HQ 080294
April 21 1989
CLA-2 CO:R:C:G 080294 APS
Ms. Evelyn F. Reep
Texmac Inc.
2731 Interstate Street
P.O. Box 668128
Charlotte, North Carolina 28266
Re: Tariff classification of the HDD optical disk flaw
inspection system from Japan.
Dear Ms. Reep:
Your letter dated March 11, 1987, to the Customs Service in
New York has been referred to Customs Headquarters for reply.
FACTS:
The merchandise under consideration is an inspection system
used to detect flaws in optical disks. The inspection system
contains a transmission lamp, a reflection lamp, a reflection
type CCD camera and a transmission type CCD camera (image
sensors).
In operation, the optical disk to be inspected is rotated
between the transmission lamp and inspection lamp. The high
speed linear arrayed image sensors act as the image pick-up
element and detect flaws on the optical disk revealed by the
light source unit. Video signals from the linear arrayed image
sensors are converted into electrical signals and then processed
in the flaw decision circuit. The reflection and transmission
projection correspond to a range of flaws such as silver,
pinholes, scratches, bubbles, black spots, foreign matter, burned
dust, or thread.
The result of the optical scanning process can be a printed
read-out of the number of flaws by size (large, medium, small),
or very small; or a printed colored flaw map showing where the
flaws are located on the disk, or a display of the flaws on a
color monitor for inspection by the operator.
- 2 -
ISSUE:
Is the inspection device "optical" for purposes of the
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated
(HTSUSA).
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Additional U.S. note 3 to Chapter 90, HTSUSA provides that
the term "optical appliances" and "optical instruments" refer
only to those appliances and instruments which incorporate one or
more optical elements but do not include any appliances or
instruments in which the incorporated optical elements are for
some subsidiary purpose.
The drawing you submitted displays the inner parts of the
transmission type and reflection type cameras. It shows that
they contain lenses and mirrors for picking up and detecting the
flaws which are exposed on the disk by the light source unit.
These optical elements are required for the operation of the
device and are not subsidiary. Thus, the system is clearly
optical.
The results obtained by the optics are processed by a
decision circuit which decides the Go/NoGo output of the system.
There is no human intervention in the system as the final product
is in the form of a paper read out, a printed colored flaw map or
an image on a color monitor.
In our opinion the device should be classified as an optical
instrument. Although there may be some indication in the case
law under earlier tariff acts that an optical instrument must aid
or enhance human vision directly it would seem that this is an
outmoded concept. Where the information obtained by the optics
is either so rapidly produced or so voluminous or so exquisitely
fine that the human brain cannot possibly process it and an
intermediate device is required to process the information to
present it in useable form, there is in a sense, an aid or an
enhancement of human vision, albeit not that conceived of by the
framers of the earlier tariff acts.
Cf. Timex Corporation v. The United States, Slip Op. 88-90
July 13, 1988. In discussing a provision of the Tariff Schedules
of the United States in connection with another matter, the Court
commented that when that tariff schedule was enacted, it left the
wording of earlier statutes and the reasoning of earlier cases
behind. The Court remarked that the new statute was a less
tortured one and it should not be burdened with outmoded
technicalities which lead to absurd results. It should be read
to effectuate the intent of Congress. We think this reasoning is
equally applicable to the classification of optics under the
HTSUSA.
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HOLDING:
The HDD optical disk flaw inspection system is classifiable
as measuring or checking instruments, appliances, and machines
***: Other optical instruments and appliances under subheading
9031.40.0000 HTSUSA and dutiable as products of Japan at the rate
of 10 percent ad valorem.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division
CO:R:C:G:ASCHIFFLIN:JH:11/18/88:4/20/89