7101.10

Analysis

Subheading 7101.10 covers natural pearls, within heading 7101. The first six digits are shared by every country that uses the Harmonized System, so this part of the code is the same in the US, UK and EU schedules; the 2 US tariff lines below it are national.

Every one of its 2 tariff lines is duty-free at the general rate, so classification within the subheading affects statistics and Chapter 99 measures rather than the base duty.

The US splits it as follows: 7101.10.30 for graded and temporarily strung for convenience of transport (duty-free) and 7101.10.60 for natural pearls: other (duty-free).

By Census's concordance, most of its statistical lines are made by Jewelry and Silverware Manufacturing (339910). Those are the NAICS industries a US producer of these goods would report under.

Goods only reach 7101.10 once they fall within heading 7101 (pearls, natural or cultured, whether or not worked or graded but not strung, mounted or…). Under General Rule 6, subheadings are then compared only with others at the same level, so a product is matched against its siblings, not against lines elsewhere in the chapter.