CLA-2 OT:RR:CTF:TCM H126636 EGJ
Mr. Paul S. Follett
Atlantek Inc.
10 High Street
Wakefield, RI 02879
RE: Revocation of NY 861163, dated April 5, 1991; Classification of Data Recorders
Dear Mr. Follett:
This is in reference to New York Ruling Letter (NY) 861163, dated April 5, 1991, issued to Atlantek, Inc. (Atlantek), concerning the tariff classification of data recorders under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). In that ruling, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) classified the subject merchandise in heading 9033, HTSUS, which provides for parts and accessories for machines of Chapter 90. We have reviewed NY 861163 and find it to be in error. For the reasons set forth below, we hereby revoke NY 861163.
Pursuant to section 625(c)(1), Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. §1625(c)(1)), as amended by section 623 of Title VI, notice of the proposed revocation was published on April 22, 2015, in the Customs Bulletin, Volume 49, No. 16. CBP received no comments in response to this notice.
FACTS:
The subject articles are Atlantek’s RS and HS series digital strip data recorders (data recorders). They are microprocessor-driven thermal print units with motor-driven paper transport. These are not stand-alone printers. At importation, the data recorders are designed to be component equipment installed in larger machines. According to Atlantek, the primary use for the data recorders is in medical, scientific and industrial applications such as electrocardiographs, thermographs, data-loggers and small text data terminals.
The data recorders can accept data in different formats for waveform or graphical image printing. Once installed, the data recorders provide paper printouts of data received from the larger machine. Consumers trained to read these printouts can interpret the output from the electrocardiographs, thermographs and data-loggers. Depending upon the application of the larger machine, the output can provide information ranging from electrical activity in the human heart to changes in weather temperature. Below is a picture of a typical strip data recorder:
ISSUE:
Are the data recorders classifiable under heading 9031, HTSUS as measuring or checking instruments, or under heading 9033, HTSUS, as parts (not specified or included elsewhere) for machines, appliances, instruments or apparatus of chapter 90?
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 2 through 6 may then be applied in order.
The HTSUS provisions at issue are as follows:
9031 Measuring or checking instruments, appliances and machines, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; profile projectors; parts and accessories thereof…
* * *
9033 Parts and accessories (not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter) for machines, appliances, instruments or apparatus of chapter 90…
* * *
Note 2 to Chapter 90 states that:
Subject to note 1 [of this chapter], parts and accessories for machines, apparatus, instruments or articles of this chapter are to be classified according to the following rules:
(a) Parts and accessories which are goods included in any of the headings of this chapter or of chapter 84, 85 or 91 (other than heading 8487, 8548 or 9033) are in all cases to be classified in their respective headings;
(b) Other parts and accessories, if suitable for use solely or principally with a particular kind of machine, instrument or apparatus, or with a number of machines, instruments or apparatus of the same heading (including a machine, instrument or apparatus of heading 9010, 9013 or 9031) are to be classified with the machines, instruments or apparatus of that kind.
(c) All other parts and accessories are to be classified in heading 9033.
* * *
Heading 9031, HTSUS, covers measuring and checking instruments. The term “checking” is not defined in the HTSUS. To ascertain the common meaning of a term, a court may consult “dictionaries, scientific authorities, and other reliable information sources” and “lexicographic and other materials.” C.J. Tower & Sons v. United States, 673 F.2d 1268, 1271 (C.C.P.A. 1982).
In United States v. Corning Glass Works, the U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (CCPA) (predecessor to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) defined the terms of “optical measuring or checking instruments,” which was the superior heading to items 710.86-710.90 of the Tariff Schedule of the United States (TSUS)(predecessor to the HTSUS). 66 C.C.P.A. 25 (1978). The CCPA stated that the term “check” meant “to inspect and ascertain the condition of especially in order to determine that the condition is satisfactory.” Id. at 27 (citing Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 381 (1971)). The CCPA further stated that “applying that definition, ‘checking instruments’ clearly and unambiguously encompasses machines…that carry out steps in a process for inspecting… ‘Checking’ … [is] broad enough to include egg candling (i.e., viewing eggs against a light to detect staleness, blood clots, fertility, and growth) machines.” Id. at 27 (citing Bruce Duncan Co., Inc., a/c Staalkat of America, Inc. v. United States, 67 Cust. Ct. 430 (1971)).
Decisions by the courts interpreting nomenclature under the HTSUS' predecessor tariff code, the TSUS, are not deemed dispositive under the HTSUS. However, on a case-by-case basis, such decisions should be deemed instructive in interpreting the HTSUS, particularly where the nomenclature previously interpreted in those decisions remains unchanged and no dissimilar interpretation is required by the text of the HTSUS. Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, Public Law 100-418, Aug. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 1107, 1147; H.R. Rep. No. 576, 100th Cong., 2d Sess. 549-550 (1988); 1988 U.S.C.C.A.N. 1547, 1582-1583. In this instance, we find instructive the discussion of the court in United States v. Corning Glass Works on the meaning of the term “checking instruments.”
As stated above, heading 9031, HTSUS, provides for measuring or checking instruments. The data recorders’ print-outs, which display the information for different types of devices, allow a person to inspect the data from these devices. The data recorders print out information from devices such as electrocardiographs, thermographs, and data-loggers. Electrocardiograph devices provide data on the electrical activity of the human heart. A hospital worker can check a patient’s heart activity by reading the data recorder’s print-out. Thermographs measure and record temperature. A meteorologist can check the temperature by reading the data recorder’s print-out from a thermograph. Data loggers are electronic devices which collect data through internal or external sensors for numerous applications, such as weather, gas pressure, road traffic counting and tank level monitoring. A factory employee can check the levels of gas in industrial gas tanks by reading the data recorder’s print-out. The data recorders, therefore, carry out steps in a process for inspecting.
As such, the data recorders satisfy the definition of checking instruments set forth in Corning Glass Works. Id. at 27. Furthermore, CBP has consistently classified independent and free-standing data recorders under heading 9031, HTSUS. See HQ 089391, dated February 6, 1992, HQ 961096, dated June 15, 1998, and HQ H112722, dated September 30, 2010.
While the data recorders satisfy the definition of checking instruments, they are imported as components of larger machines. Heading 9033, HTSUS, provides for parts and accessories of machines classified in Chapter 90. However, Note 2(a) to Chapter 90 states that “Parts and accessories which are goods included in any of the headings of this chapter . . . are in all cases to be classified in their respective headings.” Therefore, a part or accessory of a machine which is described by a heading must be classified in that heading rather than as a part or accessory of the larger machine.
The subject data recorders are smaller components of electrocardiographs, thermographs and data-loggers. However, they are also machines that carry out steps in a process for inspecting. Since the data recorders are specifically described in heading 9031, HTSUS, Note 2(a) to Chapter 90 precludes them from classification under heading 9033, HTSUS, as parts and accessories. For all of the aforementioned reasons, the subject data recorders are classifiable under heading 9031, HTSUS.
HOLDING:
By application of GRI 1 (Note 2 to Chapter 90), the data recorders of NY 861163 are classifiable under heading 9031, HTSUS. Specifically, they are classifiable under subheading 9031.80.80, HTSUS, which provides for “Measuring or checking instruments, appliances and machines, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; profile projectors; parts and accessories thereof: other instruments, appliances and machines: other.” The 2015 column one, general rate of duty is 1.7% ad valorem.
Duty rates are provided for your convenience and subject to change. The text of the most recent HTSUS and the accompanying duty rates are provided on the World Wide Web at www.usitc.gov.
EFFECT ON OTHER RULINGS:
NY 861163, dated April 5, 1991, is hereby revoked.
In accordance with 19 U.S.C. §1625(c), this ruling will become effective 60 days after its publication in the Customs Bulletin.
Sincerely,
Myles B. Harmon, Director
Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division