Chapter 90 — Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus; parts and accessories 4-digit heading

90.18 Instruments and appliances used in medical, surgical, dental or veterinary sciences, including scintigraphic apparatus, other electro-medical apparatus and sight testing instruments

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

Section XVIII, Instruments & Clocks — optical, photographic, measuring and medical instruments, clocks and musical instruments.

  1. 90 Chapter Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus; parts and accessories
  2. 18 Heading Instruments and appliances used in medical, surgical, dental or veterinary sciences, including scintigraphic apparatus, other electro-medical apparatus and sight testing instruments
  3. —— Subheading Pick one of the 13 six-digit codes below

Chapter 90 covers optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus; parts and accessories: lenses, cameras, medical devices, lab instruments and precision measuring equipment. It's a broad, high-value chapter spanning consumer optics through hospital equipment. Classification tip: Medical devices in this chapter typically require separate regulatory clearance (FDA, CE marking, or the destination country's equivalent) before import approval, independent of and in addition to the HS classification.

All of chapter 90

The 13 six-digit codes under 90.18

One of these is the number you declare.

Other headings in chapter 90

90.01 Optical fibres and optical fibre bundles; optical fibre cables not of heading no. 8544; sheets, plates of polarising material; lenses, prisms, mirrors, of any material; unmounted; not non optical glass 90.02 Lenses, prisms, mirrors and other optical elements, of any material, mounted, being parts or fittings for instruments or apparatus, other than such elements of glass not optically worked 90.03 Frames and mountings; for spectacles, goggles or the like, and parts 90.04 Spectacles, goggles and the like; corrective, protective or other 90.05 Binoculars, monoculars, other optical telescopes, mountings therefore; other astronomical instruments, mountings therefore, but not including instruments for radio-astronomy 90.06 Cameras, photographic (excluding cinematographic); photographic flashlight apparatus and flashbulbs other than discharge lamps of heading no. 8539 90.07 Cinematographic cameras and projectors, whether or not incorporating sound recording or reproducing apparatus 90.08 Image projectors, other than cinematographic; photographic (other than cinematographic) enlargers and reducers 90.10 Photographic (including cinematographic) laboratory apparatus and equipment, n.e.c. in chapter 90; negatoscopes; projection screens 90.11 Microscopes, compound optical; including those for photomicrography, cinephotomicrography or microprojection 90.12 Microscopes (excluding optical microscopes); diffraction apparatus 90.13 Lasers, other than laser diodes; other optical appliances and instruments n.e.c. in this chapter 90.14 Navigational instruments and appliances; direction finding compasses 90.15 Surveying (including photogrammetrical surveying), hydrographic, oceanographic, hydrological, meteorological or geophysical instruments and appliances, excluding compasses, rangefinders 90.16 Balances; of a sensitivity of 5cg or better, with or without weights 90.17 Drawing, marking-out, mathematical calculating instruments (drafting machines, protractors, drawing sets etc); instruments for measuring length (e.g. measuring rods, tapes, micrometers, callipers) n.e.c. 90.19 Mechano-therapy, massage appliances; psychological aptitude testing apparatus; ozone, oxygen, aerosol therapy, artificial respiration or other therapeutic respiration apparatus 90.20 Breathing appliances and gas masks; excluding protective masks having neither mechanical parts nor replaceable filters and excluding apparatus of item no. 9019.20 90.21 Orthopaedic appliances; including crutches, surgical belts and trusses; splints and other fracture appliances; artificial parts of the body; hearing aids and other which are worn, carried or implanted in the body to compensate for a defect or disability 90.22 Apparatus based on the use of x-rays or of alpha, beta, gamma or other ionising radiations, whether or not for medical, surgical, dental or veterinary uses, including radiography or radiotherapy apparatus, x-ray tubes and other x-ray generators, high tens 90.23 Instruments, apparatus and models, designed for demonstrational purposes (in education or exhibitions), unsuitable for other uses 90.24 Machines and appliances for testing the hardness, strength, compressibility, elasticity of other mechanical properties of materials (e.g. metals, wood, textiles, paper, plastics) 90.25 Hydrometers and similar floating instruments, thermometers, pyrometers, barometers, hygrometers and psychrometers, recording or not 90.26 Instruments, apparatus for measuring or checking the flow, level, pressure of liquids, gases (e.g. flow meters, heat meters etc), not instruments and apparatus of heading no. 9014, 9015, 9028 or 9032 90.27 Instruments and apparatus; for physical or chemical analysis (e.g. polarimeters, spectrometers), for measuring or checking viscosity, porosity, etc, for measuring quantities of heat, sound or light 90.28 Gas, liquid or electricity supply or production meters, including calibrating meters therefor 90.29 Revolution counter, production counters, taximeters, mileometers, pedometers and the like, speed indicators and tachometers, other than those of heading no. 9015, stroboscopes 90.30 Instruments, apparatus for measuring, checking electrical quantities not meters of heading no. 9028; instruments, apparatus for measuring or detecting alpha, beta, gamma, x-ray, cosmic and other radiations 90.31 Measuring or checking instruments, appliances and machines, n.e.c. or included in this chapter; profile projectors 90.32 Regulating or controlling instruments and apparatus; automatic type 90.33 Machines and appliances, instruments or apparatus of chapter 90; parts and accessories n.e.c. in chapter 90

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 90.18? 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

90.18 FAQ

Heading 90.18 covers instruments and appliances used in medical, surgical, dental or veterinary sciences, including scintigraphic apparatus, other electro-medical apparatus and sight testing instruments. It is part of chapter 90 (optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus; parts and accessories), and it is subdivided into 13 six-digit subheadings — the level you actually declare.

Pick one of the 13 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 XVIII and to chapter 90. 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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