WCO Explanatory Notes reproduced for reference. © World Customs Organization. Verify against official WCO publication.
49.07 - Unused postage, revenue or similar stamps of current or new issue in the country in which they have, or will have, a recognised face value; stampimpressed paper; banknotes; cheque forms; stock, share or bond certifcates and sunilar documents of title. The characteristic of the roducts of this heading is that on being issued (if necessary, after completion and validationPby the appropriate authority, they have a fiduciary value in excess of the intrinsic value. These products comprise : (A) Printed stamps if unused (i.e., uncancelled) and of a kind in current or new issue in the country in which they have, or will have, a recognised face value. The stamps in this heading are printed on paper, usually gummed, in various designs and colours, and bear printed ludications of thelr value and sometimes of the particular use or uses for which they are intended. They include (1) Postage stamps, nonnally used in prepayment of postal transmission fees but in some countries also usable as revenue stamps (e.g., for receipts or .certificates). " Postage due " stamps for surcharging understamped letters, etc., are also included. (2) Revenue stamps used for affixing to documents of various kinds, legal, commercial, etc., and sometimes to goods as evidence of payment of government taxes or duties to the amount indicated by the value of the stamps. Revenue stamps in the form of labels for attachment to certain kinds of dutiable goods, as evidence of the payment of the duties, fall in this heading. (3) Other stamps, for example those for purchase by the public as a means of making payments, compulsory or voluntary, to the State or other public authorities, e.g., as contributions to State welfare or other social service schemes or as national savings. This heading does not include : (a) Vouchers in the form of stamps sometimes issued b retailers to their customers as a rebate on purchases, religious stamps of a kind issued to sclool children, stamps issued by charitable organisations, etc., as a means of raising funds or obtaining publicity, and " savings stamps " issued by private or commercial bodies to customers (heading 49.11). (b) Used stam s, and unused stamps not of current or new issue in the country of destination (heading 47.04). (B) Stamped envelopes, letter cards, postcards, etc., bearing uncancelled prints or impressions of posta e stam s of the lund described above and of current or new issue in the country in whic they ave, or will have, a recognised face value, or with" reply paid " postal marking. i? (C) Other stamp-impressed paper such as official forms, blank forms (e.g., for Iegal documents subject to revenue stamp duties), printed or embossed with revenue stamps. (D) Banknotes. This term covers promissory notes of all denominations issued by the State or a proved issuing banks for use as currency or legal tender either in the country of issue or e sewhere. It includes banknotes which, at the hme of presentation, are not yet or are no longer legal tender in any country. However, banknotes which are collectors' pieces or which form a collection, are classified in heading 97.05. f (E) Cheque forms are stamped or unstamped blank che ue forms, fre uently found in paper covers, in booklet form, and issued by banks, inc uding Post ffice banks in some countries, for use by their customers. (F) Stock, share or bond certificates and similar documents of title. These are formal documents issued, or for issue, by public or private bodies conferring ownershi of, or R entitlement to, certain financial interests, goods or benefits named therein. Apart om the certificates mentioned, these documents include lepers of credit, bills of exchange, travellers' che ues, bills of lading, title deeds and divldend coupons. They usually requKe completion an validation. % Banknotes, cheque forms, and stock, etc., certificates are generally printed on special paper bearin special watennarkings or other marks, and are usually serially numbered. Lottery tickets rinte on special security paper and serially numbered are, however, excluded fiom this Reading and are generally clasafied in herding 49.11. % Products of the kinds described fall in this heading when in quantity as a commercial transaction, usually by the issuing authority, whether or not the documents (e.g., share certificates) require completion and validation.
Printed books, newspapers, pictures and other products of the printing industry; manuscripts, typescripts and plans Notes. 1.- This Chapter does not cover : (a) Photographic negatives or positives on transparent bases (Chapter 37); @) Maps, plans or globes, in relief, whether or not printed (heading 90.23); (c) Playing cards or other goods of Chapter 95; or (d) Original engravin s rints or lithographs (heading 97.02), ostage or revenue stamps, stamp-postmarks, &;-$ay covers, postal stationery or the like of eading 97.04, antiques of an age exceeding one hundred years or other articles of Chapter 97. R 2.- For the purposes of Chapter 49, the term " printed " also means reproduced by means of a duplicatin machine, produced under the control of an automatic data processing machine, embossel photographed, photocopied, thennocopied or typewritten. 3.- Newspapers, journals and periodicals which are bound otherwise than in pa er, and sets of newspapers, ournals or eriodicals comprising more than one number under a sing e cover are to be class~fiedin eading 49.t1, whether or not containing advertismg material. P A 4.- Heading 49.01 also covers : (a) A collection of printed re roductions of, for example, works of art or drawings, with a relative text, put up with numberel pages in a form suitable for binding into one or more volumes; (b) A pictorial supplement accompanying, and subsidiary to, a bound volume; and (c) Printed parts of books or booklets, in the form of assembled or separate sheets or signatures, constitut~ngthe whole ar a part of a complete work and designed for binding. However, printed ictures or illustrations not bearing a text, whether in the form of signatures or separate sheets, fafin heading 49.1 1. 5.- Subject to Note 3 to this Chapter, heading 49.01 does not cover ublications which are essentially devoted to advertising (for example, brochures, pamphlets, lea ets, trade catalogues, ear books ubSshed b trade assasiations, tourist propaganda). Such publications are to be cEssified in !i,ng 49. A. 6.- For the purposes of heading 49.03, the expression " children's picture books " means books for children m which the pictures form the principal interest and the text is subsidiary. GENERAL With the few exce tions referred to below, this Chapter covers all printed matter of which the essential nature an use is determined by the fact of its being printed with motifs, characters or pictorial representations. I On the other hand, besides the goods of heading 48.14 or 48.21, aper, paperboard or cellulose wadding, or articles thereoc in which the rinting is merely incidental to Jelr pnuse (e.g., p t e d wrapping aper and printed stationery) h l in Cha ter 48. Also, printed textile articles suc as scarves or ~ d k e r c h i e f sin , which the printing is main5 for decorative or novelty purposes and does not affect the essential character of the goods, embroidery fabrics and prepared tapestry canvases bearing printed designs fall in Section XI. Goods of headin 39.18, 39.19, 48.14 or 48.21 are also excluded from this Chapter, even if they are printed with moti s, characters or pictorial representations, which are not merely incidental to the primary use of the goods. F The Chapter also includes similar roducts executed by hand (including hand-drawn maps and plans), as well as carbon copies of &nd-written or typewritten texts. In general the oods of this Cha ter are executed on paper but the goods may be on other h of this General materials pmvi ed they have the cRaracteristics described in the first para Explanatory Note. However, letters, numbers, sign-plates and similar mot1 s or shop signs and shop windows, bearing a printed icture or text, of ceramics, of glass, or of base metal are classifiable in headings 69.14, 70. 0 and 83.10 respectively, or in heading 94.05 if illuminated. f TI? In addition to the more common forms of printed products (e.g., books, newspapers, ictures, advertising matter), this Chapter covers such arhcles as: printe transfers rdecalcomanias); pnnted or illustrated postcards, greeting cards; calendars, maps, lans and drawings; postage, revenue or similar stam s. Microcopies on opaque bases, of artic es of this Chapter, are classified in heading 49.1 1. Ricroco ies are obtained by mans of an optical d m c e which greatly reduces the dimensions of %e documents photographed; microcopies normally need to be read by means of a magnifying device. B""~~~~~' f This Chapter also excludes (a) Photographic negatives or positives on transparent bases (for exampIe, microfilms) of Chapter 37. (b) Goods of Chapter 97.