Analysis
Subheading 8523.49 covers other, within heading 8523. The first six digits are shared by every country that uses the Harmonized System, so this part of the code is the same in the US, UK and EU schedules; the 4 US tariff lines below it are national.
Every one of its 4 tariff lines is duty-free at the general rate, so classification within the subheading affects statistics and Chapter 99 measures rather than the base duty.
The US splits it as follows: 8523.49.20 for for reproducing phenomena other than sound or image (duty-free), 8523.49.30 for for reproducing sound only (duty-free), 8523.49.40 for for reproducing representations of instructions, data, sound, and… (duty-free) and 8523.49.50 for other: other (duty-free).
By Census's concordance, most of its statistical lines are made by Manufacturing and Reproducing Magnetic and Optical Media (33461). Those are the NAICS industries a US producer of these goods would report under.
Goods only reach 8523.49 once they fall within heading 8523 (discs, tapes, solid-state non-volatile storage devices, "smart cards" and other media for…). Under General Rule 6, subheadings are then compared only with others at the same level, so a product is matched against its siblings, not against lines elsewhere in the chapter.
Tariff lines
| Line | Description | General rate |
|---|---|---|
| 8523.49.20 | For reproducing phenomena other than sound or image | Free |
| 8523.49.30 | For reproducing sound only | Free |
| 8523.49.40 | For reproducing representations of instructions, data, sound, and image, recorded in a machine readable binary form, and capable of being manipulated or providing interactivity to a user, by means of an automatic data processing machine; proprietary format recorded discs | Free |
| 8523.49.50 | Other: other | Free |