Heading 9020 : Other breathing appliances and gas masks, excluding protective masks having neither mechanical parts nor replaceable filters.
(¥°) BREATHING APPLIANCES The heading includes breathing appliances of a kind used by, for example, airmen, divers, mountaineers or firemen. These may be self-contained (where the breathing circuit is fed from a cylinder of oxygen or compressed air) or may be connected by a hose to compressors, compressed air supply pipes, storage cylinders or (in the case of certain short distance apparatus) the outside atmosphere. This heading also includes divers helmets which require to be fitted to divers suits before they are air-tight, and anti-radiation or anti-contamination protective suits, incorporating breathing apparatus. (¥±) GAS MASKS These enable the wearer to breathe in atmospheres polluted by dust, poisonous vapours, smoke, etc., and are therefore used in certain industries, or in warfare (against poison gases). In these appliances air for breathing comes directly from the outside and is passed through a filtering device which absorbs poison gases or retains dust. They therefore consist essentially of a mask, with an arrangement enabling the wearer to see, a metal frame with outlet and inlet valves, and a socket to which is fitted either a filter or a flexible tube connected to a filter system carried on the back or chest. A more simple type protects only the mouth and the nose; it consists of a sheath held in place by one or more elastic ribbons, and contains a filtering or absorbent material (asbestos wool, sponge rubber, cotton wadding, etc., which may be impregnated or not) easily replaced after use. The following articles are not regarded as breathing appliances or gas masks of this heading : (a) Masks for protection against dust, odours, etc., not equipped with a replaceable filter, but consisting of several layers of bonded fibre fabric, whether or not treated with activated carbon or having a central layer of synthetic fibres, and masks of textile materials, used by surgeons, nurses, etc., operating upon or attending to a patient (heading 63.07). (b) Masks for protection against dust or particles of materials, consisting of a simple wire mesh sheath with no filtering device other than a sheet of gauze (Section XV). (c) Masks for administering anaesthetics (heading 90.18). (d) Divers respiratory masks of a kind used without oxygen or compressed air bottles, and simple underwater breathing tubes (generally known as snorkels ) for swimmers or divers (heading 95.06). PARTS AND ACCESSORIES Subject to the provisions of Notes 1 and 2 to this Chapter (see the General Explanatory Note), parts and accessories of apparatus or appliances of this heading remain classified here.
|