HS Code Detail
852351 Chapter 85 · Electronics Solid-state storage media: USB drives and memory cards
Six-digit subheading in Electronics, chapter 85 of the Harmonized System, priced here for 6 destination markets.
Anatomy of 852351
You will declare against a longer local code that begins 852351: 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% |
| 🇨🇦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.
What that costs: 852351 into Germany
An illustrative consignment of 852351 invoiced at EUR 2,000.00, priced in EUR because a threshold is set in the destination's currency and nothing here is converted.
| Goods value on the invoice | EUR 2,000.00 |
| International freight | EUR 120.00 |
| Cargo insurance | EUR 30.00 |
| Value the duty is charged on, CIF basis | EUR 2,150.00 |
| Duty at 0% | EUR 0.00 |
| Germany tax at 19%, charged on the value plus the duty | EUR 408.50 |
| Total, before commercial charges | EUR 2,558.50 |
And if the consignment were small
Germany relieves nothing: the relief was abolished, so the duty above is charged whatever the consignment is worth. A smaller shipment pays less because the value is lower, not because a threshold spared it.
Selling rather than buying? EUR 2,558.50 is what your buyer in Germany pays to take delivery of this consignment, yours to pay if you quote DDP and theirs if you quote DAP: Exporting to Germany 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 852351 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 852351 US, read on 2026-09-07 from https://hts.usitc.gov/search?query=8523.51 and again on 2026-09-07 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: 8523.51.00.00 Free
- 🇬🇧GB
- Third country duty for 852351 GB, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/8523511000 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 0%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 8523511000 0.00 %; 8523519000 0.00 %
- 🇨🇦CA
- MFN for 852351 CA, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2026/html/00/ch85-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 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: 8523.51.00 Free
- 🇦🇺AU
- MFN for 852351 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: 8523.51.00 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 852351 DE, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/xi/commodities/8523511000 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/en/results?product=852351&origin=CN&destination=DE. Both returned 0%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 8523511000 0.00 %; 8523519000 0.00 %
Re-check first: Solid-state storage is free into the United States. The line is defined by the technology, so an optical disc is 8523.49 and a magnetic medium sits elsewhere in the heading again, and this figure covers neither.
What falls under 852351
- Solid state non volatile storage devices, whether or not recorded
- USB flash drives, SD and microSD memory cards, and bare flash storage modules
What's specifically excluded
These look similar but belong under a different code:
Commonly confused with
847170: Internal SSDs
This is the genuine grey area in flash storage. A drive presented as a unit of an automatic data processing machine, with a drive interface and a form factor built for a computer bay or slot, is a storage unit of 8471.70. A memory card or USB stick is a semiconductor storage device of 8523.51. Interface and intended fitting decide it.
854232: Bare memory chips
A packaged flash die is an integrated circuit until it is made into a storage device with a controller and an interface. The assembly step is what moves it into heading 8523, and importers of components rather than finished products have to track where in that process their goods sit.
Classification & cost note
Heading 8523 covers media by the technology that records them, and the semiconductor line is where flash storage sits unless the article is properly a unit of a computer. The words whether or not recorded matter more than they look: a memory card loaded with content at the factory is still classified as the storage device, so pre loaded cards do not follow their content into Chapter 49 or anywhere else. Two commercial traps recur. Flash storage is a heavily counterfeited product category and customs authorities in several markets run targeted enforcement on capacity misrepresentation, which is an intellectual property and consumer protection matter rather than a tariff one. Separately, memory devices are among the goods most often shipped as samples at declared values that will not survive scrutiny, and customs valuation asks what the goods are worth, not what the invoice says.
Typical products: USB flash drives in retail packaging · microSD and SD memory cards · CompactFlash and CFexpress cards · Embedded flash modules supplied as storage 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 8523
852351 is a subheading of 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 , and this site holds one other code under the same heading, which every rule below governs equally.
One numbered note to chapter 85 takes heading 8523 as its own subject, and it is quoted below in full, as published.
Note 6 to chapter 85
For the purposes of heading 8523:
a. 'solid-state non-volatile storage devices' (for example, 'flash memory cards' or 'flash electronic storage cards') are storage devices with a connecting socket, comprising in the same housing one or more flash memories (for example, 'Flash E2PROM') in the form of integrated circuits mounted on a printed circuit board. They may include a controller in the form of an integrated circuit and discrete passive components, such as capacitors and resistors;
b. the term 'smart cards' means cards which have embedded in them one or more electronic integrated circuits (a microprocessor, random access memory (RAM) or read-only memory (ROM)) in the form of chips. These cards may contain contacts, a magnetic stripe or an embedded antenna but do not contain any other active or passive circuit elements.
One further note to chapter 85 names heading 8523 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
For the classification of the articles defined in this note, heading 8541 and 8542 shall take precedence over any other heading in the nomenclature, except in the case of heading 8523, which might cover them by reference to, in particular, their function.
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/8523, 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 852351
Are SSDs and USB sticks classified the same way?
Not necessarily. A solid state drive built to fit a computer as a storage unit is classified in 8471.70, while a USB stick or memory card is a semiconductor storage device of 8523.51. The interface and the way the device is meant to be fitted decide it.
Does pre loaded content change the code?
No. The subheading covers these devices whether or not recorded, so a memory card supplied with content at the factory is still classified as the storage device rather than following what is stored on it.
Related codes in Chapter 85
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