HS Code Detail
850440 Chapter 85 · Electronics Battery chargers / power adapters
Six-digit subheading in Electronics, chapter 85 of the Harmonized System, priced here for 6 destination markets.
Anatomy of 850440
You will declare against a longer local code that begins 850440: 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 a rate can differ on, though on this subheading all 6 destinations below charge the same, 0%.
What this code covers
Import duty by country
MFN duty rate · 6 countries| Country | Duty | VAT | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇦🇺Australia | 0% | 10% | |||||||
| The two official publications differ, Australia This rate is read twice, from two official publications. They agree on what kind of duty the line below carries, and they print different wording for it. This site does not decide between two official sources, so both are shown and neither figure below is published as a rate.
The percentage in the table above is the part both publications agree on, where there is one. Read the first publication and the second before you budget on this code. | |||||||||
| 🇨🇦Canada | 0% | 5% | |||||||
| 🇩🇪Germany | 0% | 19% | |||||||
| 🇵🇹Portugal | 0% | 23% | |||||||
| 🇬🇧United Kingdom | 0% | 20% | |||||||
| 🇺🇸United States | 0% | 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.
Duty figures on this page have not yet been checked against official tariff schedules and should be treated as estimates.
What that costs: 850440 into United Kingdom
An illustrative consignment of 850440 invoiced at GBP 2,000.00, priced in GBP because a threshold is set in the destination's currency and nothing here is converted.
| Goods value on the invoice | GBP 2,000.00 |
| International freight | GBP 120.00 |
| Cargo insurance | GBP 30.00 |
| Value the duty is charged on, CIF basis | GBP 2,150.00 |
| Duty at 0% | GBP 0.00 |
| United Kingdom tax at 20%, charged on the value plus the duty | GBP 430.00 |
| Total, before commercial charges | GBP 2,580.00 |
And if the consignment were small
United Kingdom relieves customs duty on consignments at or under GBP 135. The 850440 shipment above is over that, so its duty is charged in full. The same code invoiced at exactly GBP 135 with no freight would be charged GBP 0.00 of duty and GBP 27.00 of tax, a total of GBP 162.00. The rate on the 850440 row has not changed; only the charge is relieved. The tax is not simply absent at that value: United Kingdom 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? GBP 2,580.00 is what your buyer in United Kingdom pays to take delivery of this consignment, yours to pay if you quote DDP and theirs if you quote DAP: Exporting to United Kingdom 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 850440 on your own numbers in the duty calculator.
How these rates were verified
The markets listed below were read from the official tariff database of the market that charges it. Nothing here is copied from another aggregator. The other rows in the table above are not yet traced to a source, which is why no date is shown over them.
- 🇦🇺AU
- MFN for 850440 AU, read on 2026-09-01 from https://www.abf.gov.au/importing-exporting-and-manufacturing/tariff-classification/current-tariff/schedule-3/section-xvi/chapter-85 and again on 2026-09-01 from https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04997/latest/text. Both returned 0%. Both publications were read independently. They agree on the rate in force and differ only in that one of them still prints the dated reduction that led to it. The lines they differ on are set out in the panel above the rate table. Retrieved text: 8504.40.30 Free; 8504.40.90 5% From 1 July 2018: 3.75% From 1 July 2019: Free
- 🇨🇦CA
- MFN for 850440 CA, read on 2026-08-31 from https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2026/html/00/ch85-eng.html and again on 2026-09-01 from https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2026/menu-eng.html. Both returned 0%. 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: 8504.40.30 Free; 8504.40.40 Free; 8504.40.90 Free
- 🇬🇧GB
- Third country duty for 850440 GB, read on 2026-08-31 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/8504406010 and again on 2026-09-01 from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reference-document-for-the-customs-tariff-establishment-eu-exit-regulations-2020. Both returned 0%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 8504406010 0.00 %; 8504406090 0.00 %; 8504408310 0.00 %; 8504408390 0.00 %; 8504408410 0.00 %; 8504408490 0.00 %; 8504408710 0.00 %; 8504408790 0.00 %; 8504409510 0.00 %; 8504409590 0.00 %
- 🇺🇸US
- HTS General for 850440 US, read on 2026-08-31 from https://hts.usitc.gov/search?query=8504.40 and again on 2026-09-01 from https://hts.usitc.gov/reststop/exportList?from=85&to=86&format=CSV&styles=false. Both returned 0%. 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: 8504.40.40.00 Free; 8504.40.60 Free; 8504.40.70 Free; 8504.40.85.00 Free; 8504.40.95 Free
What falls under 850440
- Laptop and phone chargers, USB power adapters and power bricks
- Switch-mode power supplies, AC-DC and DC-DC converters, inverters and rectifiers
What's specifically excluded
These look similar but belong under a different code:
Commonly confused with
850760: Power banks
A charger converts mains power and stores nothing; a power bank stores energy in a lithium-ion cell and is an accumulator of 8507.60. Importers routinely file both under the charger code because they sit in the same retail category, and the two attract different treatment as well as different dangerous-goods rules for air freight.
854442: Charging cables
A USB-C cable with no power electronics in it is a fitted conductor of 8544.42. Only the part of the assembly that actually converts voltage belongs in 8504.40, so a charger sold with a detachable cable can raise a set question at entry.
Classification & cost note
Static converters are Information Technology Agreement goods and enter the major markets at zero duty, so the classification rarely costs money directly. What it does affect is compliance: the moment a product contains a lithium cell it stops being a converter and becomes an accumulator, which brings UN 3480 and UN 3481 dangerous-goods handling, air-freight restrictions and separate labelling into play. Getting a power bank on the entry as a charger is therefore a safety-paperwork problem before it is ever a duty problem.
Typical products: USB-C GaN laptop chargers · Phone wall plugs and multi-port adapters · Laptop power bricks · Industrial DIN-rail switch-mode supplies
What the notes to section XVI say
Chapter 85 sits in section XVI, machinery and mechanical appliances; electrical equipment; parts thereof, sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, and parts and accessories of such articles, where a section note governs every chapter in the section and applies before the heading notes below; the 6 reaching chapter 85 name no heading this site holds a code under, and they are quoted whole on the chapter 85 page, read from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/sections/16 on 2026-09-08.
What the nomenclature says about heading 8504
850440 is a subheading of 8504, electrical transformers, static converters (for example, rectifiers) and inductors , and it is the only code this site holds under that heading.
One numbered note to chapter 85 takes heading 8504 as its own subject, and it is quoted below in full, as published.
Note 2 to chapter 85
Headings 8501 to 8504 do not apply to goods described in heading 8511, 8512, 8540, 8541 or 8542. However, metal tank mercury arc rectifiers remain classified in heading 8504.
One further note to chapter 85 names heading 8504 from elsewhere in its own text, usually to send goods into it or away from it, and the sentence that names it is quoted below.
Note 12 to chapter 85, which is about something else
(4) multi-component integrated circuits (MCOs): a combination of one or more monolithic, hybrid, or multichip integrated circuits with at least one of the following components: silicon-based sensors, actuators, oscillators, resonators or combinations thereof, or components performing the functions of articles classifiable under heading 8532, 8533, 8541, or inductors classifiable under heading 8504, formed to all intents and purposes indivisibly into a single body like an integrated circuit, as a component of a kind used for assembly onto a printed circuit board (PCB) or other carrier, through the connecting of pins, leads, balls, lands, bumps, or pads.
Read from the notes to chapter 85 published in the UK Trade Tariff by HM Revenue and Customs, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/chapters/85, with the heading title from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/headings/8504, on 2026-09-07, with the whole layer and the reason a heading note is a chapter note set out on the chapter 85 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 850440
Is a power bank the same HS code as a charger?
No. A charger converts mains power and is 8504.40. A power bank stores energy in a lithium-ion cell and is 8507.60, which also brings lithium battery transport rules with it.
Is there duty on phone and laptop chargers?
No. Static converters are Information Technology Agreement goods, so the MFN rate is zero in the EU, UK, US, Canada and Australia. Import VAT or GST still applies.
How is a charger sold with a cable classified?
As a retail set it normally follows the converter under 8504.40 by General Rule 3(b). A cable imported on its own is a fitted conductor of 8544.42.
Related codes in Chapter 85
Calculate duty for HS 850440
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