Analysis
HTS 8539.51.00 covers light-emitting diode (LED) modules under heading 8539 (electrical filament or discharge lamps, including sealed beam lamp units and ultraviolet…).
Within this group the rate runs from duty-free to 5.8%. Compared with 8539.29.10 (christmas-tree lamps), which pays 5.8%, a misclassification either way moves the duty by 5.8 percentage points.
Goods from countries without normal trade relations pay the column 2 rate of 35% instead of nothing, so origin decides between free entry and a 35% duty.
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.
Census statistics map these goods to NAICS 3351 (Electric Lighting Equipment Manufacturing), an industry of 1,021 US establishments employing 34,408 people. That concordance is how imports of this line are compared with US output.
The general rate of Free has not changed in any edition of the schedule since Jan 2023.
Neighbouring lines
| Line | Description | General rate |
|---|---|---|
| 8539.10.00 | Sealed beam lamp units | 2% |
| 8539.21.20 | Designed for a voltage not exceeding 100 V | Free |
| 8539.21.40 | Tungsten halogen: other | 2.6% |
| 8539.22.40 | Christmas-tree lamps | 5.8% |
| 8539.22.80 | Other, of a power not exceeding 200 W and for a voltage exceeding 100 V: other | 2.6% |
| 8539.29.10 | Christmas-tree lamps | 5.8% |
| 8539.29.20 | Lamps having glass envelopes not over 6.35 mm in maximum diameter and suitable for use in cystoscopes and other surgical instruments | 5.2% |
| 8539.29.30 | Designed for a voltage not exceeding 100 V: other | Free |
| 8539.29.40 | Designed for a voltage exceeding 100 V | 2.6% |
| 8539.31.00 | Fluorescent, hot cathode | 2.4% |
| 8539.32.00 | Mercury or sodium vapor lamps; metal halide lamps | 2.4% |
| 8539.39.10 | Cold-cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) for backlighting of flat panel displays | Free |
| 8539.39.90 | Other: other | 2.4% |
| 8539.41.00 | Ultraviolet or infrared lamps; arc lamps: arc lamps | 2.6% |
| 8539.49.00 | Ultraviolet or infrared lamps; arc lamps: other | 2.4% |
| 8539.52.00 | Light-emitting diode (LED) lamps | 2% |
| 8539.90.00 | Electrical filament or discharge lamps, including sealed beam lamp units and ultraviolet or infrared lamps; arc lamps; light-emitting diode (LED) light sources; parts thereof: parts | 2.6% |