Directory / Chapter 22
Chapter 22: Beverages, spirits and vinegar
Beverages, spirits and vinegar, covering waters and soft drinks, beer, wine, and distilled spirits and liqueurs.
The 8 codes this site holds in chapter 22
| Code | What it covers | Markets priced | Duty range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 220421 | Wine in containers up to 2L | 6 of 6 | Charged per unit, not on value |
| 220422 | Wine in containers of 2 to 10 litres | 5 of 6 | 0% plus 4 charged per unit |
| 220429 | Wine in bulk containers over 10 litres | 5 of 6 | 0% plus 4 charged per unit |
| 220600 | Cider, perry, mead and other fermented drinks | 6 of 6 | Charged per unit, not on value |
| 220830 | Whisky | 6 of 6 | 0% plus 1 charged per unit |
| 220840 | Rum and other cane spirits | 5 of 6 | Charged per unit, not on value |
| 220860 | Vodka | 5 of 6 | 0% plus 1 charged per unit |
| 220870 | Liqueurs and cordials | 5 of 6 | 0% plus 1 charged per unit |
Where this chapter ends
Whether the drink is fermented or distilled, and its actual alcoholic strength, decide the heading between them, and the two questions are asked in that order. This is also the chapter where a duty is least likely to be a percentage: many national tariffs charge these lines by the litre or by the litre of pure alcohol, which is a charge on quantity and not on what the goods cost.
What the notes to section IV say
Chapter 22 sits in section IV, prepared foodstuffs; beverages, spirits and vinegar; tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes; Products, whether or not containing nicotine, intended for inhalation without combustion; Other nicotine containing products intended for the intake of nicotine into the human body, which runs from chapter 16 to chapter 24. A section note governs every chapter in its section, so it stands one layer above the note to chapter 22 below and applies before it.
The nomenclature publishes one note to section IV, and it reaches chapter 22. It is quoted here in full, as published.
The note to section IV
In this section the term 'pellets' means products which have been agglomerated either directly by compression or by the addition of a binder in a proportion not exceeding 3% by weight.
Read from the section notes published in the UK Trade Tariff by HM Revenue and Customs, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/sections/4, on 2026-09-08, and read a second time from the chapter endpoint quoted below, which carries the same section note and has to agree with it. Like the chapter and heading notes, a section note is part of the international text of the Harmonized System, so it decides classification and never a rate.
What the nomenclature excludes
The sentence above is this site's summary. This one is not. Note 1 to chapter 22 sets out what this chapter does not cover, and these are its 6 items as published, with the heading each one sends the goods to. Where a note names a chapter this site also covers, the chapter number is a link.
- (a) products of this chapter (other than those of heading 2209) prepared for culinary purposes and thereby rendered unsuitable for consumption as beverages (generally heading 2103)
- (b) sea water (heading 2501)
- (c) distilled or conductivity water or water of similar purity (heading 2853)
- (d) acetic acid of a concentration exceeding 10% by weight of acetic acid (heading 2915)
- (e) medicaments of heading 3003 or 3004
- (f) perfumery or toilet preparations (Chapter 33) see chapter 33
Read from the chapter notes published in the UK Trade Tariff by HM Revenue and Customs, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/chapters/22, on 2026-09-07. The first six digits of that nomenclature are the Harmonized System itself and the notes to a chapter are part of its international text, so this is the same note whichever of this site's destinations a shipment is going to. It decides classification and never a rate.
What the notes say about each heading
The note above governs chapter 22 as a whole. Underneath it the same published notes speak about individual four digit headings, and that is the layer a classification usually turns on. This site holds codes under 3 headings in this chapter. None of them is the subject of a numbered note. The notes say nothing about the other one, which is the published position rather than a gap here.
| Heading | What the nomenclature calls it | Codes here | What the notes say about it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2204 | Wine of fresh grapes, including fortified wines; grape must other than that of heading 2009 | 220421 , 220422 , 220429 | Not named in the chapter notes |
| 2206 | Other fermented beverages (for example, cider, perry, mead, saké); mixtures of fermented beverages and mixtures of fermented beverages and non-alcoholic beverages, not elsewhere specified or included | 220600 | Named in passing by note 3 |
| 2208 | Undenatured ethyl alcohol of an alcoholic strength by volume of less than 80 % vol; spirits, liqueurs and other spirituous beverages | 220830 , 220840 , 220860 , 220870 | Named in passing by note 3 |
2 headings are named by a note whose subject is something else, which is a cross reference rather than a rule about the heading: 2206 (note 3) , 2208 (note 3) . The sentence that names each one is quoted on the code pages under it.
Read from the same chapter notes quoted above, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/chapters/22, on 2026-09-07, with each heading title read from its own endpoint. The Harmonized System publishes no separate heading notes: its legal text is section notes, chapter notes and subheading notes, and what governs a heading is a chapter note whose subject clause names it. The section notes are quoted at the top of this page, which is the layer above.
What chapter 22 costs to import
Every rate here that is charged on value is zero, so what an importer pays in this chapter is the per-unit duty below rather than a percentage. 28 rates in this chapter are charged per unit rather than on value, so they are left out of every range above.
A destination that prices part of a chapter answers for part of it, so this is how much of chapter 22 each one covers, out of 8 codes.
| Destination | Codes priced | Duty range in this chapter |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | 8 of 8 | 0% plus 5 charged per unit |
| Germany | 8 of 8 | 0% plus 5 charged per unit |
| Portugal | 8 of 8 | 0% plus 5 charged per unit |
| United Kingdom | 8 of 8 | 0% plus 5 charged per unit |
| United States | 8 of 8 | 0% plus 5 charged per unit |
| Australia | 3 of 8 | Charged per unit, not on value |
Third country rates, which is what applies with no trade agreement claimed. Destination tax is charged on top. Each code page carries the reading behind its own figures and the day they were read.