Section XVI · Machinery and mechanical appliances; electrical equipment; parts thereof, sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, and parts and accessories of such articles
Chapter 85: Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, and parts and accessories of such articles
Chapter 85 of the Harmonized System has 48 four-digit headings, from 85.01 to 85.49. Each heading is split further into six-digit subheadings, then into national 8- and 10-digit commodity codes.
Headings in chapter 85
| Heading | Description |
|---|---|
| 85.01 | Electric motors and generators (excluding generating sets) |
| 85.02 | Electric generating sets and rotary converters |
| 85.03 | Parts suitable for use solely or principally with the machines of heading 8501 or 8502 |
| 85.04 | Electrical transformers, static converters (for example, rectifiers) and inductors |
| 85.05 | Electromagnets; permanent magnets and articles intended to become permanent magnets after magnetisation; electromagnetic or permanent magnet chucks, clamps and similar holding devices; electromagnetic couplings, clutches and brakes; electromagnetic lifting heads |
| 85.06 | Primary cells and primary batteries |
| 85.07 | Electric accumulators, including separators therefor, whether or not rectangular (including square) |
| 85.08 | Vacuum cleaners |
| 85.09 | Electromechanical domestic appliances, with self-contained electric motor, other than vacuum cleaners of heading 8508 |
| 85.10 | Shavers, hair clippers and hair-removing appliances, with self-contained electric motor |
| 85.11 | Electrical ignition or starting equipment of a kind used for spark-ignition or compression-ignition internal combustion engines (for example, ignition magnetos, magneto-dynamos, ignition coils, sparking plugs and glow plugs, starter motors); generators (for example, dynamos, alternators) and cut-outs of a kind used in conjunction with such engines |
| 85.12 | Electrical lighting or signalling equipment (excluding articles of heading 8539), windscreen wipers, defrosters and demisters, of a kind used for cycles or motor vehicles |
| 85.13 | Portable electric lamps designed to function by their own source of energy (for example, dry batteries, accumulators, magnetos), other than lighting equipment of heading 8512 |
| 85.14 | Industrial or laboratory electric furnaces and ovens (including those functioning by induction or dielectric loss); other industrial or laboratory equipment for the heat treatment of materials by induction or dielectric loss |
| 85.15 | Electric (including electrically heated gas), laser or other light or photon beam, ultrasonic, electron beam, magnetic pulse or plasma arc soldering, brazing or welding machines and apparatus, whether or not capable of cutting; electric machines and apparatus for hot spraying of metals or cermets |
| 85.16 | Electric instantaneous or storage water heaters and immersion heaters; electric space-heating apparatus and soil-heating apparatus; electrothermic hairdressing apparatus (for example, hairdryers, hair curlers, curling tong heaters) and hand dryers; electric smoothing irons; other electrothermic appliances of a kind used for domestic purposes; electric heating resistors, other than those of heading 8545 |
| 85.17 | Telephone sets, including smartphones and other telephones for cellular networks or for other wireless networks; other apparatus for the transmission or reception of voice, images or other data, including apparatus for communication in a wired or wireless network (such as a local or wide area network), other than transmission or reception apparatus of heading 8443 , 8525 , 8527 or 8528 |
| 85.18 | Microphones and stands therefor; loudspeakers, whether or not mounted in their enclosures; headphones and earphones, whether or not combined with a microphone, and sets consisting of a microphone and one or more loudspeakers; audio-frequency electric amplifiers; electric sound amplifier sets |
| 85.19 | Sound recording or sound reproducing apparatus |
| 85.21 | Video recording or reproducing apparatus, whether or not incorporating a video tuner |
| 85.22 | Parts and accessories suitable for use solely or principally with the apparatus of heading 8519 or 8521 |
| 85.23 | Discs, tapes, solid-state non-volatile storage devices, 'smart cards' and other media for the recording of sound or of other phenomena, whether or not recorded, including matrices and masters for the production of discs, but excluding products of chapter 37 |
| 85.24 | Flat panel display modules, whether or not incorporating touch-sensitive screens |
| 85.25 | Transmission apparatus for radio-broadcasting or television, whether or not incorporating reception apparatus or sound recording or reproducing apparatus; television cameras, digital cameras and video camera recorders |
| 85.26 | Radar apparatus, radio navigational aid apparatus and radio remote control apparatus |
| 85.27 | Reception apparatus for radio-broadcasting, whether or not combined, in the same housing, with sound recording or reproducing apparatus or a clock |
| 85.28 | Monitors and projectors, not incorporating television reception apparatus; reception apparatus for television, whether or not incorporating radio-broadcast receivers or sound or video recording or reproducing apparatus |
| 85.29 | Parts suitable for use solely or principally with the apparatus of headings 8524 to 8528 |
| 85.30 | Electrical signalling, safety or traffic control equipment for railways, tramways, roads, inland waterways, parking facilities, port installations or airfields (other than those of heading 8608) |
| 85.31 | Electric sound or visual signalling apparatus (for example, bells, sirens, indicator panels, burglar or fire alarms), other than those of heading 8512 or 8530 |
| 85.32 | Electrical capacitors, fixed, variable or adjustable (pre-set) |
| 85.33 | Electrical resistors (including rheostats and potentiometers), other than heating resistors |
| 85.34 | Printed circuits |
| 85.35 | Electrical apparatus for switching or protecting electrical circuits, or for making connections to or in electrical circuits (for example, switches, fuses, lightning arresters, voltage limiters, surge suppressors, plugs and other connectors, junction boxes), for a voltage exceeding 1 000 v |
| 85.36 | Electrical apparatus for switching or protecting electrical circuits, or for making connections to or in electrical circuits (for example, switches, relays, fuses, surge suppressors, plugs, sockets, lamp holders and other connectors, junction boxes), for a voltage not exceeding 1 000 v; connectors for optical fibres, optical fibre bundles or cables |
| 85.37 | Boards, panels, consoles, desks, cabinets and other bases, equipped with two or more apparatus of heading 8535 or 8536, for electric control or the distribution of electricity, including those incorporating instruments or apparatus of chapter 90, and numerical control apparatus, other than switching apparatus of heading 8517 |
| 85.38 | Parts suitable for use solely or principally with the apparatus of heading 8535, 8536 or 8537 |
| 85.39 | Electric filament or discharge lamps, including sealed beam lamp units and ultraviolet or infra-red lamps; arc-lamps; light-emitting diode (led) light sources |
| 85.40 | Thermionic, cold cathode or photocathode valves and tubes (for example, vacuum or vapour or gas filled valves and tubes, mercury arc rectifying valves and tubes, cathode ray tubes, television camera tubes) |
| 85.41 | Semiconductor devices (for example, diodes, transistors, semiconductor-based transducers); photosensitive semiconductor devices, including photovoltaic cells whether or not assembled in modules or made up into panels; light-emitting diodes (led), whether or not assembled with other light-emitting diodes (led); mounted piezo-electric crystals |
| 85.42 | Electronic integrated circuits |
| 85.43 | Electrical machines and apparatus, having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter |
| 85.44 | Insulated (including enamelled or anodised) wire, cable (including coaxial cable) and other insulated electric conductors, whether or not fitted with connectors; optical fibre cables, made up of individually sheathed fibres, whether or not assembled with electric conductors or fitted with connectors |
| 85.45 | Carbon electrodes, carbon brushes, lamp carbons, battery carbons and other articles of graphite or other carbon, with or without metal, of a kind used for electrical purposes |
| 85.46 | Electrical insulators of any material |
| 85.47 | Insulating fittings for electrical machines, appliances or equipment, being fittings wholly of insulating material apart from any minor components of metal (for example, threaded sockets) incorporated during moulding solely for purposes of assembly, other than insulators of heading 8546; electrical conduit tubing and joints therefor, of base metal lined with insulating material |
| 85.48 | Electrical parts of machinery or apparatus, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter |
| 85.49 | Electrical and electronic waste and scrap |
Classifying goods in chapter 85
Start with the chapter and section notes: they are legally binding and often decide what is included or excluded. Then choose the heading whose wording best describes your product (GRI 1), and work down to the six-digit subheading before choosing the national commodity code.
The six-digit code is shared internationally. The UK and EU add digits for their own tariffs and statistics, and the US uses its own 10-digit HTS lines, so always confirm the final code in the tariff of the country you are importing into.
Official sources
Check chapter 85 in the UK Trade Tariff, the EU TARIC and the US HTS.