9015.20.40

Analysis

HTS 9015.20.40 covers theodolites and tachymeters (tacheometers): electrical under heading 9015 (surveying (including photogrammetrical surveying), hydrographic, oceanographic…).

Within this group the rate runs from duty-free to 2.8%. Compared with 9015.30.80 (levels: other), which pays 2.8%, a misclassification either way moves the duty by 2.8 percentage points.

Goods from countries without normal trade relations pay the column 2 rate of 40% instead of nothing, so origin decides between free entry and a 40% duty.

The normal trade relations rate here is zero, shared by about 73% of the 296 tariff lines in chapter 90, a useful check when a neighbouring dutiable line is a candidate. Duty-free at the general rate does not rule out additional duties under Chapter 99, such as Section 301 or Section 232 measures, which depend on the country of origin.

Census statistics map these goods to NAICS 334519 (Other Measuring and Controlling Device Manufacturing), an industry of 913 US establishments employing 34,818 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.