (A) Wood tar; wood tar oils whether or not decreosoted and wood creosote. I (I) Wood tar is obtained by draining from wood coniferous or other) during carbonisation in charcoal kilns e.g., Swedish tar or Stoc olm tar), or by distillation in retorts or ovens (distilled tars). he latter are obtained directly as a fracbon settling out from the pyroli eous liquids (settled tars), or by distillation of the pyroligneous liquids - in whic they have been partially dissolved (dissolved tars). ?i r, Partially distilled tars from which some of the volatile oils have been removed by further distillation are also classified in this heading. All these tars are complex mixtures of hydrocarbons, phenols or their homologues, hfuraldehyde, acetic acid and various other products. Tars obtained from resinous woods, which differ from those obtained fiom non-resinous woods in that they also contain products resulting fiom the distillation of the resin (terpenes, rosin oils, etc.), are viscous y d u c t s r a n p g in colour fkom brownish-orange to brown. They are chiefly emp oyed (as o tamed, after simple dehydration or after partial distillation) for impregnating ships' cables, as plasticisers in the rubber industry, in the preparation of mastics, in medicine, etc. Tars obtained from non-resinous woods are thick brownish-black liquids mainly used for the preparation, by distillation or other means, of a wide range of by-products (wood creosote, guaiacol, etc.). Cade oil, also known as juniper tar oil, used in medicine and soap making, is also covered by this heading. (2) Wood tar oils are produced during the distillation of wood tar. The light oils (containing ali hatic hydrocarbons, te enes and higher ketones) are used for the manufacture o sheep dips and horticu tural sprays, and the heavy oils (containing aliphatic and aromat~chydrocarbons, higher ketones and higher phenols) serve for impregnating wood and for the extraction of wood creosote. F T' Decreosoted oils obtained after extraction of the creosote are used according to their characteristics for concentrating ores by flotation, for preparing fungicides, as solvents, as fuels, etc. (3) Wood creosote is an essential constituent of wood tar. It is usual1 obtained by distilling tar obtained fiom non-resinous woods, separating it fiom x e appropriate fraction with sodium hydroxide, re-acidification and re-distillation. It is a colourless liquid but takes on colour under the action of air and li t, has an odour of smoke, is caustic and is used in particular as a disinfectant an antiseptic. It should not be confused with creosote oil or mineral creosote which are classified in heading 27.07. ? (B) Wood naphtha is obtained by processing pyroli eous li uids. It is a ellowish li uid with an empyreumatic odour usually contamin to 90 !I'/a methanol &hyl alco 01) with varying pro oltions of acetone and other etones (generally 8 to 20 %), as well as other impurities frnethyl acetate, higher alcohols, tany substances, etc.). Certain types of wood naphtha are used as denaturants for ethanol. r% (C) Vegetable pitch. These are residues of the distillation or other treatment of vegetable materials. They include : (I) Wood pitch (wood tar pitch), a residue of the distillation of wood tar. (2) Rosin pitch, a residue of the preparation of rosin spirit and rosin oil by distillation of rosin. (3) Sulphate pitch, a residue after the distillation of tall oil, etc. These itches are usually blackish-brown, reddish-brown or yellowish-brown. They general y soften with the heat of the hand. The are used, according to their type, for caulking ships, waterproof-coating of woven ibrics, impregnating woods, preparing anti-rust coattngs, as binding materials, etc. f (D) Brewers' pitch and similar preparations based on rosin, resin acids or on vegetable pitch. (1) Brewers' pitch is used hot for coating beer-barrels. It is usually obtained by melting mixtures of rosin, paraffin wax and rosin oil, or mixtures of rosin and vegetable oils (such as linseed oil, cotton-seed oil or colza oil). (2) Cobblers' wax is used for waxing yarns and twine for sewing footwear and harness-makers' wares, and normally consists of a mixture of rosin, rosin oil, paraffin wax, ozokerite, etc., and contains powdered inor anic substances (such as talc or kaolin). It is usually in the form of blocks, sticks or fiscs. (3) Caulking pitch is used for caulking ships and is generally prepared by fbsing a mixture of wood pitch, wood tar and rosin. This heading does not cover : (a) Natural Burgundy pitch (also known as "Vosges pitch '3, a natural resin obtained from certain coniferous trees, and yellow pitch which is natural Burgundy pitch putified by fusion and filtering (heading 13.01). (b) Stearin pitch (stearic pitch), wool grease pitch and glycerol pitch (heading 15-22). (c) Mineral pitch from coal, peat, petroleum, etc. (Chapter 27). (d) Methanol (methyl alcohol), pure or commercially pure, or other se mate chemically defined products obtained by redistilling or further treating the prlmary products o wood distillation, e.g., acetic acid, acetone, guaiacol, formaldehyde, acetates, etc. (Chapter 29). P (e) Sealing wax (heading 32.14 or 34.04). ( f ) Residual lyes from the manufacture of wood puIp (heading 38.04). (g) " Brais rCsineux " (heading 38.06).
1.- This Chapter does not cover : (a) Separate chemically defined elements or compounds with the exception of the following : (1) Artificial graphite (heading 38.01); (2) Insecticides, rodenticides, fungicides, herbicides, anti-sprouting products and plant-growth regulators, disinfectants and similar products, put up as described in heading 38.08; (3) Products put up as charges for fire-extinguishers or put up in fire-extinguishing grenades (heading 38.13); (4) Certified reference materials specified in Note 2 below; (5) Products specified in Note 3 (a) or 3 (c) below; (b) Mixtures of chemicals with foodstuffs or other substances with nutritive value, of a kind used in the preparation of human foodstuffs (generally heading 21.06); (c) Products of heading 24.04; (d) Slag, ash and residues (including sludges, other than sewage sludge), containing metals, arsenic or their mixtures and meeting the requirements of Note 3 (a) or 3 (b) to Chapter 26 (heading 26.20); (e) Medicaments (heading 30.03 or 30.04); or (f) Spent catalysts of a kind used for the extraction of base metals or for the manufacture of chemical compounds of base metals (heading 26.20), spent catalysts of a kind used principally for the recovery of precious metal (heading 71.12) or catalysts consisting of metals or metal alloys in the form of, for example, finely divided powder or woven gauze (Section XIV or XV). 2.- (A) For the purpose of heading 38.22, the expression “certified reference materials” means reference materials which are accompanied by a certificate which indicates the values of the certified properties, the methods used to determine these values and the degree of certainty associated with each value and which are suitable for analytical, calibrating or referencing purposes. (B) With the exception of the products of Chapter 28 or 29, for the classification of certified reference materials, heading 38.22 shall take precedence over any other heading in the Nomenclature. 3.- Heading 38.24 includes the following goods which are not to be classified in any other heading of the Nomenclature : (a) Cultured crystals (other than optical elements) weighing not less than 2.5 g each, of magnesium oxide or of the halides of the alkali or alkaline-earth metals; (b) Fusel oil; Dippel's oil; (c) Ink removers put up in packings for retail sale; (d) Stencil correctors, other correcting fluids and correction tapes (other than those of heading 96.12), put up in packings for retail sale; and (e) Ceramic firing testers, fusible (for example, Seger cones). 4.- Throughout the Nomenclature, “municipal waste” means waste of a kind collected from households, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, shops, offices, etc., road and pavement sweepings, as well as construction and demolition waste. Municipal waste generally contains a large variety of materials such as plastics, rubber, wood, paper, textiles, glass, metals, food materials, broken furniture and other damaged or discarded articles. The term “municipal waste”, however, does not cover : (a) Individual materials or articles segregated from the waste, for example wastes of plastics, rubber, wood, paper, textiles, glass or metals, electrical and electronic waste and scrap (including spent batteries) which fall in their appropriate headings of the Nomenclature; (b) Industrial waste;