Chapter 85 — Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers; television image and sound recorders and reproducers, parts and accessories of such articles 4-digit heading

85.36 Electrical apparatus for switching, protecting electrical circuits, for making connections to or in electrical circuits, for a voltage not exceeding 1000 volts; connectors for optical fibres, optical fibre bundles or cables

One level above the number you declare. Pick one of the six-digit codes below.

Section XVI, Machinery & Electrical — machinery, mechanical appliances, electrical and electronic equipment.

  1. 85 Chapter Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers; television image and sound recorders and reproducers, parts and accessories of such articles
  2. 36 Heading Electrical apparatus for switching, protecting electrical circuits, for making connections to or in electrical circuits, for a voltage not exceeding 1000 volts; connectors for optical fibres, optical fibre bundles or cables
  3. —— Subheading Pick one of the 10 six-digit codes below

Chapter 85 covers electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers; television image and sound recorders and reproducers, parts and accessories of such articles: motors, generators, batteries, telephones, semiconductors and most consumer electronics. Together with chapter 84 it makes up Section XVI, the machinery and electronics backbone of modern manufacturing trade. Classification tip: Multi-function electronics (a phone that's also a camera and a computer) are classified by their principal function under the General Rules of Interpretation, which is often the single most disputed classification question in this chapter.

All of chapter 85

The 10 six-digit codes under 85.36

One of these is the number you declare.

Other headings in chapter 85

85.01 Electric motors and generators (excluding generating sets) 85.02 Electric generating sets and rotary converters 85.03 Electric motors and generators; parts suitable for use solely or principally with the machines of heading no. 8501 or 8502 85.04 Electric transformers, static converters (e.g. rectifiers) and inductors 85.05 Electro-magnets; permanent magnets, intended permanent magnets; electro-magnetic, permanent magnet chucks, clamps, similar; electromagnetic couplings, clutches, brakes; electro-magnetic lifting heads 85.06 Cells and batteries; primary 85.07 Electric accumulators, including separators therefor; whether or not rectangular (including square) 85.08 Vacuum cleaners 85.09 Electro-mechanical domestic appliances; with self-contained electric motor, other than vacuum cleaners of heading 85.08. 85.10 Shavers, hair clippers and hair removing appliances, with self-contained electric motor 85.11 Ignition or starting equipment; used for spark-ignition or compression-ignition internal combustion engines; generators and cut outs used in conjunction with such engines 85.12 Lighting or visual signalling equipment (excluding articles of heading no. 8539), windscreen wipers, defrosters and demisters; electrical, of a kind used for cycles or motor vehicles 85.13 Lamps; portable, electric, designed to function by their own source of energy (e.g. dry batteries, accumulators, magnetos), excluding lighting equipment of heading no. 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 (electrically heated gas) soldering, brazing, welding machines and apparatus, capable or not of cutting, electric machines and apparatus for hot spraying of metals or sintered carbides 85.16 Electric water, space, soil heaters; electro-thermic hair-dressing apparatus; hand dryers, irons; electro-thermic appliances for domestic purposes; electro heating resistors, not of heading no. 8545 85.17 Telephone sets, including smartphones and other telephones for cellular/wireless networks; other apparatus for the transmission or reception of voice, images or other data (including wired/wireless networks), excluding items of 8443, 8525, 8527, or 8528 85.18 Microphones and their stands; loudspeakers, mounted or not in their enclosures; headphones and earphones, combined or not with a microphone, and sets of a microphone and one or more loudspeakers; audio-frequency and electric sound amplifiers and sets 85.19 Sound recording or reproducing apparatus 85.21 Video recording or reproducing apparatus 85.22 Sound or video recording apparatus; 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, 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 Transmission apparatus; parts suitable for use solely or principally with the apparatus of heading no. 8524 to 8528 85.30 Signalling, safety or traffic control equipment; for railways, tramways, roads, inland waterways, parking facilities, port installations, airfields, excluding those of heading no. 8608 85.31 Signalling apparatus; electric sound or visual (e.g. bells, sirens, indicator panels, burglar or fire alarms), excluding those of heading no. 8512 or 8530 85.32 Electrical capacitors; fixed, variable or adjustable (pre-set) 85.33 Electrical resistors (including rheostats and potentiometers), excluding heating resistors 85.34 Circuits; printed 85.35 Electrical apparatus for switching, protecting electrical circuits, for making connections to or in electrical circuits; for a voltage exceeding 1000 volts 85.37 Boards, panels, consoles, desks, cabinets, bases with apparatus of heading no. 8535, 8536 for electricity control and distribution, (other than switching apparatus of heading no. 8517) 85.38 Electrical apparatus; parts suitable for use solely or principally with the apparatus of heading no. 8535, 8536 and 8537 85.39 Lamps; electric filament or discharge lamps, including sealed beam lamp units and ultra-violet or infra-red lamps, arc lamps, light-emitting diode (LED) light sources 85.40 Thermionic, cold cathode or photo-cathode valves and tubes (e.g. vacuum, vapour, gas filled valves and tubes, mercury arc rectifying valves and tubes, cathode-ray and television camera tubes) 85.41 Semiconductor devices (e.g. diodes, transistors, semiconductor based transducers); including photovoltaic cells assembled or not in modules or panels, light-emitting diodes (LED) assembled with other LEDs or not, 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 wire, cable and other electric conductors, connector fitted or not; optical fibre cables 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, equipment, excluding insulators of heading no. 8546, electrical conduit tubing and joints therefore 85.48 Electrical parts of machinery or apparatus; not specified or elsewhere included in this chapter 85.49 Electrical and electronic waste and scrap

The wording above is the Harmonized System nomenclature as published by the World Customs Organization, HS 2022 edition. It is a classification reference, not a tariff: it carries no duty rates, and it stops at six digits — the importing country adds its own beyond that.

Classification is decided by the General Rules of Interpretation and the section and chapter notes, and it is the importing country’s customs authority that makes it binding.

Shipping goods under 85.36? A customs hold shows up as a milestone that stops moving — follow the container or the air waybill from departure to delivery.

Track a shipment

85.36 FAQ

Heading 85.36 covers electrical apparatus for switching, protecting electrical circuits, for making connections to or in electrical circuits, for a voltage not exceeding 1000 volts; connectors for optical fibres, optical fibre bundles or cables. It is part of chapter 85 (electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers; television image and sound recorders and reproducers, parts and accessories of such articles), and it is subdivided into 10 six-digit subheadings — the level you actually declare.

Pick one of the 10 subheadings below. Those six digits are what customs recognises internationally; the importing country may extend them to eight or ten in its own tariff schedule.

The General Rules of Interpretation, read together with the notes to Section XVI and to chapter 85. A description that reads right is not enough on its own — the notes routinely pull goods out of the chapter they obviously belong to and put them somewhere else. Where duty or licensing turns on the answer, ask the importing country’s customs authority for a binding ruling.

A wrong or missing code is one of the common reasons customs holds a container, and a hold shows up as a milestone that stops moving. Watch for it in the container tracking app, on the air waybill in the air cargo tracker, or through the tracking API.

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