HS Code Detail
340130 Chapter 34 · Cleaning Products Skin-washing preparations, liquid or cream, retail
Six-digit subheading in Cleaning Products, chapter 34 of the Harmonized System, priced here for 5 destination markets.
Anatomy of 340130
You will declare against a longer local code that begins 340130: ten digits in the United Kingdom, eight in the European Union, and the first six the same everywhere. Which trailing digits apply is what the 5 rates below differ on.
What this code covers
Import duty by country
MFN duty rate · 5 countries| Country | Duty | VAT |
|---|---|---|
| 🇦🇺Australia | 5% | 10% |
| 🇨🇦Canada | 6.5% | 5% |
| 🇩🇪Germany | 4% | 19% |
| 🇵🇹Portugal | 4% | 23% |
| 🇬🇧United Kingdom | 4% | 20% |
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: 340130 into Portugal
An illustrative consignment of 340130 invoiced at EUR 2,000.00, priced in EUR because a threshold is set in the destination's currency and nothing here is converted.
| Goods value on the invoice | EUR 2,000.00 |
| International freight | EUR 120.00 |
| Cargo insurance | EUR 30.00 |
| Value the duty is charged on, CIF basis | EUR 2,150.00 |
| Duty at 4% | EUR 86.00 |
| Portugal tax at 23%, charged on the value plus the duty | EUR 514.28 |
| Total, before commercial charges | EUR 2,750.28 |
And if the consignment were small
Portugal relieves nothing: the relief was abolished, 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? EUR 2,750.28 is what your buyer in Portugal pays to take delivery of this consignment, yours to pay if you quote DDP and theirs if you quote DAP: Exporting to Portugal 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 340130 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.
- 🇬🇧GB
- Third country duty for 340130 GB, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/3401300000 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 4%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 3401300000 4.00 %
- 🇨🇦CA
- MFN for 340130 CA, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2026/html/00/ch34-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: 3401.30.00 6.5%
- 🇦🇺AU
- MFN for 340130 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-34 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: 3401.30.00 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 340130 DE, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/xi/commodities/3401300000 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/en/results?product=340130&origin=CN&destination=DE. Both returned 4%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 3401300000 4.00 %
Markets with no figure recorded
United States: United States splits 3401.30 into 2 tariff lines and they do not carry the same rate: the schedule returned 0 to 4%. A single percentage cannot represent that honestly, so no United States figure is recorded and the calculator falls back to its disclosed category average.
Re-check first: Retail packaging is part of the definition here, so the same surfactant preparation put up in bulk falls elsewhere in this heading. The United Kingdom charges one rate across the subheading and the United States lines under it disagree, which is why only one market is priced.
What falls under 340130
- Organic surface active products and preparations for washing the skin, in liquid or cream form, put up for retail sale, whether or not containing soap
- Shower gels, body washes and liquid hand washes presented for retail sale
- Facial cleansing gels, foams and cream cleansers whose function is washing the skin
What's specifically excluded
These look similar but belong under a different code:
- 340111: Soap and organic surface active preparations in bars, cakes or moulded shapes, for toilet use
- 340120: Soap in other forms, including liquid soap not put up for retail sale
- 330510: Shampoos, which wash hair rather than skin
- 330499: Beauty and skin care preparations that are not washing preparations
Commonly confused with
330510: Shampoos
The tariff divides washing preparations by the part of the body they are for. A preparation for washing hair is a shampoo in heading 3305 and one for washing skin is here, so a two in one body and hair wash has to be resolved on essential character and on how it is presented and marketed. A product sold and labelled as a shower gel that also mentions hair usually stays in this subheading.
330499: Skin care preparations
Washing and caring for skin are different functions in the tariff even when the same bottle claims both. A product that lathers and is rinsed off is a wash; a cleansing milk or balm that is wiped off and is sold as a step in a skin care routine is argued into heading 3304. Micellar water is the case that genuinely goes both ways and it repays a ruling.
340111: Bar soap for toilet use
Form decides between these two. This subheading requires liquid or cream form, so the identical formulation pressed into a bar leaves it, and the increasingly common solid body wash bar is a bar however it is marketed.
Classification & cost note
Three tests decide this subheading and all three have to hold. The preparation must be an organic surface active product or preparation for washing the SKIN; it must be in liquid or cream form; and it must be put up for retail sale. Fail the third and the goods leave for the bulk lines, which is why a drum of exactly the same formulation sold to a contract filler is not this code. The phrase most often read backwards is the last one in the tariff text, whether or not containing soap. It is permissive: the presence of soap does not push a liquid skin wash out of this subheading, and the absence of soap does not pull a bar into it. Form and function do the work, and the ingredient list settles neither. The commercial constraints on this trade sit outside the tariff. Cosmetic products need a responsible person established in the destination market, a product information file and, in the European Union, notification before they are placed on the market, and a preservative or a colourant that is permitted in one market can be prohibited in the next. Claims are the other exposure: an antibacterial or a medicated claim can move the product into a biocidal or medicinal regime with its own authorisation, which is a far larger obstacle than any customs question.
Typical products: Shower gels and body washes in retail bottles · Liquid hand wash with a pump dispenser · Foaming facial cleansers · Cream cleansers in retail tubes · Baby wash and cradle cap washes · Retail refill pouches of liquid hand wash · Exfoliating shower creams · Antibacterial liquid hand wash for consumer sale
What the notes to section VI say
Chapter 34 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 3 reaching chapter 34 name no heading this site holds a code under, and they are quoted whole on the chapter 34 page, read from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/sections/6 on 2026-09-08.
What the nomenclature says about heading 3401
340130 is a subheading of 3401, soap; organic surface-active products and preparations for use as soap, in the form of bars, cakes, moulded pieces or shapes, whether or not containing soap; organic surface-active products and preparations for washing the skin, in the form of liquid or cream and put up for retail sale, whether or not containing soap; paper, wadding, felt and nonwovens, impregnated, coated or covered with soap or detergent , and it is the only code this site holds under that heading.
One numbered note to chapter 34 takes heading 3401 as its own subject, and it is quoted below in full, as published.
Note 2 to chapter 34
For the purposes of heading 3401, the expression 'soap' applies only to soap soluble in water. Soap and the other products of heading 3401 may contain added substances (for example, disinfectants, abrasive powders, fillers or medicaments).
Products containing abrasive powders remain classified in heading 3401 only if in the form of bars, cakes or moulded pieces or shapes. In other forms, they are to be classified in heading 3405 as 'scouring powders and similar preparations'.
Read from the notes to chapter 34 published in the UK Trade Tariff by HM Revenue and Customs, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/chapters/34, with the heading title from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/headings/3401, on 2026-09-07, with the whole layer and the reason a heading note is a chapter note set out on the chapter 34 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 340130
Does containing soap move a body wash out of this subheading?
No. The tariff text reads whether or not containing soap, so the presence of soap is irrelevant to a liquid or cream skin wash put up for retail sale.
Where does a bulk drum of the same body wash go?
Out of this subheading, because it is not put up for retail sale. Bulk surface active preparations fall to the bulk lines of headings 3401 and 3402 depending on whether they are soap based.
Is a two in one body and hair wash a shampoo?
It depends on essential character and presentation. A product sold and labelled as a shower gel that also mentions hair generally stays here; one presented as a shampoo that also cleans skin generally does not.
What about a solid shower bar?
It leaves this subheading. The text requires liquid or cream form, so a solid bar is classified with soaps and washing preparations in bar or moulded form however it is marketed.
Codes in nearby chapters
Chapter 34 holds 2 subheadings on this site, so these are the closest chapters by number rather than codes for similar goods.
Related codes in Chapter 34
Calculate duty for HS 340130
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