To place a smart or connected device in the Harmonized System, work through the legal notes in a fixed order. First check whether a Chapter 90 heading describes it, because Note 1(m) to Section XVI keeps articles of Chapter 90 out of Chapters 84 and 85, while Note 1(h) to Chapter 90 sends television and digital cameras, radar, radio remote controls and some other items back to Chapter 85. Then test whether it is an automatic data processing machine under Note 6 to Chapter 84, which excludes machines that perform a specific function other than data processing. If the device combines several functions, Note 3 to Section XVI classifies it by its principal function, and heading 85.43 is used only when no other heading fits.
Applied that way, CBP rulings have placed smartwatches and smart displays in subheading 8517.62 because their main job is receiving and transmitting data, smart Wi-Fi LED bulbs in heading 85.39 (the LED lamp line is 8539.52 under HS 2022), a wireless outdoor camera system in 85.25 and a smart thermostat in 90.32.
| Question | Deciding provision (HS 2022) | Typical outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Does a Chapter 90 heading describe it? | Section XVI Note 1(m); Chapter 90 Note 1(h) | Chapter 90, unless it is one of the items Note 1(h) sends to Chapter 85 |
| Is it an ADP machine or a unit of one? | Chapter 84 Note 6(A) to (E) | 84.71, or the heading for its specific function |
| Does it combine functions? | Section XVI Note 3 (applied to Chapter 90 by its Note 3) | Heading of the principal function |
| Is it a part or module? | Section XVI Note 2; Chapter 90 Note 2 | Its own heading if it is a “good” of one, otherwise with the machine |
| Does nothing else fit? | Heading 85.43 | Residual heading |
The six-digit analysis below is the same in every HS country. The US rulings and the HTSUS subheadings cited are US law, and the HS 2028 amendments that enter into force on 1 January 2028 will need a fresh check of any code taken from this page.
Why the order of the questions decides the answer
GRI 1 says classification is determined by the terms of the headings and any relative Section or Chapter Notes. For electronics the notes do most of the work, and they are written as exclusions and priority rules. If you start from the heading that sounds right (“it is a speaker, so 85.18”) you can miss a note that took the product out of that heading before you got there. So I take the questions in the order of the table above, with one addition after the exclusion notes: check the headings that the notes put ahead of all others, 85.24 for flat panel display modules (Chapter 85 Note 7) and 85.41/85.42 for semiconductor devices and integrated circuits (Chapter 85 Note 12).
GRI 3(b) appears in several of the rulings below, mostly for retail sets (a device packed with its charger) or composite goods. It is not the starting point for a device that a heading and a note already describe.
Step 1: Chapter 90 first, with the exceptions in its Note 1(h)
Note 1(m) to Section XVI excludes “Articles of Chapter 90” from Chapters 84 and 85. So a device that answers to a Chapter 90 heading, such as an instrument for measuring or checking (90.31), for measuring the flow, level or pressure of liquids or gases (90.26), an automatic regulating or controlling instrument (90.32) or a medical instrument (90.18), goes to Chapter 90 even if it is full of electronics.
Chapter 90 then returns some goods to Chapter 85. Its Note 1(h) excludes, among others, “television cameras, digital cameras and video camera recorders (heading 85.25)” and “radar apparatus, radio navigational aid apparatus or radio remote control apparatus (heading 85.26)”. That is why a digital camera is classified in 85.25 and not in heading 90.06 (photographic cameras).
Chapter 90 Note 3 applies Notes 3 and 4 to Section XVI to Chapter 90 as well, so a multifunction instrument is classified by its principal function there too.
Two of the site’s case studies show the Chapter 90 boundary working from opposite sides. In the UV flame scanner analysis, the notes lead to 9031.49 and away from 84.71 and 90.13. In the infrared video goggles case study, a camera-based diagnostic device ends in 9018.19 as a medical instrument and not in 85.25.
FDA status does not decide the heading
FDA device classification answers whether and how a product is regulated in the United States. Heading 90.18 asks a different question: is the article an instrument or appliance “used in medical, surgical, dental or veterinary sciences”, read with the Explanatory Notes? FDA clearance can be evidence of the intended use, and its absence can point the other way, but in my view neither replaces the analysis of the heading terms and the notes.
Thermostats, controllers and Wi-Fi modules: one product family, three headings
NY N333850 (1 August 2023) shows how one “smart” product family splits. CBP classified a wall-mounted smart thermostat in 9032.10.0030 as an automatic regulating instrument, a wireless base control module in 8537.10.9170 because it “performs an electrical control function which is specifically provided for elsewhere in the tariff”, and a Wi-Fi module in 8517.62.0090 because it “is designed to enable Wi-Fi connectivity and transfer data wirelessly.” The requester had proposed 9032.90 (parts of thermostats) for both modules, and CBP disagreed. The ruling does not cite it, but the result is what Chapter 90 Note 2(a) requires: parts and accessories that are goods of a heading of Chapter 84, 85, 90 or 91 are “in all cases to be classified in their respective headings”, subject to stated exceptions.
Camera drones: heading 88.06
Drones leave Chapters 84, 85 and 90 altogether once they fall within heading 88.06 (unmanned aircraft), added in HS 2022. Note 1 to Chapter 88 defines unmanned aircraft as aircraft “designed to be flown without a pilot on board” and expressly includes those equipped with “permanently integrated digital cameras”. A drone with a built-in camera therefore stays in 88.06; the camera does not move it to 85.25 or 90.06. Flying toys “designed solely for amusement purposes” are excluded and go to heading 95.03. The 88.06 subheadings turn on remote-controlled flight and maximum take-off weight. As a cross-check from another jurisdiction, UK Advance Tariff Ruling 600014479 (valid from 5 December 2025) classifies a quadcopter of under 249 g with a 1080p camera in 8806.21.10.
Step 2: is it an ADP machine, or a machine with a specific function?
Heading 84.71 covers automatic data processing machines and their units. Note 6(A) to Chapter 84 (Note 5 in HS 2017, which is why older rulings cite Note 5) defines an ADP machine as one capable of storing the processing program and the data it needs, “being freely programmed in accordance with the requirements of the user”, performing arithmetical computations specified by the user, and executing a program that requires it to modify its execution by logical decision during the run, without human intervention.
Meeting that definition is necessary but not sufficient. Note 6(D) says 84.71 does not cover the following when presented separately, even if they meet the conditions for units: printers, copiers and fax machines; apparatus for the transmission or reception of voice, images or other data, including network apparatus; loudspeakers and microphones; television cameras, digital cameras and video camera recorders; and monitors and projectors not incorporating television reception apparatus. Note 6(E) adds that machines “incorporating or working in conjunction with an automatic data processing machine and performing a specific function other than data processing” are classified in the heading for that function or, failing that, in a residual heading.
Two decisions show the line. In HQ H326071 (25 July 2023), CBP classified the HP Presence Small Space Solution, a videoconferencing system built around a mini PC, in 8517.62.00. The PC came preloaded with Zoom or Teams and could not run the other without a connected laptop, so it failed the “freely programmed” test in Note 6(A)(ii); CBP also applied Note 6(E) because the system performs a telecommunication function. The videoconferencing system case study walks through that ruling. In the other direction, an Indian tribunal accepted 84.71 for a face-recognition access controller on evidence of its memory, embedded operating system and programmability; that decision is analysed in the access controller case study.
Monitors are the other frequent 84.71 question. Since they are excluded from 84.71 by Note 6(D)(v), they go to heading 85.28, where subheadings 8528.42, 8528.52 and 8528.62 cover monitors and projectors “capable of directly connecting to and designed for use with an automatic data processing machine of heading 84.71”. Display modules designed to be built into other goods are a different case: Chapter 85 Note 7 gives heading 85.24 priority over every other heading for flat panel display modules, as the Note 7 case study on laptop LCD panels shows.
Step 3: communication apparatus and multifunction devices
Heading 85.17 covers telephone sets, including smartphones, and “other apparatus for the transmission or reception of voice, images or other data, including apparatus for communication in a wired or wireless network”, other than the transmission or reception apparatus of headings 84.43, 85.25, 85.27 or 85.28. Subheading 8517.62 covers machines for the reception, conversion and transmission or regeneration of voice, images or other data. Smartphones have their own subheading, 8517.13, and Chapter 85 Note 5 defines them as telephones for cellular networks equipped with a mobile operating system.
Note 3 to Section XVI classifies composite machines, and machines designed for two or more complementary or alternative functions, as the component or machine that performs the principal function. For many consumer devices CBP has found that function to be data transmission. The hard part is proving it from the facts.
Smart displays and smart speakers
In HQ H316742 (3 June 2022), CBP classified Amazon’s Echo Show 5, 8 and 10 in 8517.62.00. It treated the speakers, microphone array, touchscreen and camera as a composite machine under Section XVI Note 3 and found the principal function to be receiving and transmitting data between users, servers and connected devices. Heading 85.18 (loudspeakers) was rejected. The ruling covers display models. For a speaker without a screen I would run the same principal-function analysis, but that is my reading and not a ruling.
Smartwatches and hybrid watches
CBP has classified the Apple Watch (HQ H260060, 14 July 2015), the Movado M1 Bold smart watch (HQ H265038, 23 February 2016) and Kronaby hybrid smartwatches with analog faces (HQ H285617, 4 May 2018) in 8517.62.00, each by GRI 3(b) as a composite good, rejecting heading 91.02. It classified the Timex Metropolitan+, an analog watch with step tracking over Bluetooth, in 9102.11.45 (HQ H271909, 8 July 2016).
The deciding fact across these rulings is what the device does in use. In the Apple Watch ruling CBP found the radio transceiver gave the essential character because the core functions depend on the wireless link to a paired phone. In the Kronaby ruling the time was adjusted through the app and could not be adjusted manually on the watch after a connection interruption. The Timex watch kept its essential character as an analog timepiece because its data functions were ancillary. In these rulings the real contest was between 85.17 and 91.02; headings that describe single components, such as 90.31 for the sensors, were noted and set aside. The smartwatch comparative ruling analysis compares CBP’s position with Canada’s.
Earphones and connected cameras
Bluetooth earphones sit on the 85.17/85.18 line. Subheading 8518.30 names headphones and earphones, whether or not combined with a microphone, so a product that is mainly for listening to audio is described by the heading terms. Two Indian tribunal decisions reached different results on different facts, a telephony headset in 8517.62 and music earbuds in 8518.30, and the Bluetooth earphone case study sets them side by side.
Connected cameras go the other way. In NY N324932 (13 April 2022), CBP classified a retail set of two wire-free outdoor security cameras and a HomeBase hub in 8525.89.30, rejecting the requested 8517.62.00. It held that the cameras gave the set its essential character and that “the network connectivity functionality is a secondary or support function.” A Wi-Fi radio in a product does not, on its own, make the product communication apparatus.
Step 4: specific Chapter 85 headings that catch “smart” products
Several smart products have a specific heading that describes what they are, and the connectivity does not move them.
LED lamps. Since HS 2022, subheading 8539.52 covers light-emitting diode (LED) lamps. Chapter 85 Note 11 separates them from LED modules (8539.51): a lamp has a cap designed to allow easy installation or replacement in a luminaire. An app-controlled LED bulb with a standard cap is still an LED lamp. In NY N300891 (30 October 2018), under HS 2017, CBP classified TP-Link smart Wi-Fi bulbs in 8539.50.0010, the LED lamp provision of that time; the HS 2022 equivalent is 8539.52. Heading 94.05 is not an alternative: it covers luminaires and lighting fittings “not elsewhere specified or included”, and Note 1(f) to Chapter 94 excludes “Lamps or light sources and parts thereof of Chapter 85”. The same ruling put the smart switches and a single-outlet plug in 8536.50.70, a dual-outlet plug and a power strip in 8537.10.91, and the cameras in 8525.80.30 (8525.89 after HS 2022), each by its own function.
Power supplies and converters. Static converters, including power adapters and DC-DC converters, are in heading 85.04; the DC-DC converter case study explains the 8504.40 analysis.
Semiconductors. Chapter 85 Note 12 gives headings 85.41 and 85.42 priority over any other heading in the nomenclature (except 85.23) for the devices and integrated circuits it defines, including multi-component integrated circuits.
Step 5: heading 85.43 is the last stop
Heading 85.43 covers “electrical machines and apparatus, having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this Chapter.” It is correct for a device whose function no other heading describes, and only then. Before using it, I would want a written reason why each of 84.71, 85.17, 85.18, 85.25, 85.26, 85.28, 85.37 and the relevant Chapter 90 headings fails. Some products are named in it: since HS 2022, subheading 8543.40 covers “electronic cigarettes and similar personal electric vaporising devices”.
Parts and modules
Section XVI Note 2 governs parts of Chapter 84 and 85 machines. Under Note 2(a), parts that are goods included in a heading of Chapter 84 or 85 (with stated exceptions) are classified in their own headings. Note 2(b) sends other parts suitable solely or principally for one kind of machine to that machine’s heading or its parts heading, with special treatment for parts of 85.17, 85.24 and 85.25 to 85.28. Note 2(c) sends the rest to the listed parts headings, such as 84.73, 85.29 or 85.38, or failing that to 84.87 or 85.48. Chapter 90 Note 2 follows the same pattern, with heading 90.33 as the fallback.
So a module with its own function (a Wi-Fi module, a power supply, a display module, a camera module) is usually classified in its own heading before anyone asks what machine it goes into, as N333850 shows.
Errors that keep appearing
The common errors are the ones covered above: a smart LED bulb put in 94.05 because it is “a lamp”, a camera drone treated as a camera, FDA status used as the classification, 85.43 used to settle a contest between two specific headings, and any device with a processor assumed to be 84.71.
One more sits outside the six-digit analysis. In the United States the 8- and 10-digit HTSUS numbers decide which Chapter 99 additional duties attach to the entry line, so a wrong subheading within Chapter 85 can change the duty even when the heading is right.
Rulings cited
| Authority | Ruling | Date | Product | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CBP | HQ H260060 | 14 July 2015 | Apple Watch | 8517.62.00 |
| CBP | HQ H265038 | 23 February 2016 | Movado M1 Bold smart watch and charger | 8517.62.00 |
| CBP | HQ H271909 | 8 July 2016 | Timex Metropolitan+ watch | 9102.11.45 |
| CBP | HQ H285617 | 4 May 2018 | Kronaby hybrid smartwatches | 8517.62.00 |
| CBP | NY N300891 | 30 October 2018 | TP-Link smart switches, plugs, bulbs, cameras | 8536.50.70, 8537.10.91, 8539.50.00 (now 8539.52), 8525.80.30 (HS 2017 lines) |
| CBP | HQ H316742 | 3 June 2022 | Echo Show 5, 8 and 10 | 8517.62.00 |
| CBP | NY N324932 | 13 April 2022 | Outdoor wire-free security camera set | 8525.89.30 |
| CBP | NY N333850 | 1 August 2023 | Smart thermostat, base control module, Wi-Fi module | 9032.10.00, 8537.10.91, 8517.62.00 |
| CBP | HQ H326071 | 25 July 2023 | HP Presence videoconferencing systems | 8517.62.00 |
| UK HMRC | ATaR 600014479 | 5 December 2025 | Sub-250 g camera drone | 8806.21.10 (UK) |
Rulings bind only for the products and parties they cover, and CBP can modify or revoke them, so check CROSS for later rulings citing the same subheadings before you rely on one.
Questions people ask
Does adding Bluetooth or Wi-Fi make a product heading 85.17?
No. Connectivity makes 85.17 a candidate, and Section XVI Note 3 (or GRI 3(b) for sets and composite goods) then asks what the main function is. The Echo Show and the Wi-Fi security camera set above both have radios and ended in different headings.
When is a binding ruling worth requesting for an electronic device?
When the device sits on one of the boundaries above, the volume is significant and no ruling covers substantially identical goods. Writing the request also forces you to state the facts that decide the principal function.
If you have a connected device that could fall in more than one of these chapters, I work on classification questions of this kind and can be reached through the contact page.
Sources
- WCO, HS Nomenclature 2022, Section XVI Notes
- WCO, HS Nomenclature 2022, Chapter 84
- WCO, HS Nomenclature 2022, Chapter 85
- WCO, HS Nomenclature 2022, Chapter 88
- WCO, HS Nomenclature 2022, Chapter 90
- WCO, HS Nomenclature 2022, Chapter 94
- CBP CROSS, HQ H260060 (Apple Watch)
- CBP CROSS, HQ H265038 (Movado M1 Bold)
- CBP CROSS, HQ H271909 (Timex Metropolitan+)
- CBP CROSS, HQ H285617 (Kronaby hybrid smartwatches)
- CBP CROSS, NY N300891 (TP-Link smart switches, plugs, bulbs and cameras)
- CBP CROSS, HQ H316742 (Echo Show)
- CBP CROSS, NY N324932 (outdoor security camera system)
- CBP CROSS, NY N333850 (thermostat, base control module, Wi-Fi module)
- CBP CROSS, HQ H326071 (HP Presence videoconferencing system)
- HMRC, Advance Tariff Ruling 600014479
This article explains the law and practice in general terms. It is not legal advice on a specific product or shipment; for that, check the current official sources or ask a qualified adviser.