CLA-2 OT: RR: CTF: TCM H204037 RES
Port Director
Service Port-Minneapolis
320 2nd Ave. South
Suite 560
Minneapolis, MN 55401
ATTN: Beverly Baer, Supervisory Import Specialist
RE: Application for Further Review of Protest No. 3501-11-100112; Tariff classification of Miter Saw Stand.
Dear Port Director:
This letter is in reply to the Application for Further Review (“AFR”) of Protest number 3501-11-100112, filed October 27, 2011, on behalf of HTC Products Inc. (”Protestant”). The Protest is against U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (“CBP”) classification of stands for miter saws under subheading 8466.30.80, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”), as a special attachment for machine tools.
FACTS:
There are four different models of stands at issue here which are called either a miter saw stand (models PM3900 and PM5000) or a miter saw workcenter (MF6500 and PM7000) and are used with compound miter saws to provide a work area for sawing. A miter saw is a saw used to make accurate cross-cuts and miters (a joint made by cutting two pieces of wood at an angle and fitting them together). The stands are made of stainless steel and/or aluminum and have two rubber wheels for mobility. The stands/workstations have a flat top area where a miter saw is mounted by bolting. They also have front and rear rollers/extension bars so that the top area can be extended out to support larger pieces of wood. The stands can fold up with a saw mounted on it and be stored upright or rolled to another location. Some of the stands (models PM5000 and PM7000) have an outlet power strip integrated into them.
Protestant entered the merchandise between the dates March 30, 2010, and October 15, 2010, inclusive, under subheading 9403.20.00, HTSUS, as “[o]ther furniture and parts thereof: [o]ther metal furniture.” CBP liquidated the merchandise on May 13, 2011, and July 15, 2011, under subheading 8466.30.80, HTSUS, as “[p]arts and accessories suitable for use solely or principally with the machines of headings 8456 to 8465, including work or tool holders, self-opening dieheads, dividing heads and other special attachments for machine tools; tool holders for any type of tool for working in the hand: [d]ividing heads and other special attachments for machine tools: [o]ther special attachment: [o]ther.”
The Protestant now claims that the miter saw stands are classified under heading 8466.92.50, HTSUS, as “[p]arts and accessories suitable for use solely or principally with the machines of headings 8456 to 8465, including work or tool holders, self-opening dieheads, dividing heads and other special attachments for machine tools; tool holders for any type of tool for working in the hand: [o]ther: [f]or machines of heading 8465: [o]ther” in accordance with NY R01200, dated January 12, 2005, regarding similar merchandise.
ISSUES:
Whether the subject miter saw stands are classified under subheading 8466.30.80, HTSUS, as special attachments for machine tools, or under subheading 8466.92.50, HTSUS, as an other part/accessory of a miter saw?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Initially, CBP notes that the Protest was timely filed on October 27, 2011, which is within 180 days after the earliest liquidation date of May 13, 2011. See 19 U.S.C. § 1514(c)(3). Additionally, CBP’s classification of the merchandise is a protestable matter under 19 U.S.C. § 1514(a)(1).
Further Review of Protest No. 3501-11-100112 is properly accorded to Protestant pursuant to 19 C.F.R. § 174.24(a). The Protestant asserts that CBP’s classification of the articles is inconsistent with CBP rulings, which concern the same or substantively similar merchandise, namely NY R01200.
Classification under the HTSUS is made in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (“GRI”), and, in the absence of special language or context which otherwise requires, by the Additional U.S. Rules of Interpretation (“ARI”). GRI 1 provides that the classification of goods shall be “determined according to the terms of the headings 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 GRIs 2 through 6 may be applied in order.
The 2010 HTSUS headings under consideration in this case are as follows:
8466 Parts and accessories suitable for use solely or principally with the machines of headings 8456 to 8465, including work or tool holders, self-opening dieheads, dividing heads and other special attachments for machine tools; tool holders for any type of tool for working in the hand:
* * *
8466.30 Dividing heads and other special attachments for machine tools:
Other special attachments:
8466.30.80 Other:
* * *
Other:
8466.92 For machines of heading 8465:
8466.92.50 Other:
Legal Note 2 to Section XVI provides in relevant part the following:
2. Subject to note 1 to this section, note 1 to chapter 84 and to note 1 to chapter 85, parts of machines (not being parts of the articles of heading 8484, 8544, 8545, 8546 or 8547) are to be classified according to the following rules:
Parts which are goods included in any of the headings of chapter 84 or 85 (other than headings 8409, 8431, 8448, 8466, 8473, 8487, 8503, 8522, 8529, 8538 and 8548) are in all cases to be classified in their respective headings;
Other parts, if suitable for use solely or principally with a particular kind of machine, or with a number of machines of the same heading (including a machine of heading 8479 or 8543) are to be classified with the machines of that kind or in heading 8409, 8431, 8448, 8466, 8473, 8503, 8522, 8529, or 8538 as appropriate. However, parts which are equally suitable for use principally with the goods of headings 8517 and 8525 to 8528 are to be classified in heading 8517;
* * *
In understanding the language of the HTSUS, the Explanatory Notes (ENs) of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, which constitute the official interpretation of the Harmonized System at the international level, may be utilized. The ENs, although not dispositive or legally binding, provide a commentary on the scope of each heading, and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of the HTSUS. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127 (August 23, 1989).
EN(B) to heading 84.66 provides in pertinent part the following:
Accessories for these machine tools, that is, subsidiary devices used in connection with machine tools, such as interchangeable devices which modify the machine tool so that it can perform a wider range of operations; devices to increase precision; devices which perform a particular service relative to the main function of the machine.
EN(7) to heading 84.66 provides in pertinent part the following:
Other special auxiliary attachments, designed to increase the precision of the machine without actually entering into its operation. They include centring or levelling attachments; dividing heads; indexing tables; micrometer carriage stops; carriage spacing attachments, etc. Such attachments remain in the heading even if incorporating an optical device to assist in reading the scale or in carrying out adjustments (e.g., “optical” dividing heads). However the heading excludes apparatus which are in themselves essentially optical apparatus, e.g., centring microscopes (heading 90.11), alignment or levelling telescopes and image projecting test apparatus (heading 90.31), etc.
As an initial matter, work bench power miter saws with a base or stand are classified in heading 8465, HTSUS, as machine tools. See NY R01200, dated January 12, 2005. To be classified as a special auxiliary attachment of 8466.30, HTSUS, the instant miter saw stand must increase the cutting precision of a miter saw (EN(7) to heading 84.66). The articles at issue here are intended to be mounted with miter saws that have a base and could be used on any table or work bench. Mounting such a miter saw on the instant stand only makes it portable and versatile to use as the saw is not limited to being operated in a workshop on a work bench. However, there is no evidence suggesting that mounting a saw that already contains a stable base, onto the subject stand, is any more or less stable than having it placed/mounted on a work bench or other flat surface. The instant stand appears to be designed for portability and ease of use purposes and not to increase the precision of making actual cuts. The manufacturer does not state on its website or in its product brochures that the stands and workcenters increase the cutting precision of a miter saw when mounted. Rather, the focus in the brochures is on portability and having a miter saw to a “comfortable height” for ease of use. It also allows the user to easily store the miter saw when not in use. Thus, the stands and workcenters are not special attachments for increasing precision of cutting.
Although, in CBP rulings HQ 968054, dated July 10, 2006, and NY N021471, dated January 28, 2008, articles called metal tool stands were classified as special attachments for machine tools, these rulings are not controlling here. Unlike in HQ 968054, and NY N021471, added stability does not appear to be a feature of the miter saw stands or workcenters.
Instead, the stand at issue here is an accessory described in EN(B) to heading 84.66, HTS, as a subsidiary device that performs a particular service relative to the main function of the machine; namely provides for portability and correct height placement. See NY R01200, supra, in which CBP classified nearly identical articles as accessories for use with machines of heading 8465.
Therefore, the miter saw stands and workcenters are classified under subheading 8466.92.50, HTSUS, as “[p]arts and accessories suitable for use solely or principally with the machines of headings 8456 to 8465, including work or tool holders, self-opening dieheads, dividing heads and other special attachments for machine tools; tool holders for any type of tool for working in the hand: [o]ther: [f]or machines of heading 8465: [o]ther.”
HOLDING:
Pursuant to GRI 1 and Note 2(b) to Section XVI, the miter saw stands and workcenters are classified under subheading 8466.92.5010, HTSUSA (annotated), as “[p]arts and accessories suitable for use solely or principally with the machines of headings 8456 to 8465, including work or tool holders, self-opening dieheads, dividing heads and other special attachments for machine tools; tool holders for any type of tool for working in the hand: [o]ther: [f]or machines of heading 8465: [o]ther: [o]f woodworking machines.” The 2010 general, column one, rate of duty is 4.7 percent, ad valorem.
The Protest should be GRANTED. Since the classification indicated above is a different provision from the classification under which the entry was liquidated, you are instructed to grant the protest in full and reliquidate the entry pursuant to subheading 8466.92.50, HTSUS. A copy of this ruling should be attached to the CBP Form 19 and provided to the protestant as part of the notice of action on the protest.
Sixty days from the date of the decision the Office of International Trade, Regulations and Rulings, will make the decision available to CBP personnel, and to the public on www.cbp.gov, by means of the Freedom of Information Act, and other methods of public distribution.
Sincerely
Myles B. Harmon, Director
Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division