Hoopwood; split poles; piles, pickets and stakes of wood, pointed but not sawn lengthwise; wooden sticks, roughly trimmed but not turned, bent or otherwise worked, suitable for the manufacture of walking sticks, umbrellas, tool handles or the like; chipwood and the like

1. This chapter does not cover: (a) wood, in chips, in shavings, crushed, ground or powdered, of a kind used primarily in perfumery, in pharmacy, or for insecticidal, fungicidal or similar purposes (heading 1211); (b) bamboo or other materials of a woody nature of a kind used primarily for plaiting, in the rough, whether or not split, sawn lengthwise or cut to length (heading 1401); (c) wood, in chips, in shavings, ground or powdered, of a kind used primarily in dyeing or in tanning (heading 1404); (d) activated charcoal (heading 3802); (e) articles of heading 4217; (f) footwear or parts thereof of Chapter 64; (g) goods of Chapter 66 (for example, umbrellas and walking-sticks and parts thereof); (h) goods of heading 6808; (ij) goods of Chapter 71 (for example, imitation jewellery); (k) goods of Section XVI or XVII (for example, machine parts, cases, covers, cabinets for machines and apparatus and wheelwrights' wares); (l) goods of Section XVIII (for example, clock cases and musical instruments and parts thereof); (m) parts of firearms (heading 9305); (n) articles of Chapter 94 (for example, furniture, luminaires, prefabricated buildings); (o) articles of Chapter 96 (for example, smoking pipes, buttons and pencils), and hand sieves and hand riddles (heading 9604); (p) articles of Chapter 97 (for example, works of art). 2. In this chapter, the expression 'densified wood' means wood which has been subjected to chemical or physical treatment (being, in the case of layers bonded together, treatment in excess of that needed to ensure a good bond), and which has thereby acquired increased density or hardness together with improved mechanical strength or resistance to chemical or electrical agencies. 3. In headings 4414 to 4421, articles of particle board or similar board, of fibreboard, of laminated wood or of densified wood are to be classified as articles of the corresponding kind of wood. 4. Products of heading 4410, 4411 or 4412 may be worked to form the profiles described in respect of the wood of heading 4409, curved, corrugated, perforated, cut or formed to shapes other than square or rectangular or submitted to any other operation provided it does not give them the character of articles of other headings.

Section IX has no Section Notes. Classification rules are governed by the Chapter Notes of Chapters 44 (Wood), 45 (Cork) and 46 (Manufactures of straw, esparto and other plaiting materials; basketware and wickerwork). Key rules include: Chapter 44 contains extensive exclusion lists directing products to other chapters (e.g., furniture to Chapter 94, instruments to Section XVIII), and defines the scope of 'wood' to include bamboo and other materials of a woody nature. Chapter 45 distinguishes between natural cork and agglomerated cork and their respective articles.