CLA-2 RR:CR:GC 963869 GOB
Mr. Arthur Shufelt
President
Durst-Dice America, LLC
16 Sterling Lake Road
Tuxedo, NY 10987
RE: Lambda 130 Large Format Digital Laser Imager
Dear Mr. Shufelt:
This letter is with respect to your letter of February 17, 2000, to the National Commodity Specialist Division, New York, with respect to the classification, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”), of the Lambda 130 large format digital laser imager (“Lambda 130”). Your letter was referred to this office for reply. We regret the delay.
FACTS:
Information which you have submitted provides, in pertinent part, as follows: “The Durst Lambda 130 large-format digital imager: the new standard for digital large-format reflective or backlit displays directly from file ... The Durst Lambda is the answer for efficient and fast large-format print production with uncompromising quality for: exhibitions, fair stands, illuminated displays.” Its key features include the fact that it generates “[l]arge-format prints directly from file.” It “[e]xposes digital images and text files direct and without the detour of a negative or transparency onto photographic silver halide materials ...”
In your letter of February 17, 2000, you state:
The silver halide materials used in the Lambda 130 [are] normal RA 4 or Kodak Dura Clear materials. The Lambda 130 is a raster printer. Hence it exposes one digital line of information at a time. It can be used to produce digital files from a business card size up to very large panels exceeding 100 feet x 8 feet. The system does not use sheet materials. When we refer to the media we are referring to the paper. The Lambda 130 does not set an image onto a printing plate. The Lambda does not replace the processor. Once the media is exposed it is removed from the Lambda and placed in an external processor. The uses of the Lambda are for producing display exhibits for trade shows, museums, corporations, government agencies, etc. It also is widely used to produce point of purchase displays as found in retail stores, airports, and the gaming industry ... After the lasers expose the paper it must be sent to a separate paper processor to be finished ... There are three lasers in the Lambda 130. Digital information is converted so that the lasers will expose the paper in a raster mode. The three lasers in the Lambda are one helium neon and two argon ion lasers ...”
ISSUE:
What is the tariff classification of the Lambda 130 large format digital laser imager?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Classification under the HTSUS is made in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (“GRI’s”). GRI 1 provides that the classification of goods shall be determined according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative Section or Chapter Notes. In the event that the goods cannot be classified solely on the basis of GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRI’s may then be applied.
The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (“EN’s”) constitute the official interpretation of the Harmonized System at the international level. While neither legally binding nor dispositive, the EN’s provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the HTSUS and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of these headings. See T.D. 89-80.
The HTSUS headings under consideration are, in pertinent part, as follows:
8443 Printing machinery, including ink-jet printing machines, other than those of heading 8471; machines for uses ancillary to printing; parts thereof:
8471 Automatic data processing machines and units thereof ... :
9006 Photographic (other than cinematographic) cameras; ... parts and accessories thereof:
9010 Apparatus and equipment for photographic (including cinematographic) laboratories (including apparatus for the projection or drawing of circuit patterns on sensitized semiconductor materials), not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; ... parts and accessories thereof:
Note 1(m) to Section XVI, HTSUS, provides that: “This section does not cover: ... Articles of Chapter 90[.]” Accordingly, if the Lambda 130 is described in heading 9006 or 9010, classification in headings 8443 and 8471 is precluded.
Because heading 9010, HTSUS, contains the language “not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter,” the Lambda 130 cannot be classified in heading 9010, HTSUS, if it is described in heading 9006, HTSUS. The key determination with respect to heading 9006 is whether or not the Lambda 130 is a photographic camera.
EN 90.06 provides in pertinent part: “This group covers all kinds of photographic cameras (other than cinematographic cameras), whether for professional or amateur use, and whether or not presented with their optical elements (objective lenses, viewfinders, etc.). There are many different types of cameras, but the conventional types consist essentially of a light-tight chamber, a lens, a shutter, a diaphragm, a holder for a photographic plate or film, and a viewfinder.” [All emphasis in original.]
The McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology (1992) defines “camera” as follows: “A device for forming and recording images; the basic tool of photography. In its simplest form, a camera is a light-tight box in which an image is formed by a pinhole or lens at one end on a light-sensitive material at the opposite end ...” The New Encyclopedia Britannica (1993) defines “camera” as follows: “in photography, device for recording an image of an object on a light-sensitive surface; it is essentially a light-tight box with an aperture to admit light focused onto a sensitized film or plate ... Though there are many types of cameras, all include five indispensable components: (1) the camera box, which holds and protects the sensitive film from all light except that entering through the lens; (2) film, on which the image is recorded, a light-sensitive strip usually wound on a spool, either manually or automatically, as successive pictures are taken; (3) the light control, consisting of an aperture or diaphragm and a shutter, both often adjustable; (4) the lens, which focuses the light rays from the subject onto the film, creating the image ... and (5) the viewing system, which may be separate from the lens system (usually above it) or may operate through it by means of a mirror.”
For the following reasons, we find that the Lambda 130 is not a photographic camera. It is not a conventional camera as described in EN 90.06, above. It does not use film which is stated as an indispensable component of a camera in The New Encyclopedia Britannica definition, above. It prints onto paper. Further, the image does not originate in the Lambda 130, but originates in another device such as a digital camera, or with a scanned photograph taken by a photographic camera, or with the photographic output of a photo-CD, or a CD-ROM. The Lambda 130 does not form or capture the image, but sets or records the image onto paper.
Accordingly, we determine that the Lambda 130 is not a photographic camera of heading 9006, HTSUS.
We then turn to the question of whether the Lambda 130 is described in heading 9010, HTSUS, as apparatus and equipment for photographic laboratories. We believe that the work performed by the Lambda 130 is equivalent to photographic laboratory work. The Lambda 130 uses photosensitive silver halide material. The latent image requires processing by a paper processor. Although the device is operated in full daylight, the paper processor used to finish the print is used in a dark room environment. The process involves the creation of a digital file, the imaging or printing of the file on the Lambda 130, the sending of the image to a paper processor, and the production of a final print.
Thus, we determine that the Lambda 130 is described in heading 9010, HTSUS. Therefore, the Lambda is not classified in heading 8443 or heading 8471, HTSUS. See Note 1(m) to Section XVI, HTSUS, excerpted above.
We find that the Lambda 130 is classified in subheading 9010.50.60, HTSUS, as: “Apparatus and equipment for photographic (including cinematographic) laboratories ... not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter ... : ... Other apparatus and equipment for photographic (including cinematographic) laboratories: ... Other.”
HOLDING:
The Lambda 130 is classified in subheading 9010.50.60, HTSUS, as: “Apparatus and equipment for photographic (including cinematographic) laboratories ... not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter ... : ... Other apparatus and equipment for photographic (including cinematographic) laboratories: ... Other.”
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division