HS Code Detail
850650 Chapter 85 · Electronics Lithium primary cells and batteries
Six-digit subheading in Electronics, chapter 85 of the Harmonized System, priced here for 5 destination markets.
Anatomy of 850650
You will declare against a longer local code that begins 850650: 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 5 rates below differ on.
What this code covers
Import duty by country
MFN duty rate · 5 countries| Country | Duty | VAT |
|---|---|---|
| 🇦🇺Australia | 0% | 10% |
| 🇩🇪Germany | 4.7% | 19% |
| 🇵🇹Portugal | 4.7% | 23% |
| 🇬🇧United Kingdom | 4% | 20% |
| 🇺🇸United States | 2.7% | 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: 850650 into United Kingdom
An illustrative consignment of 850650 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 4% | GBP 86.00 |
| United Kingdom tax at 20%, charged on the value plus the duty | GBP 447.20 |
| Total, before commercial charges | GBP 2,683.20 |
And if the consignment were small
United Kingdom relieves customs duty on consignments at or under GBP 135. The 850650 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 850650 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 2,683.20 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 850650 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 850650 US, read on 2026-09-07 from https://hts.usitc.gov/search?query=8506.50 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://hts.usitc.gov/reststop/exportList?from=85&to=86&format=CSV&styles=false. Both returned 2.7%. 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: 8506.50.00 2.7%
- 🇬🇧GB
- Third country duty for 850650 GB, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/8506501000 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 4%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 8506501000 4.00 %; 8506503000 4.00 %; 8506509010 4.00 %; 8506509030 4.00 %; 8506509090 4.00 %
- 🇦🇺AU
- MFN for 850650 AU, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.abf.gov.au/importing-exporting-and-manufacturing/tariff-classification/current-tariff/schedule-3/section-xvi/chapter-85 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04997/latest/text. Both returned 0%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 8506.50.00 Free
- 🇩🇪DE 🇵🇹PT
- One reading covers DE and PT, which are priced from the same schedule: Third country duty (EU, via NI Online Tariff) for 850650 DE, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/xi/commodities/8506501000 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/en/results?product=850650&origin=CN&destination=DE. Both returned 4.7%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 8506501000 4.70 %; 8506503000 4.70 %; 8506509010 4.70 %; 8506509030 4.70 %; 8506509090 4.70 %
Markets with no figure recorded
Canada: Canada splits 8506.50 into 2 tariff lines and they do not carry the same rate: the schedule returned 0 to 7%. A single percentage cannot represent that honestly, so no Canada figure is recorded and the calculator falls back to its disclosed category average.
Re-check first: This subheading is primary lithium cells, the sort that are not rechargeable. Rechargeable lithium-ion cells are 850760, which the United States charges at a different rate, and the two are easy to confuse on a packing list.
What falls under 850650
- Primary cells and primary batteries of lithium chemistry
- Non rechargeable lithium coin, button and cylindrical cells
What's specifically excluded
These look similar but belong under a different code:
Commonly confused with
850760: Rechargeable lithium ion cells
Heading 8506 covers primary cells, which are discharged once, and heading 8507 covers accumulators, which are recharged. A CR2032 coin cell and a rechargeable LIR2032 of the same physical size sit in different headings, and the part number is the only reliable way to tell them apart on paper.
910211: Wristwatches with quartz movements
Not an overlap but a practical pairing: watch batteries ship with watch consignments and get absorbed into the watch line. A cell is a battery of heading 8506 whatever it is destined to power.
Classification & cost note
Primary lithium cells are separated from rechargeable ones at the heading level, and the distinction is worth stating plainly because supplier documentation often says nothing more precise than lithium battery. That single word covers two headings, two sets of transport rules and, in many markets, two different regulatory regimes. Primary lithium metal cells face stricter air transport restrictions than lithium ion accumulators, and the state of charge relief that applies to rechargeable cells has no equivalent here because a primary cell cannot be discharged for shipment. Coin cells carry an additional obligation in a growing number of markets, where child resistant packaging and warning requirements have been introduced in response to ingestion injuries, and those rules are enforced by market surveillance authorities rather than at the customs entry.
Typical products: CR2032 and CR2016 lithium coin cells · CR123A cylindrical lithium cells · Lithium button cells for watches and key fobs · Lithium cells supplied for medical and metering devices
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 8506
850650 is a subheading of 8506, primary cells and primary batteries , and it is the only code this site holds under that heading.
No numbered note to chapter 85 takes heading 8506 as its subject, which is what the published notes say rather than a gap on this page: the heading is defined by its own wording above and by the note to the chapter, quoted in full on the chapter 85 page.
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/8506, 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 850650
How do I tell a primary lithium cell from a rechargeable one?
By the part number rather than the size. A CR prefix generally indicates a non rechargeable lithium cell of heading 8506, while a rechargeable cell of the same dimensions carries a different designation and sits in heading 8507. Supplier descriptions saying only lithium are not enough.
Do coin cells face any requirement beyond customs clearance?
Yes. Many markets now require child resistant packaging and specific warnings on lithium coin cells following ingestion injuries. Those obligations are enforced separately from the customs entry and apply to the retail presentation.
Related codes in Chapter 85
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