Tariff classification of textile desizing agents follows the specific surface-active preparation heading, not the broader scouring powder entry.

Imported goods used as a desizing and scouring agent were held classifiable under Heading 3402.90 as an organic surface-active preparation, not under Heading 3405.90 as a scouring powder. The tariff entry in Heading 34.05 was read with the Harmonised System explanatory notes, but those notes were found not to extend that heading to every industrial preparation. Heading 34.05 was treated as covering polishes, creams and similar scouring products, while Heading 34.02 specifically covered surface-active preparations used as detergents in the textile industry to remove fats and impurities during manufacture. Because the goods matched that description and composition, classification followed Heading 3402.90.

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Issues: Whether the imported product, hipogen AC 1000, was classifiable under Heading 3405.90 as a scouring powder or under Heading 3402.90 as an organic surface-active preparation.

Analysis: The product was claimed to be a desizing and scouring agent. The tariff entry in Heading 34.05 was read with the explanatory notes to the Harmonised System of Nomenclature, but those notes were held not to extend the heading to every preparation used in industry. Heading 34.05 was found to cover polishes, creams and similar scouring preparations, whereas the explanatory notes to Heading 34.02 specifically included surface-active preparations used as detergents for the textile industry to remove fats and other impurities during manufacture. On the manufacturer's description and composition of the goods, the product answered that description.

Conclusion: The product was correctly classifiable under Heading 3402.90 and not under Heading 3405.90; the appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the tariff description and explanatory notes specifically fit the nature and function of the imported goods, classification must follow that entry rather than a broader competing heading.

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