HTS Codes for Lamps: Getting the Classification Right

Classification is one of the few import decisions that both changes the money and creates liability, and it is routinely left to whoever fills in the commercial invoice. It deserves thirty minutes with a customs broker before the first shipment.

Where lamps sit in the tariff schedule

Lamps and lighting fittings are classified in heading 9405 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Within that heading, entries distinguish electric vs non-electric, and metal vs plastic or other materials, which means two visually identical lamps can land in different lines depending on the body material.

Why the distinction matters

Different lines carry different duty rates, and some carry additional measures. A misclassification does not stay a clerical matter: it can trigger a penalty assessment, and the liability usually travels to the importer of record rather than to the factory that shipped it.

The remote control is a separate product

A handset packed in the same carton as the lamp is still a separate article for classification purposes and often for certification purposes too. Declaring the whole carton as one lamp line leaves the handset undeclared, which is the kind of gap an audit finds quickly.

Material changes are classification changes

Switching a base from steel to aluminium, or a body from metal to composite, can move the product to a different line. If you re-engineer a model, revisit the classification rather than reusing the old entry on the invoice.

What to send your broker

Photographs, the bill of materials by material type, the rating label, and a sample specification sheet. Brokers classify from evidence; a one-line description on an invoice gives them nothing to work from and produces a default answer that is usually not the cheapest or the safest one.

This is general information for planning, not customs advice. Your broker or trade counsel is the right place to confirm a classification.