HS Codes for Importing Marble and Granite

How an HS code is built

The Harmonized System is the World Customs Organization's six-digit product nomenclature. More than 200 countries and economies use it as the base of their customs tariffs and trade statistics, and over 98 percent of international merchandise trade is classified in it. The first six digits are therefore the same in Egypt, the European Union, the United States and most other markets.

Each country then adds its own digits and sets its own duty rates. The EU's Combined Nomenclature uses eight-digit codes, each with a description and a duty rate. The US Harmonized Tariff Schedule goes to ten digits, the last two being statistical suffixes, so worked marble slabs appear as 6802.91.05.00. The UK tariff also uses ten-digit commodity codes. A six-digit code is enough to start a conversation with a broker, but the import declaration needs the full national code.

Blocks and sawn slabs in chapter 25

Chapter 25 covers stone in the crude state or after simple processes. Heading 25.15 is marble, travertine, ecaussine and other calcareous monumental or building stone of an apparent specific gravity of 2.5 or more, and alabaster. Heading 25.16 is granite, porphyry, basalt, sandstone and other monumental or building stone. Both headings include stone that is roughly trimmed or merely cut, by sawing or otherwise, into blocks or slabs of a rectangular (including square) shape.

Within each heading the split is between crude or roughly trimmed stone and stone merely cut into rectangular blocks or slabs. The Explanatory Notes, as quoted in Canada's customs guidance, say sawn surfaces in chapter 25 should still show perceptible traces of the sawing. The same guidance adds that where a block has mixed surfaces the method used on the greatest surface area decides the subheading. Granules, chippings and powder of these stones go to heading 25.17 instead.

Worked stone in heading 6802

Once stone is worked beyond chapter 25 it moves to chapter 68. The Explanatory Note to heading 68.02, as quoted by Canada's customs agency, treats stone as worked when it goes beyond shaping into blocks, sheets or slabs by splitting, roughly cutting or squaring by sawing. The listed operations include dressing, grinding, polishing, chamfering, honing, carving and bevelling, and stone cut to size also counts as worked. Note 2 to chapter 68 extends the heading to all natural stone similarly worked, not only the stones of headings 25.15 and 25.16, with slate as the one exception.

Polished slabs, calibrated tiles, stair treads, vanity tops and cladding panels all land in 6802. Two neighbouring codes are easy to miss. Setts, curbstones and flagstones of natural stone are heading 6801, which matters for granite kerbs and paving. Tiles and cubes whose largest face fits inside a square of less than 7 cm, such as mosaic, are 6802.10. If you buy slabs, tiles or cut-to-size work, each format may need its own line on the invoice.

Simply sawn or further worked

The line between 6802.2x and 6802.9x is where most classification questions sit. The HS text puts stone that is simply cut or sawn, with a flat or even surface, in 6802.21 to 6802.29, and everything else in 6802.91 to 6802.99. Canada's customs memorandum on marble and granite slabs reads this narrowly. It says honing or polishing used to create a flat or even surface does not by itself take a slab out of 6802.2x, citing a trade tribunal decision, but that bevelling, edge work, carving, moulding or ornamentation does, and that edges should be no more than a simple even cut. Other customs administrations can draw the line differently, which is one reason to ask for a ruling.

National tariffs add their own detail. The US schedule defines slabs for heading 6802 as flat pieces not over 5.1 cm thick, with a face of at least 25.8 cm2 and edges not bevelled or rounded beyond what tiling or veneering needs, and splits 6802.91 into marble slabs and other articles. The UK tariff splits worked granite into pieces that are polished, decorated or otherwise worked but not carved, of a net weight of 10 kg or more, and other pieces, with separate lines for hand-made carved work. Write the actual processing on the commercial invoice (sawn, polished on one face, edges profiled, cut to size) so the broker can apply these tests. The finishes guide explains what each finish involves.

Why Egyptian limestone needs care

Most stone sold as Egyptian marble, including Galala, Sunny and Sinai Pearl, is geologically a dense limestone. The tariff does not follow trade names. The Explanatory Note to heading 25.15 describes marble as a hard calcareous stone, homogeneous and fine-grained, often crystalline. Canada's memorandum adds that many crystalline limestones take a polish and are called marble commercially but are not classified as marble.

In chapter 25 that leaves two tests. A calcareous building stone with an apparent specific gravity of 2.5 or more belongs in heading 25.15, and if it is not marble or travertine its subheading is 2515.20. The Explanatory Note sends calcareous stone below 2.5 to heading 25.16. In chapter 68 the 2.5 figure does not appear. The question is simply whether the stone is marble (6802.21 or 6802.91) or another calcareous stone (6802.29 or 6802.92); the US schedule even has a separate line, 6802.29.10, for simply sawn calcareous stone other than marble, travertine or alabaster.

In practice, describe the stone accurately on the invoice and packing list, for example Galala limestone, polished tiles, and keep the supplier's density test report with the shipping documents. Using one description consistently across documents, as the import guide recommends, avoids a mismatch between the stone name and the code.

Checking the duty and getting a ruling

Look up the national code in the official tariff of the importing country. In the United States that is the Harmonized Tariff Schedule published by the US International Trade Commission at hts.usitc.gov. Its general duty rates differ between marble slabs, other worked marble, other calcareous stone and granite, and some lines point to additional duties in chapter 99, so read the whole entry. In the EU, the TARIC database integrates the third-country duty, tariff preferences, tariff quotas and trade defence measures such as anti-dumping duties for each code. Tariff preferences are tied to the country of origin, so ask your broker whether one applies to Egyptian stone in your market and what proof of origin it needs.

For certainty before a first order, ask your customs authority for a binding decision. US Customs and Border Protection issues binding advance rulings and publishes past rulings in its CROSS database. In the EU, Binding Tariff Information decisions are generally valid for three years, bind the customs authorities of every EU country and the holder, and are published in the EBTI database. A customs broker can file the request and check published rulings for similar stone. For a description of the stone, finish and processing to give your broker, contact us.