9031.80.40

Analysis

HTS 9031.80.40 covers electron beam microscopes fitted with equipment specifically designed for the handling and transport of semiconductor wafers or reticles under heading 9031 (measuring or checking instruments, appliances and machines, not specified or included…).

Rates on the nearby lines range from duty-free to 1.7%. The costliest confusion would be with 9031.20.00 (measuring or checking instruments, appliances and machines, not…) at 1.7%, a difference of 1.7 points on the customs value.

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.

There is no general-rate duty on this line, which puts it with roughly 73% of the 296 tariff lines in chapter 90 that are also free. 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 334516 (Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing), an industry of 652 US establishments employing 50,576 people, the industry a domestic producer of these goods reports under.