HTS Chapter 85: Electrical machinery and equipment; sound and TV apparatus; parts
HTS Chapter 85 covers Electrical machinery and equipment; sound and TV apparatus; parts. Browse 45 published headings, then narrow to the active product line that matches the goods.
2026 HTS Rev 19 Synced Rules verified Operational
Plain-language explainer
Written to help non-specialists understand this page. Rates, dates, and legal facts come from the official records above and on the linked source.
Chapter 85 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) covers many electrical and electromechanical goods. Representative products include motors and generators, transformers and converters, magnets, batteries, household appliances with built-in motors, vehicle electrical equipment, portable electric lamps, and industrial electrical heating, soldering, brazing, and welding equipment. Parts may also be covered, but the correct treatment depends on the product’s design and the relevant heading provisions.
The HTS is read from broad to specific: chapter, heading, subheading, and then the complete 10-digit statistical classification. Start with the product’s objective characteristics—what it is, how it works, its principal function, power source, application, and whether it is a part or complete article. Then compare the heading texts, section and chapter notes, exclusions, and subheading descriptions. Classification can depend on intended use, but use alone does not always control; complex or borderline products may require customs-broker or other professional review.
What to check
- Document the product’s function, construction, electrical specifications, power source, capacity, and principal use before selecting a code.
- Compare competing headings and read all applicable section notes, Chapter 85 notes, exclusions, and parts provisions; do not classify from a product name alone.
- Check whether the item is a complete machine, a dedicated part, an accessory, or a general-purpose component, because these may be treated differently.
- Verify whether another chapter or heading specifically covers the product, including possible exclusions for lighting, vehicles, machinery, or other specialized goods.
- After identifying the 10-digit HTS code, review current official tariff data for statistical suffix requirements and any applicable Chapter 99 measures or other additional duties.
How to use this chapter
A chapter is the first classification level, not a duty rate. Choose the heading that describes the product, narrow by material, construction, use, or other legal distinctions, and verify the final line against the official HTS notes.
Heading list
| HTS code | Description | Linked 8-digit entries |
|---|---|---|
| 8501 | Electric motors and generators (excluding generating sets): | 0 |
| 8502 | Electric generating sets and rotary converters: | 2 |
| 8504 | Electrical transformers, static converters (for example, rectifiers) and inductors; parts thereof: | 0 |
| 8505 | Electromagnets; permanent magnets and articles intended to become permanent magnets after magnetization; electromagnetic or permanent magnet chucks, clamps and similar holding devices; electromagnetic couplings, clutches and brakes; electromagnetic lifting heads; parts thereof: | 1 |
| 8506 | Primary cells and primary batteries; parts thereof: | 4 |
| 8507 | Electric storage batteries, including separators therefor, whether or not rectangular (including square); parts thereof: | 2 |
| 8508 | Vacuum cleaners; parts thereof: | 0 |
| 8509 | Electromechanical domestic appliances, with self-contained electric motor, other than vacuum cleaners of heading 8508; parts thereof: | 1 |
| 8510 | Shavers, hair clippers and hair-removing appliances, with self-contained electric motor; parts thereof: | 0 |
| 8511 | 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, spark plugs and glow plugs, starter motors); generators (for example, dynamos, alternators) and cut-outs of a kind used in conjunction with such engines; parts thereof: | 1 |
| 8512 | Electrical lighting or signaling equipment (excluding articles of heading 8539), windshield wipers, defrosters and demisters, of a kind used for cycles or motor vehicles; parts thereof: | 1 |
| 8513 | Portable electric lamps designed to function by their own source of energy (for example, dry batteries, storage batteries, magnetos), other than lighting equipment of heading 8512; parts thereof: | 0 |
| 8514 | 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; parts thereof: | 0 |
| 8515 | 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; parts thereof: | 2 |
| 8516 | Electric instantaneous or storage water heaters and immersion heaters; electric space heating apparatus and soil heating apparatus; electrothermic hairdressing apparatus (for example, hair dryers, hair curlers, curling tong heaters) and hand dryers; electric flatirons; other electrothermic appliances of a kind used for domestic purposes; electric heating resistors, other than those of heading 8545; parts thereof: | 2 |
| 8517 | 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; parts thereof: | 3 |
| 8518 | 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; parts thereof: | 0 |
| 8519 | Sound recording or reproducing apparatus: | 0 |
| 8521 | Video recording or reproducing apparatus, whether or not incorporating a video tuner: | 0 |
| 8522 | Parts and accessories suitable for use solely or principally with the apparatus of heading 8519 or 8521: | 0 |
| 8523 | 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: | 1 |
| 8524 | Flat panel display modules, whether or not incorporating touch-sensitive screens: | 0 |
| 8525 | 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: | 0 |
| 8526 | Radar apparatus, radio navigational aid apparatus and radio remote control apparatus: | 1 |
| 8527 | Reception apparatus for radiobroadcasting, whether or not combined, in the same housing, with sound recording or reproducing apparatus or a clock: | 0 |
| 8528 | 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: | 0 |
| 8529 | Parts suitable for use solely or principally with the apparatus of headings 8524 to 8528: | 0 |
| 8530 | Electrical signaling, safety or traffic control equipment for railways, streetcar lines, subways, roads, inland waterways, parking facilities, port installations or airfields (other than those of heading 8608); parts thereof: | 0 |
| 8531 | Electric sound or visual signaling apparatus (for example, bells, sirens, indicator panels, burglar or fire alarms), other than those of heading 8512 or 8530; parts thereof: | 2 |
| 8532 | Electrical capacitors, fixed, variable or adjustable (pre-set); parts thereof: | 1 |
| 8533 | Electrical resistors (including rheostats and potentiometers), other than heating resistors; parts thereof: | 1 |
| 8535 | 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: | 2 |
| 8536 | 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 fibers, optical fiber bundles or cables: | 2 |
| 8537 | 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: | 1 |
| 8538 | Parts suitable for use solely or principally with the apparatus of heading 8535, 8536 or 8537: | 0 |
| 8539 | Electrical filament or discharge lamps, including sealed beam lamp units and ultraviolet or infrared lamps; arc lamps; light-emitting diode (LED) light sources; parts thereof: | 1 |
| 8540 | Thermionic, cold cathode or photocathode tubes (for example, vacuum or vapor or gas filled tubes, mercury arc rectifying tubes, cathode-ray tubes, television camera tubes); parts thereof: | 2 |
| 8541 | 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; parts thereof: | 4 |
| 8542 | Electronic integrated circuits; parts thereof: | 3 |
| 8543 | Electrical machines and apparatus, having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof: | 1 |
| 8544 | Insulated (including enameled or anodized) wire, cable (including coaxial cable) and other insulated electric conductors, whether or not fitted with connectors; optical fiber cables, made up of individually sheathed fibers, whether or not assembled with electric conductors or fitted with connectors: | 1 |
| 8545 | 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: | 1 |
| 8546 | Electrical insulators of any material: | 1 |
| 8547 | 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 molding solely for the purposes of assembly, other than insulators of heading 8546; electrical conduit tubing and joints therefor, of base metal lined with insulating material: | 1 |
| 8549 | Electrical and electronic waste and scrap: | 0 |
Linked measures
0 linked measure entries in the current snapshot.
Questions about HTS Chapter 85
What does HTS Chapter 85 cover?
HTS Chapter 85 covers Electrical machinery and equipment; sound and TV apparatus; parts. This page groups the chapter’s 4-digit headings; a shipment still needs the most specific active 8- or 10-digit line supported by the product facts.
Is HTS Chapter 85 a final product classification?
No. A chapter is a broad 2-digit category. Narrow it to the applicable heading and the most specific active statistical line before estimating duty or filing an entry.