8422.30.91.87 - Machines for skin and blister packaging

This HTS category, 8422.30.91.87, specifically encompasses machinery designed for skin packaging and blister packaging applications. Skin packaging involves drawing a plastic film over a product and its backing card, creating a tightly fitted package, while blister packaging utilizes a pre-formed plastic bubble (blister) that is sealed to a backing material. These machines are integral to the retail and pharmaceutical sectors for presenting and protecting a wide array of goods, from small electronics and hardware to consumer products and medical supplies.

Distinguishing this category from its siblings, 8422.30.91.80 and 8422.30.91.85, is crucial. While those categories deal with machines for opening, filling, and closing bags, or forming, filling, and sealing bags and pouches, this classification is distinctly focused on the processes of applying a plastic film directly onto a product and backing (skin packaging) or sealing a pre-formed blister onto a card. It does not cover machinery primarily for handling bags or pouches. Furthermore, 8422.30.91.86 pertains to box packaging, which is a different form factor and process than the film-based applications covered here.

As this is a leaf node within the HTS, there are no further subdivisions. Therefore, classification within 8422.30.91.87 is determined by the primary function of the machinery being for skin or blister packaging. Importers and exporters should carefully consider the operational mechanism and end-product to ensure accurate classification, focusing on whether the machine's core purpose is to create a vacuum-formed plastic film package or to seal a pre-formed blister onto a backing substrate.