Analysis
HTS 8512.90.60 covers of lighting equipment: other under heading 8512 (electrical lighting or signaling equipment (excluding articles of heading 8539)…).
Within this group the rate runs from duty-free to 2.5%. Compared with 8512.90.90 (parts: other), which pays 2.5%, a misclassification either way moves the duty by 2.5 percentage points.
The normal trade relations rate here is zero, shared by about 58% of the 624 tariff lines in chapter 85, a useful check when a neighbouring dutiable line is a candidate. Free here means free of the base duty only: origin-specific Chapter 99 duties such as Section 301 can still be owed.
Goods from countries without normal trade relations pay the column 2 rate of 25% instead of nothing, so origin decides between free entry and a 25% duty.
The other lines in the same group are 8512.90.20 (of signaling equipment, 2.5%), 8512.90.40 (of a kind used on bicycles, duty-free), 8512.90.70 (of defrosters and demisters, 2.5%) and 8512.90.90 (parts: other, 2.5%).
Census statistics map these goods to NAICS 336320 (Motor Vehicle Electrical and Electronic Equipment Manufacturing), an industry of 574 US establishments employing 60,662 people. That concordance is how imports of this line are compared with US output.
Neighbouring lines
| Line | Description | General rate |
|---|---|---|
| 8512.90.20 | Of signaling equipment | 2.5% |
| 8512.90.40 | Of a kind used on bicycles | Free |
| 8512.90.70 | Of defrosters and demisters | 2.5% |
| 8512.90.90 | Parts: other | 2.5% |