Chapter 90: Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus; parts and accessories thereof

1. This chapter does not cover:

1. (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);

2. (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);

3. (c) refractory goods of heading 6903; ceramic wares for laboratory, chemical or other technical uses, of heading 6909;

4. (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);

5. (e) goods of heading 7007, 7008, 7011, 7014, 7015 or 7017;

6. (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;

7. (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 (headings 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;

8. (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;

9. (ij) searchlights or spotlights of heading 9405;

10. (k) articles of Chapter 95;

11. (l) monopods, bipods, tripods and similar articles, of heading 9620;

12. (m) capacity measures, which are to be classified according to their constituent material; or

13. (n) spools, reels or similar supports (which are to be classified according to their constituent material, for example, in heading 3923 or Section XV).

2. Subject to note 1 above, parts and accessories for machines, apparatus, instruments or articles of this chapter are to be classified according to the following rules:

1. (a) Parts and accessories which are goods included in any of the headings of this chapter or of Chapter 84, 85 or 91 (other than heading 8487, 8548 or 9033) are in all cases to be classified in their respective headings.

2. (b) Other parts and accessories, if suitable for use solely or principally with a particular kind of machine, instrument or apparatus, or with a number of machines, instruments or apparatus of the same heading (including a machine, instrument or apparatus of heading 9010, 9013 or 9031) are to be classified with the machines, instruments or apparatus of that kind.

3. (c) All other parts and accessories are to be classified in heading 9033.

3. The provisions of notes 3 and 4 to Section XVI apply also to this chapter.

4. Heading 9005 does not apply to telescopic sights for fitting to arms, periscopic telescopes for fitting to submarines or tanks, or to telescopes for machines, appliances, instruments or apparatus of this chapter or Section XVI; such telescopic sights and telescopes are to be classified in heading 9013.

5. Measuring or checking optical instruments, appliances or machines which, but for this note, could be classified both in heading 9013 and in heading 9031 are to be classified in heading 9031.

6. For the purposes of heading 9021, the expression ‘orthopaedic appliances’ means appliances for:

• preventing or correcting bodily deformities; or

• supporting or holding parts of the body following an illness, operation or injury.

Orthopaedic appliances include footwear and special insoles designed to correct orthopaedic conditions, provided that they are either (1) made to measure or (2) mass-produced, presented singly and not in pairs and designed to fit either foot equally.

7. Heading 9032 applies only to:

1. (a) instruments and apparatus for automatically controlling the flow, level, pressure or other variables of liquids or gases, or for automatically controlling temperature, whether or not their operation depends on an electrical phenomenon which varies according to the factor to be automatically controlled, which are designed to bring this factor to, and maintain it at, a desired value, stabilised against disturbances, by constantly or periodically measuring its actual value; and

2. (b) automatic regulators of electrical quantities, and instruments or apparatus for automatically controlling non-electrical quantities the operation of which depends on an electrical phenomenon varying according to the factor to be controlled, which are designed to bring this factor to, and maintain it at, a desired value, stabilised against disturbances, by constantly or periodically measuring its actual value.

1. For the purposes of subheadings 90153010, 90258040, 90261021, 90261029, 90262020, 90268020, 90271010 and 90321020, the expression ‘electronic’ means instruments and apparatus which incorporate one or more articles of heading 8540, 8541 or 8542 but for the purposes of the foregoing, no account shall be taken of articles of heading 8540, 8541 or 8542 which have solely the function of rectifying current or which are included in the power pack of instruments or apparatus.

2. For the purposes of subheading 90211010, the expression "orthopaedic appliances" means appliances which are specially designed for a particular orthopaedic purpose, in distinction to products that might be used for various purposes (for example, products for overstrained joints, ligaments or tendons caused by sporting activities, type writing, and products which simply alleviate pain in the defective or disabled part of the body, for example, caused by inflammation).

The "orthopaedic appliances" must completely prevent a specific movement of the defective or disabled part of the body (for example, joints, ligaments, tendons) in order to exclude further injuries or bodily deformities or an aggravation of such injuries or deformities, as distinct from other products that cannot prevent specific movements, yet prevent reflex movements (movements carried out subconsciously) through the relative inflexibility of those products due to, for example, flexible splints, pressure pads, non-elastic textile material, restrictions through "Velcro-type" straps.