CLA-2 RR:TC:MM 958320 MMC
Port Director
U.S. Customs Service
1000 2nd Ave.
Seattle, WA 98104-1049
RE: Protest 3001-95-100309; Modular Furniture Components; GRI
2(a); EN V-VII for GRI 2 (a); HRLs 952850, 956969, and
087193
Dear Port Director:
The following is our response to Protest 3001-95-100309
concerning your actions in classifying and assessing duty on
modular furniture components including work surfaces, storage
bins, connectors, panels and end covers, under the Harmonized
Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Literature with
pictures of the subject components was submitted for our review.
FACTS:
The subject articles are described as components of a
modular work station. They include: work surfaces, storage bins,
connectors, panels, end covers, etc. According to the importer,
amounts and types of individual work station components vary from
shipment to shipment. Once imported the components are placed in
a warehouse with other previously imported components. The
warehouse uses a general inventory system.
The various components, when structured together, form
workstations which are part of an entire modular furniture
system. When a commercial customer decides to purchase a modular
furniture system, the importer's interior designer meets with
that customer to ascertain the needed components and
configurations for each individual workstation in the system.
Each workstation is uniquely designed by placing the various
components in different places. After a workstation has been
designed, the components necessary to assemble the designed
workstations are shipped from the warehouse to the worksite.
Protestant entered the articles under subheading 9403.30.80,
HTSUS. The entries were liquidated on March 3, 1995, under
subheading 9403.90.70, HTSUS. A protest was timely filed on
April 21, 1995. The subheadings under consideration are as
follows:
9403 Other furniture and parts thereof:
9403.30.80 Wooden furniture of a kind used in offices:
Other.
9403.90.70 Parts: Other: Of wood.
ISSUE:
Are the components for a modular workstation classifiable as
wooden furniture or as parts of wooden furniture?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Classification of merchandise under the HTSUS is in
accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's). GRI
1, HTSUS, states in part that for legal purposes, classification
shall be determined according to the terms of the headings and
any relative section or chapter notes.
Protestant asserts that the components as imported, meet the
GRI 2(a) criteria for unassembled goods, and therefore, are
classifiable as furniture; not parts of furniture. We disagree.
GRI 2 (a), HTSUS, states in pertinent part that:
[a]ny reference in a heading to an article shall be taken to
include a reference to that article incomplete or
unfinished....It shall also include a reference to that
article complete or finished (or falling to be classified as
complete or finished by virtue of this rule), entered
unassembled or disassembled.
In understanding the language of the HTSUS, the Harmonized
Commodity Description and Coding System (HCDCS) Explanatory Notes
(ENs) may be consulted. The ENs, although not dispositive or
legally binding, provide a commentary on the scope of each
heading of the HTSUS and are generally indicative of the proper
interpretation of the HTSUS. See, T.D. 89-90, 54 Fed. Reg.
35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989).
EN V-VII under GRI 2 (a) provides guidance on the
application of GRI 2 (a), stating that:
(V) The second part of Rule 2 (a) provides that
complete or finished articles presented unassembled or
disassembled are to be classified in the same heading
as the assembled article. When goods are so presented,
it is usually for reasons such as requirements or
convenience of packing, handling or transport.
(VI) This Rule also applies to incomplete or
unfinished articles presented unassembled or
disassembled provided that they are to be treated as
complete or finished articles by virtue of the first
part of this Rule.
(VII) For the purposes of this Rule, "articles
presented unassembled or disassembled" means articles
the components of which are to be assembled either by
means of simple fixing devices (screws, nuts, bolts,
etc.) or by riveting or welding, for example, provided
only simple assembly operations are involved.
Unassembled components of an article which are in
excess of the number required for that article when
complete are to be classified separately.
The importer has stated the company's intent to eventually use
all components of a particular shipment as components of complete
workstations. However, individual work station components are
imported and placed in a general warehouse with other previously
imported components. Intermingling of components from separate
shipments is required to assemble the workstations. It thus
appears that a main reason the goods are entered unassembled is
not for requirements or convenience of packing, handling, or
transport, but because all the parts required for the assembled
workstations may not be included in the same shipment.
Therefore, these parts are considered bulk inventory and are
separately classifiable on the basis of GRI 1, under subheading
9403.90.70, HTSUS, as other parts of wood.
This finding is consistent with Headquarters Ruling Letter (
HRL) 952850 dated April 14, 1993 in which we held that 7 various
components of ball point and fountain pens imported commingled in
quantities of approximately 1000, were not classifiable as
unassembled pens, but rather as parts of pens. While the importer
intended to convert all pen parts of a particular shipment into
complete pens, importer's clients would at times order color
combinations which the importer was unable to produce from the
color components of a particular shipment. The importer was then
required to use color components from other shipments.
Therefore, Customs held that the pen components were not entered
unassembled for convenience of packing, handling or transport,
but because, due to color preference, all the parts required for
the assembled pens may not be included in a particular shipment.
Finally, we note that other components of modular
workstations have been classified as parts of furniture. See
HRL 956969 dated April 4, 1995, classifying steel partition tiles
for modular furniture and HRL 087193 dated May 30, 1990,
classifying panels used in the construction of modular furniture.
HOLDING:
The protest should be DENIED. The components for the
modular furniture workstations are classifiable under subheading
9403.90.70, HTSUS, as other parts of wood furniture.
In accordance with section 3A(11)(b) of Customs Directive
099 3550-065, dated August 4, 1993, Subject: Revised Protest
Directive, this decision should be mailed by your office to the
protestant no later than 60 days from the date of this letter.
Any reliquidation of the entry in accordance with this decision
must be accomplished prior to the mailing of the decision. Sixty
days from the date of this decision, the Office of Regulations
and Rulings will take steps to make the decision available to
Customs personnel via the Customs Rulings Module in ACS and to
the public via the Diskette Subscription Service, Freedom of
Information Act and other public access channels.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Tariff Classification and
Appeals Division