CLA-2 RR:CR:GC 960910 HMC/JAS
Port Director of Customs
150 N. Royal St., Rm. 3004
Mobile, AL 36602
RE: PRD 1901-97-100030; Textile Spinning/Drawing/Winding Machine
Dear Port Director:
This is our decision on Protest 1901-97-100030, filed against your classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), of a machine for spinning, drawing and winding of textile fibers or yarns that was imported in multiple shipments. The entries under protest were liquidated on March 14, 1997, and this protest timely filed on April 7, 1997.
FACTS:
The merchandise under protest, the 8-position, Spinning, Drawing and Winding machine model SDW-15 (SDW-15), was imported in six separate shipments, each covered by a different entry. The components in five of these shipments are the subject of this protest. The sixth is not. In addition, numerous spare parts were included in one or more of the shipments, and some components, such as controllers and spinnerets, are sourced domestically.
A submitted schematic indicates a complete SDW-15 consists of an extruder, manifold, spinning head, spinning pump drive, spinning pump, spin pack, quenching chamber, interfloor tube,
aspirator block, and winder. The equipment is a vertical system with the machinery occupying different floors of a building and connected through the floors. The SDW-15 is essentially an
- 2 -
extruding machine in which pellets of man-made material are melted, metered through the orifices of thimble-like devices called spinnerets, into a hardening bath which causes the liquid to solidify into strands or filaments. The individual filaments are drawn through a cooling chamber on rollers called godets to elongate and strengthen them, then entangled or twisted into yarn. The yarn is then wound onto spools or bobbins for shipment.
The merchandise was entered under an HTSUS provision in heading 8448 for parts and accessories of spinning, doubling or twisting machines. However, the entries were liquidated under another provision in heading 8448, as parts and accessories of machines of heading 8444, for extruding or drawing man-made textile filaments. Two claims are made on protest. First, the protestant claims that the components in one of the five shipments constitutes an “unfinished” spinning machine for producing textile yarns, of the type provided for in heading 8445, the components having the essential character of a complete or finished machine. This would make the equipment eligible for duty-free entry under heading 9907.84.06, HTSUS, as textile spinning machines for man-made fibers. Second, protestant claims that the components in the remaining four shipments should be classified under Section XVI, Notes 2(a) and (b), HTSUS, as appropriate.
The provisions under consideration are as follows:
8444 Machines for extruding, drawing, texturing or cutting man-made textile materials
* * * *
8445 Machines for preparing textile fibers; spinning, doubling or twisting machines and other machinery for producing textile yarns; textile reeling or winding (including weft winding) machines and machines for preparing
textile yarns for use on the machines
of heading 8446 or 8447:
8445.20.00 Textile spinning machines
- 3 -
* * * *
8448 Auxiliary machinery for use with machines of heading 8444, 8445, 8446 or 8447 (for example, dobbies, Jacquards, automatic stop motions and shuttle changing mechanisms); parts and accessories suitable for use solely or principally with the machines of this heading or of heading 8444, 8445, 8446 or 8447...:
8448.20 Parts and accessories of machines of heading 8444 or their auxiliary machinery:
8448.20.10 Of machines for extruding or drawing man-made textile filaments
8448.39 Other:
8448.39.10 Parts of spinning, doubling or twisting machines
* * * *
9907.84.06 Textile spinning machines specially designed for wool, other than machines specially designed for the manufacture of combed wool (worsted) yarns; textile spinning machines for man-made fibers, such machines having winders with variable speeds with a minimum take up speed of 6000 meters and a maximum of 8000 meters per minute (all the foregoing goods provided for in subheading 8445.20)
- 4 -
ISSUE:
(1) Whether the components of the SDW-15, imported unassembled in one shipment, constitute an unfinished machine of heading 8445; (2) whether the components in the remaining four shipments are goods included in any of the headings of chapter 84 or chapter 85, or are classifiable with the machines with which they are solely or principally used.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Merchandise is classifiable under the HTSUS in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRIs). GRI 1 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, and provided the headings or notes do not require otherwise, according to GRIs 2 through 6. GRI 2(a) states in part that a heading shall include articles imported incomplete or unfinished provided such articles have the essential character of the complete or finished article.
The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (ENs) constitute the official interpretation of the Harmonized System. While not legally binding, the ENs provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the Harmonized System and are thus useful in ascertaining the classification of merchandise under the System. Customs believes the ENs should always be consulted. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (Aug. 23, 1989).
A preliminary issue is the classification of an SDW-15, imported complete, with all its necessary components. If, as the protestant contends, a complete SDW-15 is provided for in heading 8445, it may then be eligible for the duty-free treatment accorded by heading 9907.84.06. On the other hand, if a complete SDW-15 is provided for in a heading other than 8445, then heading 9907.84.06 is not applicable, and the liquidated provision in subheading 8448.20.10, parts and accessories for extruding or drawing machines of heading 8444, applies.
Protestant contends that the SDW-15 produces textile yarns and machines which perform this function are described in heading 8445, not in heading 8444. Moreover, he claims that in the trade the SDW-15 is commonly known as a textile spinning machine.
- 5 -
Protestant states that the HTSUS intended to separate machines which extrude filaments from those which produce yarn, and the 8444 heading text does not contain any reference to the production of yarn. He cites the “Directory of Fiber & Textile Technology,” by Hoechst Celanese, which defines the term “spinning” as “[t]he process or processes used in the production of single yarns or of fabrics generated directly from polymer.” Protestant concludes that yarn production is limited to “spinning,” as the term is used in heading 8445. The Modern Textile and Apparel Dictionary, 4th, Revised Enlarged Edition (1973), states on p. 534 that “the term [spinning] also includes the making of yarn by extrusion.” It further states under the definition of “SPINNING, CHEMICAL,” on p. 535, that it is “[a]n essential operation in making man-made yarn; it includes the extrusion of the filament through the spinneret into the coagulating bath, and the gathering and winding of the filaments onto a bobbin or cake form.” The same source protestant cites defines the term “extrusion,” on p. 57, as “See SPINNING, 2.” On p. 146, that definition reads as follows:
2. Filament Yarn: In the spinning of manufactured filaments, fiber-forming substances in the plastic
or molten state, or in solution, are forced through
the fine orifices in a metallic plate called a spinneret, or jet, at a controlled rate. The solidified filaments are drawn-off by rotating
rolls, or godets, and wound onto bobbins or pirns. There are several methods of spinning manufactured filaments...
The same source on p. 535 recognizes four types of “spinning,” flyer, mule, cap and ring spinning. Near the bottom of the same page the Dictionary continues with the following statement “With regard to the spinning of rayon spinning includes the extrusion of viscose through a spinneret into the coagulating bath, and the gathering and winding of the filaments into bobbin or cake form. Since the process is actually not spinning, and is wholly different from the process of spinning cotton, linen, wool, or worsted, the term is a misnomer.” From this, it appears that machines for producing rayon, and presumably nylon and other man-made fibers, which function in the described manner, are not spinning machines of heading 8445.
Relevant ENs, on pp. 1342 and 1343, list machines for extruding man-made textiles and drawing machines which stretch the filaments, as examples of machines for the manufacture of
- 6 -
man-made textile fibres covered by heading 8444. The same ENs state on p. 1343 that in some machines the fibres emerging from the nozzle are brought together and assembled by a slight twist given by a special device, thus forming a yarn. It is therefore apparent that extruding machines may indeed produce yarn. The SDW-15 performs a function that is within the dictionary definitions and EN descriptions of “extrusion,” which would not exclude machines that produce man-made yarns. The available information compels the conclusion that a SDW-15, imported complete with all its necessary components, is described by heading 8444, and not by heading 8445.
As to issue (1), the components in the shipment under consideration consist of eight spinning heads, eight upper frames and four Staender frames for the winders, one die carrier, one cooling device, 26 godet units, 18 pump gear units, 7 control cabinets, plus many more items not specifically identified. An article’s essential character is the distinctive qualities or attributes that establish the identify of the article as what it is. Relevant ENs at p. 4 state that among the factors considered relevant in essential character determinations are the nature of a part or component, its bulk, weight, value, or its role in relation to the use of the complete good. Protestant’s only assertion in support of the essential character claim is that the components comprise 62% of the entire machine, by weight, and 67.3% of the machine’s total cost or value. The ENs, at p. 1343, include within heading 8444 machines for extruding man-made textiles in the form of monofilaments or of several filaments. These include a series of spinning units, each consisting of a metering pump and filter which feed the spinerrets or spinning nozzles. The nozzles may contain one or numerous holes through which the filaments pass. We are unable to assess the relevance of the “eight spinning heads” in the shipment under consideration for purposes of comparison to the EN description, particularly since another shipment contains “4 horizontal extruders” which may more closely relate to the referenced EN description. Because there is no further description of the components and protestant has made no succinct essential character argument other than the cited percentages by weight and cost or value, we conclude the claim has not been sustained.
As to issue (2), we agree with the protestant that goods which are parts of machines and apparatus of chapters 84 or 85 are to be classified according to Section XVI, Note 2, HTSUS. See Nidec Corporation v. United States, 861 F. Supp. 136, aff’d. 68 F. 3d 1333 (1995). Parts which are goods included in any
- 7 -
heading of chapters 84 or 85 are in all cases to be classified in their respective headings. See Note 2(a). Other parts, if
suitable for use solely or principally with a particular machine, or with a number of machines of the same heading, are to be classified with the machines of that kind. See Note 2(b). In this case, parts and accessories for textile extruding or drawing machines were appropriately classified in subheading 8448.20.10, HTSUS, the liquidated provision, in accordance with Note 2(b). Protestant has provided no evidence that any of the parts or components in the remaining four shipments are goods included in any heading of chapters 84 or 85, as required by Note 2(a).
HOLDING:
Under the authority of GRI 1, the parts and components of the 8-position spinning, drawing and winding machine, model
SDW-15, are provided for in heading 8448. They are classifiable in subheading 8448.20.10, HTSUS.
This protest should be DENIED. In accordance with Section 3A(11)(b) of Customs Directive 099 3550 065, dated August 4, 1993, Subject: Revised Protest Directive, you are to mail this decision, together with the Customs Form 19, to the Protestant no later than 60 days from the date of this letter. Any reliquidation of the entry or entries in accordance with the decision must be accomplished prior to mailing the decision.
Sixty days from the date of the decision, the Office of Regulations and Rulings will make the decision available to Customs personnel, and to the public on the Customs Home Page on the World Wide Web at www.customs.ustreas.gov, by means of the Freedom of Information Act, and other methods of public distribution.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division