8523

Analysis

Heading 8523 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule covers 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 recorded, including matrices and masters for the production of…. It divides into 8 six-digit subheadings and 20 eight-digit tariff lines, with 25 ten-digit statistical suffixes below them.

Every one of its 20 tariff lines is duty-free at the general rate, so classification within the heading affects statistics and Chapter 99 measures rather than the base duty.

The largest subheadings are 8523.29 (other, 9 lines), 8523.49 (other, 4 lines), 8523.80 (other, 2 lines) and 8523.21 (unnamed, 1 line).

Its median rate of duty-free sits at the 29th percentile of the headings in chapter 85.

By Census's concordance, most of its statistical lines are made by Manufacturing and Reproducing Magnetic and Optical Media (33461) and Semiconductor and Related Device Manufacturing (334413). Those are the NAICS industries a US producer of these goods would report under.