Legal Notes CH 85
Legal Notes CH 85
(a) Electrically warmed blankets, bed pads, foot-muffs or the like; electrically warmed clothing,
footwear or ear pads or other electrically warmed articles worn on or about the person;
(d) Vacuum apparatus of a kind used in medical, surgical, dental or veterinary sciences
(heading 90.18); or
2.- Headings 85.01 to 85.04 do not apply to goods described in heading 85.11, 85.12, 85.40, 85.41
or 85.42.
However, metal tank mercury arc rectifiers remain classified in heading 85.04.
3.- For the purposes of heading 85.07, the expression “electric accumulators” includes those
presented with ancillary components which contribute to the accumulator’s function of storing and
supplying energy or protect it from damage, such as electrical connectors, temperature control
devices (for example, thermistors) and circuit protection devices. They may also include a portion
of the protective housing of the goods in which they are to be used.
4.- Heading 85.09 covers only the following electro-mechanical machines of the kind commonly
used for domestic purposes :
(a) Floor polishers, food grinders and mixers, and fruit or vegetable juice extractors, of any
weight;
(b) Other machines provided the weight of such machines does not exceed 20 kg.
The heading does not, however, apply to fans or ventilating or recycling hoods incorporating a
fan, whether or not fitted with filters (heading 84.14), centrifugal clothes-dryers (heading 84.21),
dish washing machines (heading 84.22), household washing machines (heading 84.50), roller or
other ironing machines (heading 84.20 or 84.51), sewing machines (heading 84.52), electric
scissors (heading 84.67) or to electrothermic appliances (heading 85.16).
5.- For the purposes of heading 85.17, the term "smartphones” means telephones for cellular
networks, equipped with a mobile operating system designed to perform the functions of an
automatic data processing machine such as downloading and running multiple applications
simultaneously, including thirdparty applications, and whether or not integrating other features
such as digital cameras and navigational aid systems.
(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.
7.- For the purposes of heading 85.24, “flat panel display modules” refer to devices or apparatus for
the display of information, equipped at a minimum with a display screen, which are designed to
be incorporated into articles of other headings prior to use. Display screens for flat panel display
modules include, but are not limited to, those which are flat, curved, flexible, foldable or
stretchable in form. Flat panel display modules may incorporate additional elements, including
those necessary for receiving video signals and the allocation of those signals to pixels on the
display. However, heading 85.24 does not include display modules which are equipped with
components for converting video signals (e.g., a scaler IC, decoder IC or application processer)
or have otherwise assumed the character of goods of other headings.
For the classification of flat panel display modules defined in this Note, heading 85.24 shall take
precedence over any other heading in the Nomenclature.
8.- For the purposes of heading 85.34 “printed circuits” are circuits obtained by forming on an
insulating base, by any printing process (for example, embossing, plating-up, etching) or by the
“film circuit” technique, conductor elements, contacts or other printed components (for example,
inductances, resistors, capacitors) alone or interconnected according to a pre-established
pattern, other than elements which can produce, rectify, modulate or amplify an electrical signal
(for example, semiconductor elements).
The expression “printed circuits” does not cover circuits combined with elements other than
those obtained during the printing process, nor does it cover individual, discrete resistors,
capacitors or inductances. Printed circuits may, however, be fitted with non-printed connecting
elements.
Thin- or thick-film circuits comprising passive and active elements obtained during the same
technological process are to be classified in heading 85.42.
9.- For the purpose of heading 85.36, “connectors for optical fibres, optical fibre bundles or cables”
means connectors that simply mechanically align optical fibres end to end in a digital line system.
They perform no other function, such as the amplification, regeneration or modification of a
signal.
10.- Heading 85.37 does not include cordless infrared devices for the remote control of television
receivers or other electrical equipment (heading 85.43).
11.- For the purposes of heading 85.39, the expression “light-emitting diode (LED) light sources”
covers :
(a) “Light-emitting diode (LED) modules” which are electrical light sources based on light-emitting
diodes (LED) arranged in electrical circuits and containing further elements like electrical,
mechanical, thermal or optical elements. They also contain discrete active elements, discrete
passive elements, or articles of heading 85.36 or 85.42 for the purposes of providing power
supply or power control. Lightemitting diode (LED) modules do not have a cap designed to allow
easy installation or replacement in a luminaire and ensure mechanical and electrical contact.
(b) “Light-emitting diode (LED) lamps” which are electrical light sources containing one or more
LED modules containing further elements like electrical, mechanical, thermal or optical elements.
The distinction between light-emitting diode (LED) modules and light-emitting diode (LED) lamps
is that lamps have a cap designed to allow easy installation or replacement in a luminaire and
ensure mechanical and electrical contact.
“Semiconductor devices” are semiconductor devices the operation of which depends on variations
in resistivity on the application of an electric field or semiconductor-based transducers.
Semiconductor devices may also include assembly of plural elements, whether or not equipped
with active and passive device ancillary functions.
“Semiconductor-based transducers” are, for the purposes of this definition, semiconductorbased
sensors, semiconductorbased actuators, semiconductorbased resonators and semiconductor-
based oscillators, which are types of discrete semiconductor-based devices, which perform an
intrinsic function, which are able to convert any kind of physical or chemical phenomena or an
action into an electrical signal or an electrical signal into any type of physical phenomenon or an
action.
All the elements in semiconductorbased transducers are indivisibly combined, and may also
include necessary materials indivisibly attached, that enable their construction or function.
The following expressions mean :
(ii) “Light-emitting diodes (LED)” are semiconductor devices based on semiconductor materials
which convert electrical energy into visible, infra-red or ultra-violet rays, whether or not electrically
connected among each other and whether or not combined with protective diodes. Light-emitting
diodes (LED) of heading 85.41 do not incorporate elements for the purposes of providing power
supply or power control;
(i) Monolithic integrated circuits in which the circuit elements (diodes, transistors, resistors,
capacitors, inductances, etc.) are created in the mass (essentially) and on the surface of a
semiconductor or compound semiconductor material (for example, doped silicon, gallium
arsenide, silicon germanium, indium phosphide) and are inseparably associated;
(ii) Hybrid integrated circuits in which passive elements (resistors, capacitors, inductances, etc.),
obtained by thin- or thick-film technology, and active elements (diodes, transistors, monolithic
integrated circuits, etc.), obtained by semiconductor technology, are combined to all intents and
purposes indivisibly, by interconnections or interconnecting cables, on a single insulating
substrate (glass, ceramic, etc.). These circuits may also include discrete components;
(iii) Multichip integrated circuits consisting of two or more interconnected monolithic integrated
circuits combined to all intents and purposes indivisibly, whether or not on one or more insulating
substrates, with or without leadframes, but with no other active or passive circuit elements.
(iv) Multi-component integrated circuits (MCOs) : a combination of one or more monolithic, hybrid,
or multi-chip 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 85.32, 85.33, 85.41, or inductors classifiable
under heading 85.04, 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.
1. “Components” may be discrete, manufactured independently then assembled onto the
rest of the MCO, or integrated into other components.
2. “Silicon based” means built on a silicon substrate, or made of silicon materials, or
manufactured onto integrated circuit die.
3. (a) “Silicon based sensors” consist of microelectronic or mechanical structures that are
created in the mass or on the surface of a semiconductor and that have the function of detecting
physical or chemical phenomena and transducing these into electric signals, caused by resulting
variations in electric properties or displacement of a mechanical structure. “Physical or chemical
phenomena” relates to real world phenomena, such as pressure, acoustic waves, acceleration,
vibration, movement, orientation, strain, magnetic field strength, electric field strength, light,
radioactivity, humidity, flow, chemicals concentration, etc.
(b) “Silicon based actuators” consist of microelectronic and mechanical structures that
are created in the mass or on the surface of a semiconductor and that have the function of
converting electrical signals into physical movement.
(c) “Silicon based resonators” are components that consist of microelectronic or
mechanical structures that are created in the mass or on the surface of a semiconductor and
have the function of generating a mechanical or electrical oscillation of a predefined frequency
that depends on the physical geometry of these structures in response to an external input.
(d) “Silicon based oscillators” are active components that consist of microelectronic or
mechanical structures that are created in the mass or on the surface of a semiconductor and that
have the function of generating a mechanical or electrical oscillation of a predefined frequency
that depends on the physical geometry of these structures.
For the classification of the articles defined in this Note, headings 85.41 and 85.42 shall take
precedenceover any other heading in the Nomenclature, except in the case of heading 85.23,
which might cover them by reference to, in particular, their function.
Subheading Notes.
1.- Subheading 8525.81 covers only high-speed television cameras, digital cameras and video
camera recorders having one or more of the following characteristics :
- writing speed exceeding 0.5 mm per microsecond;
- time resolution 50 nanoseconds or less;
- frame rate exceeding 225,000 frames per second.
3.- Subheading 8525.83 covers night vision television cameras, digital cameras and video camera
recorders which use a photocathode to convert available light to electrons, which can be
amplified and converted to yield a visible image. This subheading excludes thermal imaging
cameras (generally subheading 8525.89).
5.- For the purposes of subheadings 8549.11 to 8549.19, “spent primary cells, spent primary
batteries and spent electric accumulators” are those which are neither usable as such because
of breakage, cutting-up, wear or other reasons, nor capable of being recharged.