Analysis
HTS 8523.29.30 covers news sound recordings relating to current events under heading 8523 (discs, tapes, solid-state non-volatile storage devices, "smart cards" and other media for…).
Goods classified here enter the United States duty-free at the general (normal trade relations) rate, as do about 58% of the 624 tariff lines in chapter 85. Free here means free of the base duty only: origin-specific Chapter 99 duties such as Section 301 can still be owed.
Census statistics map these goods to NAICS 33461 (Manufacturing and Reproducing Magnetic and Optical Media), an industry of 292 US establishments employing 4,540 people. That is the industry code a US manufacturer of the same product would normally use.
All 8 neighbouring lines carry the same duty-free rate, so a borderline choice between them changes the statistics reported, not the duty paid.
Every edition we compared, from Jan 2023 to Oct 2026 (Rev. 22), shows the same general rate of Free.
Neighbouring lines
| Line | Description | General rate |
|---|---|---|
| 8523.29.10 | Unrecorded magnetic media | Free |
| 8523.29.20 | Magnetic tapes for reproducing phenomena other than sound or image | Free |
| 8523.29.40 | Of a width not exceeding 4 mm: other | Free |
| 8523.29.50 | Video tape recordings | Free |
| 8523.29.60 | Of a width exceeding 4 mm but not exceeding 6.5 mm: other | Free |
| 8523.29.70 | Video tape recordings | Free |
| 8523.29.80 | Of a width exceeding 6.5 mm: other | Free |
| 8523.29.90 | Other: other | Free |