Door Hardware HS Codes 2026: Headings 8301 and 8302 Decoded, and Where the Six Digits Stop

An importer who gets a classification wrong does not usually find out at the border. They find out at an audit, years later, with a demand for the duty difference on everything shipped since. That is why this is worth ten minutes.

Door hardware lives almost entirely in two headings of the Harmonized System, and the split between them is not obvious from the products themselves.

THE SPLIT: 8301 VERSUS 8302

Heading 8301 covers padlocks and locks of base metal, together with their keys and parts. The test is whether the article locks.

Heading 8302 covers base metal mountings, fittings and similar articles. The test is whether the article mounts, hangs, closes or holds something without locking it.

So a mortise lock body is 8301 and a hinge is 8302. A lever handle with no locking function is 8302. A door closer is 8302 — and that surprises people, because a closer is a mechanism and looks like it belongs with the locks.

THE SUBHEADINGS UNDER 8301

THE SUBHEADINGS UNDER 8302

THE FOUR THAT ARE MOST OFTEN GOT WRONG

Door closers. 8302.60 exists specifically for them. An automatic door closer does not go under 8301 because it does not lock, and it does not go under 8302.41 because it has its own subheading. A closer classified as a building fitting is a classification error even though it is in the right heading.

Keys shipped separately. 8301.70 covers keys presented on their own. Keys supplied with the lock they operate travel with the lock under the lock's own code, because they are part of that article as presented. A consignment of replacement keys with no locks is 8301.70.

Parts. 8301.60 covers parts of locks; parts of 8302 articles generally follow the parts provisions of that heading. The recurring mistake is treating a complete article as a part because it will be assembled into something later. What matters is what crosses the border, not what happens to it afterwards.

Furniture versus buildings. 8301.30 and 8302.42 are furniture; 8301.40 and 8302.41 are buildings. A cabinet lock and a door lock are different subheadings with potentially different duty rates. The distinction is the kind of article the item is designed for, not the building it ends up in.

WHERE THE SIX DIGITS STOP

This is the part that causes the most confusion in correspondence between a supplier and a buyer, and it is worth being exact about.

The first six digits of an HS code are agreed internationally. 8302.60 means automatic door closers in every country that uses the Harmonized System, and a supplier and a buyer in two different countries can agree on six digits and both be correct.

Beyond six digits, the code is national. The European Union extends it to eight digits in the Combined Nomenclature; the United States extends it to ten in the HTSUS; other countries have their own lengths and their own splits. Those extra digits carry the duty rate, and they are not something a supplier in another country can look up authoritatively.

The practical consequence: ask a supplier for the six-digit HS code and they can give you a reliable answer. Ask for your country's full tariff code and the honest answer is that they can suggest one and you should confirm it. Classification into your own tariff is the importer's legal responsibility in most jurisdictions, whoever supplied the suggestion.

HOW TO GET AN ANSWER THAT BINDS

Most customs administrations issue advance rulings — a written classification decision, obtained before importing, that binds the administration for a stated period. The names differ: Binding Tariff Information in the EU, a ruling letter from CBP in the United States, and equivalents elsewhere.

It is the only answer that protects you at audit. A supplier's invoice line, a freight forwarder's habit, and a code copied from a previous shipment are all evidence of practice, not authority.

For a product you will import repeatedly in volume, the ruling is worth the paperwork. For a one-off sample shipment, it generally is not.

WHAT WE PUT ON DOCUMENTS

We state the six-digit HS heading and subheading on commercial invoices and packing lists, because that part is international and we can stand behind it.

We do not state a customer's national tariff code unless the customer tells us which one to use. A supplier writing a ten-digit HTSUS code on an invoice for a country whose tariff they do not administer is guessing in a place where a guess has a duty consequence, and the consequence lands on the importer rather than on us. If you want your full code on our documents, send it and we will print it.

Country of origin, material composition and net and gross weights are on the same documents, because a classification question is very often actually a preference or an origin question, and the answer to that one is evidentiary rather than interpretive.