Guidance

Classifying drones and aircraft parts for import and export

Get help to classify drones and aircraft parts for import and export.

• From: HM Revenue & Customs
• Published: 2 August 2012
• Last updated: 7 August 2023 — See all updates

This guidance refers to chapters and headings in the UK Integrated Online Tariff. If you’re importing goods into Northern Ireland, or if this guidance does not include your item, read the last section ‘More information’.

Aircraft parts are classified under heading 8807. They must be essential for the operation of an aircraft, and identifiable for use solely or principally with aircraft classified under either of these headings.

Heading 8801 covers:

• balloons and dirigibles
• gliders
• hang gliders
• other non-powered aircraft

Heading 8802 covers:

• other aircraft (for example, helicopters, aeroplanes)
• spacecraft (including satellites) and suborbital and spacecraft launch vehicles

Heading 8806 covers unmanned aircraft.

Drones

Multi-rotor helicopters (drones) are classified under heading 8806.  They may be designed to:

• carry a payload
• be equipped with permanently integrated digital cameras

They may use other equipment for utilitarian functions, such as:

• the carriage of cargo or passengers
• aerial photography
• agricultural or scientific work
• rescue duties
• fire-fighting
• surveillance
• military purposes

Drones that have the character of toys or recreational models are classified under heading 9503. They:

• are generally lightweight
• can only fly at a limited height and distance
• have a low maximum speed
• are unable to:
  • fly autonomously
  • carry a load or cargo

Items classified as parts under heading 8807

To be classified as a part of an aircraft, a product must:

• be suitable for use solely or principally with the articles of chapter 88
• not be more specifically included elsewhere in the nomenclature
• not be excluded by the terms of note 2 to section XVII which excludes certain goods from chapter 88, such as:
  • all articles of headings 8306, 8401 to 8479
  • all articles of chapters 85, 90 and 91
  • parts of general use which include, nuts, bolts and washers

Items classified as parts under heading 8807 include:

• fuselages and their sections
• hulls and their sections
• internal parts of fuselages and hulls including:
  • radomes
  • tail cones
  • fairings
  • panels
  • partitions
  • luggage compartments
  • floors
  • instrument panels
  • frames
  • doors
  • escape chutes
  • slides
  • windows
  • port-holes
• wings and their components including:
  • spars
  • ribs
  • cross-members
• control surfaces, whether or not movable, including:
  • ailerons
  • slats
  • spoilers
  • flaps
  • elevators
  • rudders
  • stabilisers
  • servo-tabs
• nacelles
• cowlings
• engine pods
• pylons
• undercarriages including:
  • brakes
  • brake assemblies
  • retracting equipment
• wheels (with or without tyres)
• propellers (airscrews)
• blades and pitch control mechanisms for propellers
• control levers
• control columns
• fuel tanks
• auxiliary fuel tanks

Items covered by a heading are classified there, and not as parts under 8807, for example:

• safety glass — heading 7007
• aircraft seats — heading 9401

Items not classified as parts and excluded from heading 8807

Rubber hoses

Classified under chapter 40.

For example:

• hoses with fittings for aircraft are classified under heading 4009
• gaskets and seals of vulcanised rubber are classified under heading 4016

Gaskets and similar joints of metal sheeting, combined with other materials

Classified under heading 8484.

If the goods are made of a single layer of one metal, they will be classified under the heading covering that specific metal.

Items of hard rubber

Classified under heading 4017.

Polyolefin

Classified under chapter 39.

Electrical insulating materials such as heat shrink polyolefin tubing with no electrical connections are classified according to its constituent material.

Paints, adhesives, fillers and mastics

Classified under their respective headings under chapter 32.

Turbojets, turbopropellers and other gas turbine parts

Classified under heading 8411.

Automatic data processing machines

Classified under heading 8471.

The heading covers computers commonly found at home or in offices which include standard operating systems, software and storage, such as:

• laptops
• desktops
• tablets

Many products have a microprocessor or work in conjunction with a computer but perform a specific function other than data processing. These products are excluded from heading 8471 and are classified in the heading which covers the products’ function, for example, navigational equipment which is classified under heading 9014.

Legally binding note 6 to chapter 84 of the tariff outlines which automatic data-processing machines are classified under heading 8471.

Radios for radio broadcasting — reception only

Classified under heading 8527.

Radios — reception and transmission

Classified under heading 8517.

Radio navigation equipment including GPS systems

Classified under heading 8526.

Passenger handsets for selecting and controlling

Classified under heading 8537 (subheading 8537 10).

For example:

• audio and video equipment
• game consoles

Parts of goods classified under chapters 84 or 85

They will often be classified under the appropriate heading in chapter 84 or 85, but there are exceptions. Read legally binding note 2 to section XV1 of the tariff.

Other navigational instruments and appliances including Sonar

Classified under heading 9014.

Measuring or checking instruments, appliances and machines including test sets

Classified under chapter 90.

General test benches or test sets

Classified under heading 9031.

Made up of a frame with a measuring or calibrating instrument used to test, for example:

• engines
• motors
• electrical generators
• speed indicators
• tachometers

If checking a specific parameter, the goods will be classified elsewhere in the chapter, for example, goods measuring or checking voltage will be classified under heading 9030.

Parts and accessories of goods classified under chapter 90

They will often be classified under the appropriate heading in chapter 90, but there are exceptions. Read legally binding note 2 to chapter 90 of the tariff.

Flight simulators

Classified under heading 8805.

Flight simulators mounted on a motor vehicle, chassis or trailer are classified under heading 8705 or 8716 depending on the specific features and capabilities of the simulator.

Parts and accessories of simulators will be classified under chapter 87 (when mounted on a vehicle) or under chapter 88 (when classified under heading 8805), but there are exceptions. Read legally binding notes 2 and 3 to section XVII of the tariff.

Printed circuit boards

Classified according to their function or as a part of the goods they’re designed for use with, generally classified under chapter 85 or 90.

Carpets and other floor coverings, of textile or rubber, cut to shape or not

These are classified under either:

• chapter 57 if made of textile material
• chapter 40 if made of rubber

Articles provided or sold onboard are classified under their respective headings, for example:

• aftershave
• perfume
• sun creams

More information

If this guidance does not cover your specific item in detail and you’re importing goods into Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales) you can search for it in the UK Integrated Online Tariff.

If you’re importing goods into Northern Ireland from outside the UK and the EU, and the goods are:

• not ‘at risk’ of onward movement to the EU, you should also use the UK Integrated Online Tariff

• at risk of onward movement to the EU, you should use the Northern Ireland Online Tariff

If this guidance does cover your item, you’ll still need to look up the full commodity code to use in your declaration on the appropriate Tariff.

You can find more ways to help you find a commodity code by referring to the links given in this section.

Published 2 August 2012
Last updated 7 August 2023 + show all updates

1. 7 August 2023

   This page has been updated under the heading 'Drones' to show the latest information on multi-rotor helicopters (drones), classified under heading 8806.

2. 29 March 2023

   Guidance on headings 8806 and 8807 has been added. Heading 8807 has replaced heading 8803.

3. 21 March 2017

   The introduction section of the guidance has been updated.

4. 27 October 2015

   Change of service contact details, as of the 1 September 2015 the tariff classification helpline is changing from telephone contact to email.

5. 2 August 2012

   First published.