This heading covers articles (usually comprising a frame or support with lenses or shields of glass or other material), for use in front of the eyes, generally intended either to correct certain defects of vision or to protect the eyes against dust, smoke, gas, etc., or dazzle; it also covers spectacles for viewing stereoscopic (three-dimensional) pictures.
Spectacles, pince-nez, lorgnettes, monocles, etc., used for correcting vision, generally have optically worked lenses. Protective spectacles and goggles generally consist of plane or curved discs of ordinary glass (whether or not optically worked, or tinted), of safety glass, of plastics (poly(methyl methacrylate) polystyrene, etc.), of mica, or of metal (wire gauze, or slotted plates). These articles include sunglasses, spectacles used for mountaineering or winter sports, goggles for airmen, motorists, motor-cyclists, chemists, welders, foundry workers, moulders, sand-blast machine operators, electricians, roadmen, quarrymen, etc. The heading also includes goggles for underwater use; removable spectacles (e.g., sunglasses) for fitting to other spectacles (generally corrective spectacles) and used either as protective filters or, in some cases, as additional corrective lenses; polarising spectacles fitted with lenses of plastics for viewing three-dimensional films (whether or not with a paperboard frame). PARTS Frames and mountings, and parts thereof, for spectacles or the like, are classified in heading 90.03. Eyepieces of glass are classified in heading 70.15 if not optically worked, or in heading 90.01 if optically worked; eyepieces of materials other than glass are classified in heading 90.01 if they constitute optical elements; otherwise they are classified in this heading.As the heading covers only those spectacles, etc., designed to cover the eyes, it excludes articles designed to cover or protect most of the face (e.g., visors for welders; screens and eye-shades for motor-cyclists; face masks for underwater swimming). The heading also excludes : (a) Contact lenses of heading 90.01. (b) Opera or racing glasses and similar articles, made with spectacle mountings (heading 90.05). (c) Toy spectacles (heading 95.03). (d) Carnival articles (heading 95.05).
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