HS Code Detail
330491 Chapter 33 · Cosmetics Face powder / beauty powders
Six-digit subheading in Cosmetics, chapter 33 of the Harmonized System, priced here for 6 destination markets.
Anatomy of 330491
You will declare against a longer local code that begins 330491: ten digits in the United States and the United Kingdom, eight in the European Union, and the first six the same everywhere. Which trailing digits apply is what the 6 rates below differ on.
What this code covers
Import duty by country
MFN duty rate · 6 countries| Country | Duty | VAT |
|---|---|---|
| 🇦🇺Australia | 5% | 10% |
| 🇨🇦Canada | 6.5% | 5% |
| 🇩🇪Germany | 0% | 19% |
| 🇵🇹Portugal | 0% | 23% |
| 🇬🇧United Kingdom | 0% | 20% |
| 🇺🇸United States | 0% | 0% |
Rates shown are MFN (Most Favoured Nation), the default for WTO members. Preferential FTA rates may be lower with valid proof of origin. Section 301 / anti-dumping surcharges on Chinese-origin goods are not included.
What that costs: 330491 into United Kingdom
An illustrative consignment of 330491 invoiced at GBP 2,000.00, priced in GBP because a threshold is set in the destination's currency and nothing here is converted.
| Goods value on the invoice | GBP 2,000.00 |
| International freight | GBP 120.00 |
| Cargo insurance | GBP 30.00 |
| Value the duty is charged on, CIF basis | GBP 2,150.00 |
| Duty at 0% | GBP 0.00 |
| United Kingdom tax at 20%, charged on the value plus the duty | GBP 430.00 |
| Total, before commercial charges | GBP 2,580.00 |
And if the consignment were small
United Kingdom relieves customs duty on consignments at or under GBP 135. The 330491 shipment above is over that, so its duty is charged in full. The same code invoiced at exactly GBP 135 with no freight would be charged GBP 0.00 of duty and GBP 27.00 of tax, a total of GBP 162.00. The rate on the 330491 row has not changed; only the charge is relieved. The tax is not simply absent at that value: United Kingdom collects it on the sale instead of at the border, so an overseas seller or marketplace above the registration threshold charges it at checkout. What the relief removes is the charge on arrival, not the tax.
Selling rather than buying? GBP 2,580.00 is what your buyer in United Kingdom pays to take delivery of this consignment, yours to pay if you quote DDP and theirs if you quote DAP: Exporting to United Kingdom sets out who collects it and what your invoice has to say.
An illustration, not a quotation: broker fees, handling and any trade remedy on the origin sit outside it. Price 330491 on your own numbers in the duty calculator.
How these rates were verified
Rates last verified 7 September 2026Every figure in the table above was read from the official tariff database of the market that charges it, on the date shown. Nothing here is copied from another aggregator.
- 🇺🇸US
- HTS General for 330491 US, read on 2026-09-07 from https://hts.usitc.gov/search?query=3304.91 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://hts.usitc.gov/reststop/exportList?from=33&to=34&format=CSV&styles=false. Both returned 0%. The United States International Trade Commission is the only body that publishes this schedule. The second reading was taken in a different format to check the reading, not to corroborate the schedule, because there is no second schedule to corroborate it against. Retrieved text: 3304.91.00 Free
- 🇬🇧GB
- Third country duty for 330491 GB, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/3304910000 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reference-document-for-the-customs-tariff-establishment-eu-exit-regulations-2020. Both returned 0%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 3304910000 0.00 %
- 🇨🇦CA
- MFN for 330491 CA, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2026/html/00/ch33-eng.html and again on 2026-09-07 from https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2026/menu-eng.html. Both returned 6.5%. The Canada Border Services Agency is the only body that publishes this schedule. The Department of Justice publishes the Act and refers readers to the Agency for the schedule itself, so both readings are the Agency's, taken from two different products. Retrieved text: 3304.91.00 6.5%
- 🇦🇺AU
- MFN for 330491 AU, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.abf.gov.au/importing-exporting-and-manufacturing/tariff-classification/current-tariff/schedule-3/section-vi/chapter-33 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04997/latest/text. Both returned 5%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 3304.91.00 5%
- 🇩🇪DE 🇵🇹PT
- One reading covers DE and PT, which are priced from the same schedule: Third country duty (EU, via NI Online Tariff) for 330491 DE, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/xi/commodities/3304910000 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/en/results?product=330491&origin=CN&destination=DE. Both returned 0%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 3304910000 0.00 %
Re-check first: The United States line covers powders whether or not compressed, so a pressed compact and a loose powder are the same code and the same rate. Being free of duty is what makes the cosmetic requirements, rather than the tariff, the thing to check.
What falls under 330491
- Beauty or make-up powders, whether or not compressed
- Face powders, pressed and loose, blushers, bronzers, setting powders and powder eyeshadows
What's specifically excluded
These look similar but belong under a different code:
Commonly confused with
330499: Liquid and cream foundations
The subheading turns on physical form rather than on what the product does. A powder foundation is 3304.91 and a liquid or cream foundation of the same shade and brand is 3304.99, so a single product line legitimately splits across two codes.
330410: Lip colour in powder form
Lip preparations have their own subheading regardless of form, so a powder made for the lips stays in 3304.10 rather than joining the beauty powders. The part of the face decides it before the texture does.
Classification & cost note
This is the subheading where physical form does the work. Everywhere else in heading 3304 the products divide by the part of the body they are for, but here powders are separated out from creams and liquids that do exactly the same job, which means a brand launching one foundation in two textures has two codes for one product. The words whether or not compressed remove the only ambiguity that form would otherwise create, so a pressed compact and a loose jar sit together. Beyond classification, powders raise a question no other cosmetic does: loose mineral powders can contain talc, and talc has drawn regulatory attention over asbestos contamination in several markets, so supplier testing certificates are worth holding for reasons that have nothing to do with the tariff and everything to do with whether the goods can be sold.
Typical products: Pressed powder compacts · Loose setting and finishing powders · Powder blushers and bronzers · Pressed powder eyeshadow palettes · Mineral powder foundations · Translucent baking powders
What the notes to section VI say
Chapter 33 sits in section VI, products of the chemical or allied industries, where a section note governs every chapter in the section and applies before the heading notes below; the 4 reaching chapter 33 are quoted whole on the chapter 33 page, read from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/sections/6 on 2026-09-08, and this is the one that names heading 3304 by number.
Note 2 to section VI
Subject to Note 1 above, goods classifiable in heading 3004, 3005, 3006, 3212, 3303, 3304, 3305, 3306, 3307, 3506, 3707 or 3808 by reason of being put up in measured doses or for retail sale are to be classified in those headings and in no other heading of the nomenclature.
What the nomenclature says about heading 3304
330491 is a subheading of 3304, beauty or make-up preparations and preparations for the care of the skin (other than medicaments), including sunscreen or suntan preparations; manicure or pedicure preparations , and this site holds 2 other codes under the same heading, which every rule below governs equally.
One numbered note to chapter 33 takes heading 3304 as its own subject, and it is quoted below in full, as published.
Note 3 to chapter 33
Headings 3303 to 3307 apply, inter alia, to products, whether or not mixed (other than aqueous distillates and aqueous solutions of essential oils), suitable for use as goods of these headings and put up in packings of a kind sold by retail for such use.
Read from the notes to chapter 33 published in the UK Trade Tariff by HM Revenue and Customs, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/chapters/33, with the heading title from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/headings/3304, on 2026-09-07, with the whole layer and the reason a heading note is a chapter note set out on the chapter 33 page. These notes are part of the international text of the Harmonized System, so the rule is the same whichever destination a shipment is going to, and it decides classification and never a rate.
Questions about 330491
Are pressed and loose powders the same code?
Yes. The subheading covers beauty and make-up powders whether or not compressed, so a pressed compact and a loose jar of the same product share a classification.
Why is powder foundation a different code from liquid foundation?
Because this subheading separates powders by their physical form, unusually for heading 3304. A liquid or cream foundation falls to the residual beauty preparations subheading even where the shade and the purpose are identical.
Does talc content change the classification?
No, but it changes what evidence is worth holding. Talc in cosmetics has attracted regulatory scrutiny over contamination in several markets, and supplier testing documentation is a market access question rather than a customs one.
Are samples and testers classified differently?
No. A sachet or miniature of a beauty powder is the same product in a smaller pack and takes the same code. What can differ is the customs value, since goods supplied free of charge still need valuing on a defensible basis rather than declared at nil.
Related codes in Chapter 33
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