On 10 June 2026, the EU General Court ruled in Kronospan Bulgaria (T-304/25) on when paper impregnated with resin stops being paper for customs purposes.
The case
A Bulgarian company imported a product from Belarus and declared it on 15 May 2023 as paper impregnated with melamine, under TARIC code 4811590090, at 0% duty. The customs laboratory found that the product resembled a plastic sheet that could bend but was very brittle. The paper was so heavily impregnated with melamine resin that its texture had gone. The sheets broke when folded and had lost the essential character of paper. The laboratory pointed to Chapter 39 of the Combined Nomenclature, on plastics.
The ruling
A composite good with a layer of decorative paper impregnated with thermosetting resins and two surface layers of pure resin that is not fully cured, used for coating boards in presses, falls under heading 3921, provided that plastics give the product its essential character.
The General Court also took account of a classification opinion of the World Customs Organization. Such opinions do not bind the parties, but they do have a bearing on the interpretation of the headings. The opinion concerned sheets of paper heavily impregnated with melamine resin, which fracture on folding and have lost the essential character of paper.
What to check
- Classify composite goods by what gives them their essential character, not by what they are called in trade.
- Test results matter. A laboratory report on structure and behaviour can decide the outcome.
- Check World Customs Organization classification opinions when your product sits between two chapters.
mr. J. el Khalfioui LL.M.