HS Code Detail
420211 Chapter 42 · Leather Goods Suitcases and briefcases, leather outer
Six-digit subheading in Leather Goods, chapter 42 of the Harmonized System, priced here for 6 destination markets.
Anatomy of 420211
You will declare against a longer local code that begins 420211: ten digits in the United States and the United Kingdom, eight in the European Union, and the first six the same everywhere. Which trailing digits apply is what the 6 rates below differ on.
What this code covers
Import duty by country
MFN duty rate · 6 countries| Country | Duty | VAT |
|---|---|---|
| 🇦🇺Australia | 5% | 10% |
| 🇨🇦Canada | 11% | 5% |
| 🇩🇪Germany | 3% | 19% |
| 🇵🇹Portugal | 3% | 23% |
| 🇬🇧United Kingdom | 2% | 20% |
| 🇺🇸United States | 8% | 0% |
Rates shown are MFN (Most Favoured Nation), the default for WTO members. Preferential FTA rates may be lower with valid proof of origin. Section 301 / anti-dumping surcharges on Chinese-origin goods are not included.
What that costs: 420211 into Australia
An illustrative consignment of 420211 invoiced at AUD 2,000.00, priced in AUD because a threshold is set in the destination's currency and nothing here is converted.
| Goods value on the invoice | AUD 2,000.00 |
| International freight | AUD 120.00 |
| Cargo insurance | AUD 30.00 |
| Value the duty is charged on, FOB basis | AUD 2,000.00 |
| Duty at 5% | AUD 100.00 |
| Australia tax at 10%, charged on the value plus the duty | AUD 225.00 |
| Total, before commercial charges | AUD 2,475.00 |
And if the consignment were small
Australia relieves customs duty, GST and the Import Processing Charge on consignments at or under AUD 1,000. The 420211 shipment above is over that, so its duty is charged in full. The same code invoiced at exactly AUD 1,000 with no freight would be charged AUD 0.00 of duty and AUD 0.00 of tax, a total of AUD 1,000.00. The rate on the 420211 row has not changed; only the charge is relieved. The tax is not simply absent at that value: Australia collects it on the sale instead of at the border, so an overseas seller or marketplace above the registration threshold charges it at checkout. What the relief removes is the charge on arrival, not the tax.
Selling rather than buying? AUD 2,475.00 is what your buyer in Australia pays to take delivery of this consignment, yours to pay if you quote DDP and theirs if you quote DAP: Exporting to Australia sets out who collects it and what your invoice has to say.
An illustration, not a quotation: broker fees, handling and any trade remedy on the origin sit outside it. Price 420211 on your own numbers in the duty calculator.
How these rates were verified
Rates last verified 7 September 2026Every figure in the table above was read from the official tariff database of the market that charges it, on the date shown. Nothing here is copied from another aggregator.
- 🇺🇸US
- HTS General for 420211 US, read on 2026-09-07 from https://hts.usitc.gov/search?query=4202.11 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://hts.usitc.gov/reststop/exportList?from=42&to=43&format=CSV&styles=false. Both returned 8%. The United States International Trade Commission is the only body that publishes this schedule. The second reading was taken in a different format to check the reading, not to corroborate the schedule, because there is no second schedule to corroborate it against. Retrieved text: 4202.11.00 8%
- 🇬🇧GB
- Third country duty for 420211 GB, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/4202111010 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reference-document-for-the-customs-tariff-establishment-eu-exit-regulations-2020. Both returned 2%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 4202111010 2.00 %; 4202111090 2.00 %; 4202119010 2.00 %; 4202119090 2.00 %
- 🇨🇦CA
- MFN for 420211 CA, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2026/html/00/ch42-eng.html and again on 2026-09-07 from https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2026/menu-eng.html. Both returned 11%. The Canada Border Services Agency is the only body that publishes this schedule. The Department of Justice publishes the Act and refers readers to the Agency for the schedule itself, so both readings are the Agency's, taken from two different products. Retrieved text: 4202.11.00 11%
- 🇦🇺AU
- MFN for 420211 AU, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.abf.gov.au/importing-exporting-and-manufacturing/tariff-classification/current-tariff/schedule-3/section-viii/chapter-42 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04997/latest/text. Both returned 5%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 4202.11.10 5%; 4202.11.90 5% DCS:4% DCT:5%
- 🇩🇪DE 🇵🇹PT
- One reading covers DE and PT, which are priced from the same schedule: Third country duty (EU, via NI Online Tariff) for 420211 DE, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/xi/commodities/4202111010 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/en/results?product=420211&origin=CN&destination=DE. Both returned 3%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 4202111010 3.00 %; 4202111090 3.00 %; 4202119010 3.00 %; 4202119090 3.00 %
Re-check first: The United States rate on luggage follows the outer surface material, so a case with a leather outer is this code while a plastic or textile one is 420212 and anything else is 420219. Confirm the outer surface before reading the figure.
What falls under 420211
- Trunks, suitcases, vanity cases, executive cases and briefcases with an outer surface of leather or composition leather
- Hard and soft sided leather travel luggage and leather attache cases
What's specifically excluded
These look similar but belong under a different code:
Commonly confused with
420212: Plastic or textile cased luggage
Heading 4202 sorts by outer surface material before anything else, and outer surface means what a hand touches over most of the exterior. A polycarbonate shell with leather corner trim is plastic sided luggage, and leather trim on a textile bag does not make it leather.
420291: Leather travel bags
The first group in heading 4202 is rigid cases, trunks and briefcases; the later group is soft travel bags, holdalls and rucksacks. A structured leather weekend case and an unstructured leather holdall are in different subheadings despite similar materials and use.
Classification & cost note
Heading 4202 is one of the most litigated in the entire tariff, and almost all of the argument comes down to two words: outer surface. The test is the material presented to the outside of the article over the greater part of its exterior surface, not the frame, not the lining and not the material the brand emphasises. Composition leather counts as leather here, which importers frequently miss, while a leather look coated fabric does not. Because the subheadings under 4202 carry materially different rates in most markets, a mistake in the material determination is a rate error rather than a statistical one. Where an article combines materials in genuinely similar proportions the classification falls to essential character, and a photograph and a material breakdown by exterior surface area are the two things that settle these cases quickly.
Typical products: Leather hard shell suitcases · Leather executive and attache cases · Leather vanity and beauty cases · Leather cabin cases with structured frames
What the notes to section VIII say
Chapter 42 sits in section VIII, raw hides and skins, leather, furskins and articles thereof; saddlery and harness; travel goods, handbags and similar containers; articles of animal gut (other than silkworm gut), and the nomenclature publishes no note to that section at all, so the note to chapter 42 is the highest rule over this code; that is the published position rather than a gap here, and the chapter 42 page says the same, read from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/sections/8 on 2026-09-08.
What the nomenclature says about heading 4202
420211 is a subheading of 4202, trunks, suitcases, vanity cases, executive-cases, briefcases, school satchels, spectacle cases, binocular cases, camera cases, musical instrument cases, gun cases, holsters and similar containers; travelling-bags, insulated food or beverages bags, toilet bags, rucksacks, handbags, shopping-bags, wallets, purses, map-cases, cigarette-cases, tobacco-pouches, tool bags, sports bags, bottle-cases, jewellery boxes, powder boxes, cutlery cases and similar containers, of leather or of composition leather, of sheeting of plastics, of textile materials, of vulcanised fibre or of paperboard, or wholly or mainly covered with such materials or with paper , and this site holds 8 other codes under the same heading, which every rule below governs equally.
One numbered note to chapter 42 takes heading 4202 as its own subject, and it is quoted below in full, as published.
Note 3 to chapter 42
(A) In addition to the provisions of note 2 above, heading 4202 does not cover:
a. bags made of sheeting of plastics, whether or not printed, with handles, not designed for prolonged use (heading 3923);
b. articles of plaiting materials (heading 4602).
(B) Articles of heading 4202 and 4203 which have parts of precious metal or metal clad with precious metal, of natural or cultured pearls, of precious or semi-precious stones (natural, synthetic or reconstructed) remain classified in those headings, even if such parts constitute more than minor fittings or minor ornamentation, provided that these parts do not give the articles their essential character. If, on the other hand, the parts give the articles their essential character, the articles are to be classified in Chapter 71.
This note sends goods to chapter 71.
Read from the notes to chapter 42 published in the UK Trade Tariff by HM Revenue and Customs, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/chapters/42, with the heading title from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/headings/4202, on 2026-09-07, with the whole layer and the reason a heading note is a chapter note set out on the chapter 42 page. These notes are part of the international text of the Harmonized System, so the rule is the same whichever destination a shipment is going to, and it decides classification and never a rate.
Questions about 420211
What counts as the outer surface of a case?
The material presented to the outside over the greater part of the exterior. Frames, linings, trim and reinforcement do not count, so leather corners on a polycarbonate shell do not make the case a leather one.
Is composition leather treated as leather?
Yes. Composition leather, made from bonded leather fibre, falls with leather in this heading. Coated fabrics that imitate leather do not, and that distinction changes both the subheading and the rate.
Does exotic leather need a permit?
Very often. Crocodile, alligator, python and other reptile skins are listed under CITES, so an export permit and an import permit are required before the goods may move. The tariff subheading is unaffected, but a consignment without valid permits is seized rather than merely delayed, and this is the most serious risk attached to luxury leather luggage.
Related codes in Chapter 42
Calculate duty for HS 420211
Pre-fills the calculator with this code. Add your destination and shipment value for an instant landed-cost estimate.
Country guides