HS Chapter 85 — Electrical machinery and equipment; sound and television apparatus

HS chapter 85 (Electrical machinery and equipment; sound and television apparatus) covers 263 product categories in U.S. import records, with 4,923,768 bill-of-lading shipments. The most imported headings are Electric instantaneous or storage water heaters and immersion heaters, Electrical lighting or signaling equipment (excluding articles of heading 8539), windshield wipers, defrosters and demisters, of a kind used for cycles or motor vehicles, and Electrical filament or discharge lamps, including sealed beam lamp units and ultraviolet or infrared lamps.

Sourced from U.S. Customs bill of lading data · Updated monthly · Data through August 2026 · Chapter → heading → product, drill in for importers and suppliersCite as: ImportDoor, U.S. Customs bill of lading data (data through August 2026), https://www.importdoor.com/products/chapter/85

Headings in this chapter

HS	Heading	Products	Shipments
8516	Electric instantaneous or storage water heaters and immersion heaters	14	749,513
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	5	364,925
8539	Electrical filament or discharge lamps, including sealed beam lamp units and ultraviolet or infrared lamps	11	301,142
8518	Microphones and stands therefor	8	290,101
8541	Semiconductor devices (for example, diodes, transistors, semiconductor-based transducers)	10	245,035
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	10	211,282
8504	Electrical transformers, static converters (for example, rectifiers) and inductors	11	210,437
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)	10	191,079
8514	Industrial or laboratory electric furnaces and ovens (including those functioning by induction or dielectric loss)	5	189,492
8544	Insulated (including enameled or anodized) wire, cable (including coaxial cable) and other insulated electric conductors, whether or not fitted with connectors	8	179,676
8501	Electric motors and generators (excluding generating sets)	14	166,087
8506	Primary cells and primary batteries	6	147,354
8509	Electromechanical domestic appliances, with self-contained electric motor, other than vacuum cleaners of heading 8508	3	140,694
8543	Electrical machines and apparatus, having individual functions	5	128,851
8507	Electric storage batteries, including separators therefor, whether or not rectangular (including square)	7	116,734
8532	Electrical capacitors, fixed, variable or adjustable (pre-set)	9	115,283
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)	7	105,297
8526	Radar apparatus, radio navigational aid apparatus and radio remote control apparatus	3	97,834
8538	Parts suitable for use solely or principally with the apparatus of heading 8535, 8536 or 8537	2	87,357
8510	Shavers, hair clippers and hair-removing appliances, with self-contained electric motor	4	82,425
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	8	81,000
8517	Telephone sets, including smartphones and other telephones for cellular networks or for other wireless networks	9	71,133
8529	Parts suitable for use solely or principally with the apparatus of headings 8524 to 8528	2	68,560
8503	HS 8503	1	55,445
8505	Electromagnets	4	54,339
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	6	47,934
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	2	41,489
8533	Electrical resistors (including rheostats and potentiometers), other than heating resistors	7	40,979
8528	Monitors and projectors, not incorporating television reception apparatus	6	37,840
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	3	37,696
8534	HS 8534	1	36,656
8502	Electric generating sets and rotary converters	7	32,326
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	4	28,524
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)	3	25,258
8527	Reception apparatus for radiobroadcasting, whether or not combined, in the same housing, with sound recording or reproducing apparatus or a clock	8	23,499
8546	Electrical insulators of any material	3	21,599
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	2	17,797
8542	Electronic integrated circuits	3	15,215
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	4	15,003
8508	Vacuum cleaners	4	14,218
8525	Transmission apparatus for radio-broadcasting or television, whether or not incorporating reception apparatus or sound recording or reproducing apparatus	4	10,000
8522	Parts and accessories suitable for use solely or principally with the apparatus of heading 8519 or 8521	2	6,473
8519	Sound recording or reproducing apparatus	3	6,426
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	8	6,284
8524	Flat panel display modules, whether or not incorporating touch-sensitive screens	3	3,700
8521	Video recording or reproducing apparatus, whether or not incorporating a video tuner	2	3,200
8548	HS 8548	1	403
8549	Electrical and electronic waste and scrap	1	174

Frequently asked questions about HS chapter 85

What is HS chapter 85?

Chapter 85 of the Harmonized System covers electrical machinery and equipment, sound and television apparatus. In U.S. import records it spans 48 four-digit headings and 263 six-digit product codes.

How many U.S. import shipments fall under HS chapter 85?

ImportDoor has 4,923,768 U.S. Customs bill-of-lading shipment records under chapter 85, updated monthly.

Which HS 85 heading is imported most into the U.S.?

HS 8516 (Electric instantaneous or storage water heaters and immersion heaters) leads with 749,513 shipments, followed by HS 8512 (Electrical lighting or signaling equipment, windshield wipers) and HS 8539 (Electrical filament or discharge lamps).