HS Code Detail
330499 Chapter 33 · Cosmetics Beauty and skin-care lotions
Six-digit subheading in Cosmetics, chapter 33 of the Harmonized System, priced here for 6 destination markets.
Anatomy of 330499
You will declare against a longer local code that begins 330499: 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 | 0% to 6.5% | 5% | |
| No single rate for Canada Canada splits this subheading into 2 national tariff lines and they do not all carry the same duty. Two official readings agree the schedule runs from 0% to 6.5%, and neither of them names a single rate for the six digit code, so the cell above shows the range rather than a figure from inside it.
Read them at the official tariff. | |||
| 🇩🇪Germany | 0% | 19% | |
| 🇵🇹Portugal | 0% | 23% | |
| 🇬🇧United Kingdom | 0% | 20% | |
| 🇺🇸United States | 0% | 0% | |
Canada splits this six digit code into national lines that do not all carry the same duty, which is why the cell above shows a range; which line your goods take is a classification decision and it is what decides the duty, so this site shows the range rather than choosing a line for you.
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.
Duty figures on this page have not yet been checked against official tariff schedules and should be treated as estimates.
What that costs: 330499 into United States
An illustrative consignment of 330499 invoiced at USD 2,000.00, priced in USD because a threshold is set in the destination's currency and nothing here is converted.
| Goods value on the invoice | USD 2,000.00 |
| International freight | USD 120.00 |
| Cargo insurance | USD 30.00 |
| Value the duty is charged on, FOB basis | USD 2,000.00 |
| Duty at 0% | USD 0.00 |
| United States charges no consumption tax at the border | USD 0.00 |
| Total, before commercial charges | USD 2,150.00 |
And if the consignment were small
United States relieves nothing: the duty free allowance was suspended, so the duty above is charged whatever the consignment is worth. A smaller shipment pays less because the value is lower, not because a threshold spared it.
Selling rather than buying? USD 2,150.00 is what your buyer in United States pays to take delivery of this consignment, yours to pay if you quote DDP and theirs if you quote DAP: Exporting to United States 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 330499 on your own numbers in the duty calculator.
How these rates were verified
The markets listed below were read from the official tariff database of the market that charges it. Nothing here is copied from another aggregator. The other rows in the table above are not yet traced to a source, which is why no date is shown over them.
- 🇦🇺AU
- MFN for 330499 AU, read on 2026-09-01 from https://www.abf.gov.au/importing-exporting-and-manufacturing/tariff-classification/current-tariff/schedule-3/section-vi/chapter-33 and again on 2026-09-01 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: 3304.99.00 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 330499 DE, read on 2026-08-31 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/xi/commodities/3304990000 and again on 2026-09-01 from https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/en/results?product=330499&origin=CN&destination=DE. Both returned 0%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 3304990000 0.00 %
- 🇬🇧GB
- Third country duty for 330499 GB, read on 2026-08-31 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/3304990000 and again on 2026-09-01 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: 3304990000 0.00 %
- 🇺🇸US
- HTS General for 330499 US, read on 2026-08-31 from https://hts.usitc.gov/search?query=3304.99 and again on 2026-09-01 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: 3304.99.10.00 Free; 3304.99.50.00 Free
What falls under 330499
- Face and body creams, lotions, serums, moisturisers and sunscreens
- Anti-ageing and treatment preparations sold for cosmetic rather than therapeutic purposes
What's specifically excluded
These look similar but belong under a different code:
Commonly confused with
300490: Medicinal skin preparations
This is the expensive mistake in Chapter 33. A cream that makes a therapeutic claim, carries a marketing authorisation or contains an active at pharmaceutical strength can be a medicament of 3004, which is duty-free but subject to import licensing. A cosmetic making a cosmetic claim stays in 3304. Customs looks at the labelling and the presentation, not at the ingredient list alone.
330510: Hair-care lotions
Chapter 33 is organised by where the product is used. A lotion for the scalp and hair is 3305 even if it is chemically similar to a body lotion in 3304.
Classification & cost note
Skin care is duty-free into the EU, UK and US, which makes the tariff a non-event for most importers, and then Canada, whose lines run from 0 to 6.5%, and Australia at 5% catch people out because they assume the zero rate travels. The bigger cost is regulatory: the EU requires a Responsible Person and a CPNP notification, the UK requires the equivalent SCPN filing, and neither is a customs formality, so a shipment can clear duty-free and still be refused entry to the market. Sunscreen is the sharpest edge, because several jurisdictions treat it as a regulated therapeutic good rather than a cosmetic.
Typical products: Facial moisturisers and night creams · Vitamin C and retinol serums · Body lotions and hand creams · Sunscreen sold as a cosmetic
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
330499 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 330499
Is there duty on imported skincare?
Not in the EU, UK or US, where beauty and skin-care preparations enter at zero MFN duty. Canada applies 6.5% and Australia 5%, so the zero rate does not travel as far as importers often expect.
When is a cream a medicament instead of a cosmetic?
When it is presented for treating or preventing a diagnosed condition, which usually shows up as a therapeutic claim on the label, a marketing authorisation, or an active at pharmaceutical strength. That moves it to 3004, where duty is zero but import licensing applies.
How is sunscreen classified?
As a cosmetic under 3304 in the EU and UK, but Australia and several other markets regulate it as a therapeutic good, which changes the compliance path even where the tariff code is unaffected.
Related codes in Chapter 33
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