HS 0603: the cut-flower codes, the rates that hang on them, and the one WITS uses

The heading

Heading 0603 of the Harmonized System covers "cut flowers and flower buds of a kind suitable for bouquets or for ornamental purposes, fresh, dried, dyed, bleached, impregnated or otherwise prepared." Fresh flowers sit in subheading 0603.1, and since the 2017 edition of the nomenclature that subheading is split by genus:

Three consequences for a Kenyan buyer. Roses, carnations and chrysanthemums each have their own line, so their trade can be read separately and their tariff lines can differ. Everything else Kenya grows — including gypsophila, its second product identity — shares 0603.19 with dozens of genera, so no public trade statistic separates Kenyan gypsophila from Kenyan alstroemeria. And the regulatory rows that matter most — inspection frequency and the false codling moth statement — are written by genus, not by code, so a code tells you the duty and not the inspection.

What each destination attaches to the code

Each rate is stated with its instrument and date on the market page linked; this table is an index, not a substitute.

Kenya's own declarations use the older code. Kenya's export statistics as held in UN Comtrade and read through the World Bank's WITS are presented under the HS 1988/92 nomenclature, where 060310 is "fresh cut flowers and buds" in one line — the whole fresh trade, every genus. That is why the destination page on this site can say where Kenya's flowers go but not which flowers go where, and why a genus-level comparison of Kenya's exports is not something any public database will give you.

Two errors the code invites

Declaring a bouquet under the flower. A mixed bunch of roses and gypsophila is classified by the rules of the nomenclature, and the rate that follows can differ between origins that hold a preference on one line and not another; on the lanes this site covers the rate is the same across 0603.1, but the inspection rows are not — a mixed box of roses and alstroemeria meets 25% and 100%. Declaring fresh flowers under 0603.90. Dried and dyed flowers are a different line with, on some tariffs, a different rate; tinted gypsophila is the product on which the question arises, and it is a question for the customs broker with the invoice in hand, not for this page.

What this page does not do

It does not reproduce a tariff. The UK, EU, US, Australian, Saudi and Emirati tariffs are public, searchable and authoritative, and each market page here links the exact line read. What a tariff database will not tell you is which of these numbers moves with your specification and which does not — that is the border-costs page.

What to ask

• Which subheading is on the invoice and the customs declaration, and does it match the genus on the phytosanitary certificate?
• For tinted or dyed product: fresh or "otherwise prepared"? Decide it with the broker before the first consignment.