General Interpretative Rule 3

General Interpretative Rule 3 (a): Classification by Specific Description

This Rule states:
The heading which provides the most specific description shall be preferred to headings providing a more general description. However, when two or more headings each refer to part only of the materials or substances contained in mixed or composite goods or to part only of the items in a set put up for retail sale, those headings are to be regarded as equally specific in relation to those goods, even if one of them gives a more complete or precise description of the goods.
The first method of classification is provided in Rule 3 (a), under which the heading which provides the most specific description of the goods is to be preferred to a heading which provides a more general description.

General Interpretative Rule 3 (b): Classification by essential character

This Rule states

Mixtures, composite goods consisting of different materials or made up of different components, and goods put up in sets for retail sale, which cannot be classified by reference to 3 (a), shall be classified as if they consisted of the material or component which gives them their essential character, insofar as this criterion is applicable.
This second method of classification relates only to:
- Mixtures.
- Composite goods consisting of different materials.
- Composite goods consisting of different components.
- Goods put up in sets for retail sales.

It applies only if Rule 3 (a) fails. In all these cases the goods are to be classified as if they consisted of the material or component which gives them their essential character, insofar as this criterion is applicable.
The factor which determines essential character will vary between different kinds of goods. It may, for example, be determined by: the nature of the material or component, by its bulkiness, by its quantity, by its weight or value, or by the role of a constituent material in relation to the use of the goods.
For the purposes of this Rule, composite goods made up of different components shall be taken to mean not only those in which the components are attached to each other to form a practically inseparable whole but also those with separable components, provided these components are adapted one to the other and are mutually complementary and that together they form a whole which would not normally be offered for sale in separate parts.

- Rule 3 (c): Classification in a heading which occurs last in numerical order
- This rule states:
  - When goods cannot be classified by reference to Rule 3 (a) or 3 (b), they shall be Classified under the heading which occurs last in numerical order among those which equally merit consideration.
  - When goods cannot be classified by reference to Rule 3 (a) or 3 (b), they are to be Classified in the heading which occurs last in numerical order among those which equally merit consideration in determining their classification.