Analysis
HTS 8443.19.20 covers textile printing machinery under heading 8443 (printing machinery used for printing by means of plates, cylinders and other printing…).
Within this group the rate runs from duty-free to 3.3%. Compared with 8443.99.50 (other: other), which pays duty-free, a misclassification either way moves the duty by 2.6 percentage points.
The general duty rate is 2.6% of the customs value, which is above most the rates in chapter 84 (71st percentile of 823 lines with an ad valorem rate). On a shipment valued at $10,000 that is $260 in duty before any Chapter 99 additions or preference claims.
The column 2 rate, for countries without normal trade relations, is 40%, 15.4 times the general rate.
Goods that qualify under GSP, the Australia FTA, the Bahrain FTA, the Chile FTA, the Colombia TPA, and 12 others can enter duty-free instead of paying 2.6%. It is also eligible under GSP, the developing-country programme, which Congress has to renew; check whether GSP is in force on the entry date.
Census statistics map these goods to NAICS 33324 (Industrial Machinery Manufacturing), an industry of 2,836 US establishments employing 111,497 people. That concordance is how imports of this line are compared with US output.
Neighbouring lines
| Line | Description | General rate |
|---|---|---|
| 8443.11.10 | Double-width newspaper printing presses | 3.3% |
| 8443.11.50 | Offset printing machinery, reel-fed: other | Free |
| 8443.12.00 | Offset printing machinery, sheet-fed, office type (using sheets with one side not exceeding 22 cm and the other side not exceeding 36 cm in the unfolded state) | Free |
| 8443.13.00 | Printing machinery used for printing by means of plates, cylinders and other printing components of heading 8442: other offset printing machinery | Free |
| 8443.14.00 | Letterpress printing machinery, reel fed, excluding flexographic printing | 2.2% |
| 8443.15.00 | Letterpress printing machinery, other than reel fed, excluding flexographic printing | Free |
| 8443.16.00 | Flexographic printing machinery | 2.2% |
| 8443.17.00 | Gravure printing machinery | 2.2% |
| 8443.19.30 | Other: other | Free |
| 8443.31.00 | Machines which perform two or more of the functions of printing, copying or facsimile transmission, capable of connecting to an automatic data processing machine or to a network | Free |
| 8443.32.10 | Other, capable of connecting to an automatic data processing machine or to a network: printer units | Free |
| 8443.32.50 | Other, capable of connecting to an automatic data processing machine or to a network: other | Free |
| 8443.39.10 | Operating by reproducing the original image directly onto the copy (direct process) | Free |
| 8443.39.20 | Operating by reproducing the original image via an intermediate onto the copy (indirect process) | Free |
| 8443.39.30 | Incorporating an optical system | Free |
| 8443.39.40 | Of the contact type | Free |
| 8443.39.50 | Thermocopying apparatus | Free |
| 8443.39.60 | Copying machines: other | Free |
| 8443.39.90 | Other: other | Free |
| 8443.91.10 | Machines for uses ancillary to printing | Free |
| 8443.91.20 | Parts for textile printing machinery | Free |
| 8443.91.30 | Parts and accessories of printing machinery used for printing by means of plates, cylinders and other printing components of heading 8442: other | Free |
| 8443.99.10 | Accessory and auxiliary machines which are intended for attachment to an electrostatic photocopier and which do not operate independently of such photocopier | Free |
| 8443.99.20 | Parts of printer units of subheading 8443.32.10 specified in additional U.S. note 2 to this chapter | Free |
| 8443.99.25 | Parts and accessories of printers: other | Free |
| 8443.99.30 | Parts of facsimile machines specified in additional U.S. note 3 to this chapter | Free |
| 8443.99.35 | Parts and accessories of facsimile machines: other | Free |
| 8443.99.40 | Parts of photocopying apparatus of subheading 8443.39.20 specified in additional U.S. note 4 to this chapter | Free |
| 8443.99.45 | Parts and accessories of copying machines: other | Free |
| 8443.99.50 | Other: other | Free |