Regular followers of my blogs will have read Chondrotin stories before and here is another.  It’s the time of year to look at HS Codes for imported products and see if any changes are coming from HMRC.

I applied to customs classification services to check Chondroitin and they came back again confirming HS Code 3913900099.

Looking at he heading ;”Plastics and articles thereof; rubber and articles thereof

39
Plastics and articles thereof

13
Natural polymers (for example, alginic acid) and modified natural polymers (for example, hardened proteins, chemical derivatives of natural rubber), not elsewhere specified or included, in primary forms

I say it should be 300190800 which is the code for Heparin and its salts. Now Heparin and chondroitin are both classified as as  as  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycosaminoglycan  and

A major impurityin Heparin is Chondroitin and the major challenge in the analysis of heparin impurities is the detection and identification of structurally related impurities. The most prevalent impurity in heparin is dermatan sulfate (DS), also known as Chondroitin sulfate B  see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heparin

So Heparin and Chondroitin are very similar products produced from similar animal tissues and thus we say Chondroitin and heparin should be similarly classified.

I am sure I would be told that HS Heading 300 is a pharmaceutical heading and chondroitin is not a pharmaceutical. It is a natural polymer not elsewhere specified. A polysaccharide. There are some pharmaceutical products in the EU that use chondroitin .

In 2008 there was a scandal concerning adulteration of  heparin with chondroitin because they were so similar and difficult to detect. The crooks knew the similarities! If they are so similar and produced by similar process from the same animal how come they are different?

Yes of course it would be good under 3001 as it is duty free !!

At least chondroitin should be placed on the INN List .

Now where is the next windmill to tilt my lance ?