Directory / Chapter 90
Chapter 90: Optical, photographic instruments
Optical, photographic, measuring, checking and medical instruments and apparatus, and the parts and accessories of them.
The code this site holds in chapter 90
| Code | What it covers | Markets priced | Duty range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 900410 | Sunglasses | 6 of 6 | 2% to 5% |
Where this chapter ends
This is the chapter of precision, and the question is usually whether an article is an instrument at all or a consumer good that resembles one. Medical and surgical instruments sit here rather than with the medicaments of chapter 30, and an apparatus that measures or checks belongs here even when it looks like ordinary electrical equipment.
What the notes to section XVIII say
Chapter 90 sits in section XVIII, optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus; clocks and watches; musical instruments; parts and accessories thereof, which runs from chapter 90 to chapter 92. A section note governs every chapter in its section, so it stands one layer above the note to chapter 90 below and applies before it.
The nomenclature publishes no note to section XVIII at all. That is the published position rather than a gap on this page: the section groups its chapters and leaves the rules to them, so the note to chapter 90 below is the highest one that governs this chapter.
Read from the section notes published in the UK Trade Tariff by HM Revenue and Customs, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/sections/18, on 2026-09-08, and read a second time from the chapter endpoint quoted below, which carries the same section note and has to agree with it. Like the chapter and heading notes, a section note is part of the international text of the Harmonized System, so it decides classification and never a rate.
What the nomenclature excludes
The sentence above is this site's summary. This one is not. Note 1 to chapter 90 sets out what this chapter does not cover, and these are its 13 items as published, with the heading each one sends the goods to. Where a note names a chapter this site also covers, the chapter number is a link.
- (a) articles of a kind used in machines, appliances or for other technical uses, of vulcanised rubber other than hard rubber (heading 4016), of leather or of composition leather (heading 4205) or of textile material (heading 5911)
- (b) supporting belts or other support articles of textile material, whose intended effect on the organ to be supported or held derives solely from their elasticity (for example, maternity belts, thoracic support bandages, abdominal support bandages, supports for joints or muscles) (Section XI)
- (c) refractory goods of heading 6903; ceramic wares for laboratory, chemical or other technical uses, of heading 6909
- (d) glass mirrors, not optically worked, of heading 7009, or mirrors of base metal or of precious metal, not being optical elements (heading 8306 or Chapter 71) see chapter 71
- (e) goods of heading 7007, 7008, 7011, 7014, 7015 or 7017
- (f) parts of general use, as defined in note 2 to Section XV, of base metal (Section XV) or similar goods of plastics (Chapter 39), however, articles specially designed for use exclusively in implants in medical, surgical, dental or veterinary sciences are to be classified in heading 9021
- (g) pumps incorporating measuring devices, of heading 8413; weight-operated counting and checking machinery, or separately presented weights for balances (heading 8423); lifting or handling machinery (heading 8425 to 8428); paper or paperboard cutting machines of all kinds (heading 8441); fittings for adjusting work or tools on machine tools or water-jet cutting machines, of heading 8466, including fittings with optical devices for reading the scale (for example, optical dividing heads) but not those which are in themselves essentially optical instruments (for example, alignment telescopes); calculating machines (heading 8470); valves and other appliances of heading 8481; machines and apparatus (including apparatus for the projection or drawing of circuit patterns on sensitised semiconductor materials) of heading 8486
- (h) searchlights or spotlights of a kind used for cycles or motor vehicles (heading 8512); portable electric lamps of heading 8513; cinematographic sound recording, reproducing or re-recording apparatus (heading 8519); sound-heads (heading 8522); television cameras, digital cameras and video camera recorders (heading 8525); radar apparatus, radio navigational aid apparatus or radio remote control apparatus (heading 8526); connectors for optical fibres, optical fibre bundles or cables (heading 8536); numerical control apparatus of heading 8537; sealed beam lamp units of heading 8539; optical fibre cables of heading 8544
- (ij) searchlights or spotlights of heading 9405
- (k) articles of Chapter 95 see chapter 95
- (l) monopods, bipods, tripods and similar articles, of heading 9620
- (m) capacity measures, which are to be classified according to their constituent material
- (n) spools, reels or similar supports (which are to be classified according to their constituent material, for example, in heading 3923 or Section XV)
Read from the chapter notes published in the UK Trade Tariff by HM Revenue and Customs, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/chapters/90, on 2026-09-07. The first six digits of that nomenclature are the Harmonized System itself and the notes to a chapter are part of its international text, so this is the same note whichever of this site's destinations a shipment is going to. It decides classification and never a rate.
What the notes say about each heading
The note above governs chapter 90 as a whole. Underneath it the same published notes speak about individual four digit headings, and that is the layer a classification usually turns on. This site holds codes under one heading in this chapter. None of them is the subject of a numbered note. The notes say nothing about the other one, which is the published position rather than a gap here.
| Heading | What the nomenclature calls it | Codes here | What the notes say about it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9004 | Spectacles, goggles and the like, corrective, protective or other | 900410 | Not named in the chapter notes |
Read from the same chapter notes quoted above, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/chapters/90, on 2026-09-07, with each heading title read from its own endpoint. The Harmonized System publishes no separate heading notes: its legal text is section notes, chapter notes and subheading notes, and what governs a heading is a chapter note whose subject clause names it. The section notes are quoted at the top of this page, which is the layer above.
What chapter 90 costs to import
The dearest line this site holds in chapter 90 is 900410, sunglasses, at 5% into Australia. The widest gap between destinations is on 900410, sunglasses, which runs from 2% to 5% depending on where it lands.
A destination that prices part of a chapter answers for part of it, so this is how much of chapter 90 each one covers, out of 1 code.
| Destination | Codes priced | Duty range in this chapter |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 1 of 1 | 5% |
| Canada | 1 of 1 | 5% |
| Germany | 1 of 1 | 2.9% |
| Portugal | 1 of 1 | 2.9% |
| United Kingdom | 1 of 1 | 2% |
| United States | 1 of 1 | 2% |
Third country rates, which is what applies with no trade agreement claimed. Destination tax is charged on top. Each code page carries the reading behind its own figures and the day they were read.