HS Code Detail
852871 Chapter 85 · Electronics Set-top boxes and reception apparatus, no display
Six-digit subheading in Electronics, chapter 85 of the Harmonized System, priced here for 6 destination markets.
Anatomy of 852871
You will declare against a longer local code that begins 852871: 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.
What that costs: 852871 into Australia
An illustrative consignment of 852871 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 0% | AUD 0.00 |
| Australia tax at 10%, charged on the value plus the duty | AUD 215.00 |
| Total, before commercial charges | AUD 2,365.00 |
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 852871 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 852871 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 2,365.00 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 852871 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 852871 US, read on 2026-09-07 from https://hts.usitc.gov/search?query=8528.71 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: 8528.71.10.00 Free; 8528.71.20.00 Free; 8528.71.30.00 Free; 8528.71.40.00 Free; 8528.71.45.00 Free
- 🇬🇧GB
- Third country duty for 852871 GB, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/8528710000 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: 8528710000 0.00 %
- 🇨🇦CA
- MFN for 852871 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: 8528.71.00 Free
- 🇦🇺AU
- MFN for 852871 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%. 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: 8528.71.10 5% From 1 July 2018: 3.75% From 1 July 2019: Free; 8528.71.20 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 852871 DE, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/xi/commodities/8528710000 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/en/results?product=852871&origin=CN&destination=DE. Both returned 0%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 8528710000 0.00 %
Re-check first: Every United States line here is free and what they share is the absence of a screen. Reception apparatus with a display built in is 852872, which is a different code with a rate of its own.
What falls under 852871
- Reception apparatus for television, not designed to incorporate a video display or screen
- Set top boxes with a communication function, satellite and terrestrial receivers, and television tuner devices
What's specifically excluded
These look similar but belong under a different code:
Commonly confused with
851762: Routers and network apparatus
A streaming media player that receives content only over an internet protocol network and has no broadcast tuner is arguably network apparatus rather than television reception apparatus. Where the device has a communication function and a tuner it sits here, and the boundary has produced more binding rulings than any other part of heading 8528.
852872: Televisions with displays
The subheading is explicit that the apparatus is not designed to incorporate a display. A portable receiver with a small built in screen leaves this line entirely, and the test is what the apparatus is designed to include rather than what it is sold with.
Classification & cost note
Set top boxes have generated a disproportionate share of tariff litigation because the product changed faster than the nomenclature describing it. The subheading distinguishes apparatus by whether it has a communication function, meaning the ability to interact over a network rather than only to receive, and that distinction was drawn when the difference was between a one way receiver and a box with a modem. Devices that stream exclusively over the internet with no broadcast reception at all sit uneasily here and have repeatedly been argued into heading 8517 instead. Two practical notes follow. Where an operator supplies boxes to subscribers at nominal cost, the customs value cannot be the nominal transfer price and has to be established on another basis. And conditional access modules shipped separately are parts rather than complete receivers, so a rollout consignment is rarely one code.
Typical products: Satellite and terrestrial set top boxes · Cable television receivers with return path · Digital terrestrial tuner adapters · Broadcast receivers supplied to subscription operators
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 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, and this is the one that names heading 8528 by number.
Note 2 to section XVI
However, parts which are equally suitable for use principally with the goods of heading 8517 and 8525 to 8528 are to be classified in heading 8517, and parts which are suitable for use solely or principally with the goods of heading 8524 are to be classified in heading 8529;
What the nomenclature says about heading 8528
852871 is a subheading of 8528, monitors and projectors, not incorporating television reception apparatus; reception apparatus for television, whether or not incorporating radio-broadcast receivers or sound or video recording or reproducing apparatus , and this site holds 2 other codes under the same heading, which every rule below governs equally.
No numbered note to chapter 85 takes heading 8528 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/8528, 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 852871
Is a streaming media player a set top box?
Not necessarily. A device with no broadcast tuner that receives content only over an internet connection is frequently classified as network apparatus in heading 8517 rather than as television reception apparatus. The presence of a tuner is the practical dividing line.
Why does this subheading exclude a display?
Because heading 8528 separates receivers built to work with a separate screen from those designed to incorporate one. A receiver with its own built in screen is classified elsewhere in the heading.
Related codes in Chapter 85
Calculate duty for HS 852871
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