8523.29.40

Analysis

HTS 8523.29.40 covers of a width not exceeding 4 mm: other under heading 8523 (discs, tapes, solid-state non-volatile storage devices, "smart cards" and other media for…). US Customs collects import statistics for it under 2 ten-digit suffixes, reported in number of items and square metres.

For statistics it divides in two: 8523.29.40.10 for sound recordings on cassette tapes and 8523.29.40.20 for other. Both pay the same duty; the suffix records which kind was imported.

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.