Section XVIII · 3 chapters

Optical, medical & precision instruments

South African import duty, VAT and classification for everything in this part of the tariff

Section XVIII at a glance

HS section
XVIII — Optical, medical & precision instruments
Chapters
90, 91, 92
Tariff headings
53 (208 subheadings)
General customs duty
0%
Import VAT
15% on the added tax value (ATV)
Duty pages published
9

As at 2026-08-06. Source: SARS Tariff Book, Schedule 1 Part 1.

Section XVIII of the Harmonised System covers optical, medical & precision instruments, spread across 3 chapters and 53 tariff headings. Pick the chapter your product falls in to see every heading and subheading, or jump straight to one of the duty pages below.

Chapters in this section

90 Optical, photographic, medical & precision instruments
32 headings 7 91 Clocks, watches & parts thereof
14 headings 1 92 Musical instruments & parts
7 headings 1

Duty pages in Section XVIII

9001.50 Spectacle lenses of materials other than glass 0% duty + 15% VAT 9003.11 Spectacle frames of plastics 0% duty + 15% VAT 9004.10 Sunglasses 0% duty + 15% VAT 9018.39 Medical, surgical & dental instruments 0% duty + 15% VAT 9021.40 Hearing aids 0% duty + 15% VAT 9025.19 Thermometers (not combined with other instruments) 0% duty + 15% VAT 9028.30 Electricity supply meters 0% duty + 15% VAT 9102.11 Wristwatches (electrically operated) 0% duty + 15% VAT 9202.90 Guitars & other string instruments 0% duty + 15% VAT
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