HTS chapter · section XVI
Chapter 85
Machinery and electrical equipment
Chapter 85 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule sits in section XVI (machinery and electrical equipment). It has 48 headings and 624 eight-digit tariff lines.
The spread of 15 percentage points between the cheapest and dearest lines makes misclassification expensive here.
362 of its 624 lines with a percentage rate are duty-free at the general rate (58%) and 262 are dutiable, from duty-free up to 15%. The median line pays duty-free.
The most finely divided heading is 8528 (monitors and projectors, not incorporating television reception apparatus…), with 70 lines; fine division usually means the rates or the trade statistics differ enough to be worth separating.
17 of its 48 headings are entirely duty-free at the general rate, including 8508 (vacuum cleaners; parts thereof), 8517 (telephone sets, including smartphones and…) and 8518 (microphones and stands therefor…).
The heading with the highest median rate is 8513 (portable electric lamps designed to function by their own source of energy (for…) at 8%.
Headings
| Heading | Description | Lines | Free | Median rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8501 | Electric motors and generators (excluding generating sets) | 48 | 5 | 2.5% |
| 8502 | Electric generating sets and rotary converters | 7 | 0 | 2.5% |
| 8503 | Parts suitable for use solely or principally with the machines of heading 8501 or 8502 | 7 | 2 | 3% |
| 8504 | Electrical transformers, static converters (for example, rectifiers) and inductors; parts thereof | 22 | 15 | duty-free |
| 8505 | Electromagnets; permanent magnets and articles intended to become permanent magnets after magnetization; electromagnetic or permanent magnet chucks, clamps and… | 9 | 3 | 2.1% |
| 8506 | Primary cells and primary batteries; parts thereof | 9 | 0 | 2.7% |
| 8507 | Electric storage batteries, including separators therefor, whether or not rectangular (including square); parts thereof | 11 | 0 | 3.4% |
| 8508 | Vacuum cleaners; parts thereof | 4 | 4 | duty-free |
| 8509 | Electromechanical domestic appliances, with self-contained electric motor, other than vacuum cleaners of heading 8508; parts thereof | 8 | 2 | 3.8% |
| 8510 | Shavers, hair clippers and hair-removing appliances, with self-contained electric motor; parts thereof | 9 | 3 | 4% |
| 8511 | Electrical ignition or starting equipment of a kind used for spark-ignition or compression-ignition internal combustion engines (for example, ignition… | 11 | 2 | 2.5% |
| 8512 | Electrical lighting or signaling equipment (excluding articles of heading 8539), windshield wipers, defrosters and demisters, of a kind used for cycles or… | 12 | 4 | 2.5% |
| 8513 | Portable electric lamps designed to function by their own source of energy (for example, dry batteries, storage batteries, magnetos), other than lighting… | 4 | 0 | 8% |
| 8514 | Industrial or laboratory electric furnaces and ovens (including those functioning by induction or dielectric loss); other industrial or laboratory equipment… | 14 | 8 | duty-free |
| 8515 | Electric (including electrically heated gas), laser or other light or photon beam, ultrasonic, electron beam, magnetic pulse or plasma arc soldering, brazing… | 9 | 5 | duty-free |
| 8516 | Electric instantaneous or storage water heaters and immersion heaters; electric space heating apparatus and soil heating apparatus; electrothermic hairdressing… | 28 | 14 | 1% |
| 8517 | Telephone sets, including smartphones and other telephones for cellular networks or for other wireless networks; other apparatus for the transmission or… | 9 | 9 | duty-free |
| 8518 | Microphones and stands therefor; loudspeakers, whether or not mounted in their enclosures; headphones and earphones, whether or not combined with a microphone,… | 15 | 15 | duty-free |
| 8519 | Sound recording or reproducing apparatus | 11 | 10 | duty-free |
| 8521 | Video recording or reproducing apparatus, whether or not incorporating a video tuner | 4 | 4 | duty-free |
| 8522 | Parts and accessories suitable for use solely or principally with the apparatus of heading 8519 or 8521 | 7 | 6 | duty-free |
| 8523 | Discs, tapes, solid-state non-volatile storage devices, "smart cards" and other media for the recording of sound or of other phenomena, whether or not… | 20 | 20 | duty-free |
| 8524 | Flat panel display modules, whether or not incorporating touch-sensitive screens | 8 | 6 | duty-free |
| 8525 | Transmission apparatus for radio-broadcasting or television, whether or not incorporating reception apparatus or sound recording or reproducing apparatus;… | 13 | 13 | duty-free |
| 8526 | Radar apparatus, radio navigational aid apparatus and radio remote control apparatus | 4 | 4 | duty-free |
| 8527 | Reception apparatus for radiobroadcasting, whether or not combined, in the same housing, with sound recording or reproducing apparatus or a clock | 21 | 20 | duty-free |
| 8528 | Monitors and projectors, not incorporating television reception apparatus; reception apparatus for television, whether or not incorporating radio-broadcast… | 70 | 41 | duty-free |
| 8529 | Parts suitable for use solely or principally with the apparatus of headings 8524 to 8528 | 34 | 34 | duty-free |
| 8530 | Electrical signaling, safety or traffic control equipment for railways, streetcar lines, subways, roads, inland waterways, parking facilities, port… | 3 | 3 | duty-free |
| 8531 | Electric sound or visual signaling apparatus (for example, bells, sirens, indicator panels, burglar or fire alarms), other than those of heading 8512 or 8530;… | 8 | 6 | duty-free |
| 8532 | Electrical capacitors, fixed, variable or adjustable (pre-set); parts thereof | 9 | 9 | duty-free |
| 8533 | Electrical resistors (including rheostats and potentiometers), other than heating resistors; parts thereof | 9 | 9 | duty-free |
| 8534 | Printed circuits | 1 | 1 | duty-free |
| 8535 | Electrical apparatus for switching or protecting electrical circuits, or for making connections to or in electrical circuits (for example, switches, fuses,… | 7 | 0 | 2.7% |
| 8536 | Electrical apparatus for switching or protecting electrical circuits, or for making connections to or in electrical circuits (for example, switches, relays,… | 16 | 9 | duty-free |
| 8537 | Boards, panels, consoles, desks, cabinets and other bases, equipped with two or more apparatus of heading 8535 or 8536, for electric control or the… | 5 | 1 | 2.7% |
| 8538 | Parts suitable for use solely or principally with the apparatus of heading 8535, 8536 or 8537 | 6 | 2 | 3.5% |
| 8539 | Electrical filament or discharge lamps, including sealed beam lamp units and ultraviolet or infrared lamps; arc lamps; light-emitting diode (LED) light… | 18 | 4 | 2.4% |
| 8540 | Thermionic, cold cathode or photocathode tubes (for example, vacuum or vapor or gas filled tubes, mercury arc rectifying tubes, cathode-ray tubes, television… | 26 | 4 | 3.7% |
| 8541 | Semiconductor devices (for example, diodes, transistors, semiconductor-based transducers); photosensitive semiconductor devices, including photovoltaic cells… | 15 | 15 | duty-free |
| 8542 | Electronic integrated circuits; parts thereof | 5 | 5 | duty-free |
| 8543 | Electrical machines and apparatus, having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof | 26 | 19 | duty-free |
| 8544 | Insulated (including enameled or anodized) wire, cable (including coaxial cable) and other insulated electric conductors, whether or not fitted with… | 15 | 4 | 3.5% |
| 8545 | Carbon electrodes, carbon brushes, lamp carbons, battery carbons and other articles of graphite or other carbon, with or without metal, of a kind used for… | 6 | 6 | duty-free |
| 8546 | Electrical insulators of any material | 3 | 1 | 2.9% |
| 8547 | Insulating fittings for electrical machines, appliances or equipment, being fittings wholly of insulating material apart from any minor components of metal… | 4 | 1 | 3% |
| 8548 | Electrical parts of machinery or apparatus, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter | 1 | 1 | duty-free |
| 8549 | Electrical and electronic waste and scrap | 13 | 13 | duty-free |