CLA-2 CO:R:C:G 082793 VEA
William Joffrey
William F. Joffrey Custom House Brokers Inc.
P.O. Box 698
Nogales, Arizona 85628-0698
RE: Wiring harnesses used in motor vehicle lighting equipment
Dear Mr. Joffrey:
Your inquiry dated July 5, 1988, on behalf of Coleman
Products Co., requests reconsideration of a New York ruling
dated June 21, 1988 (File # 830553), classifying electrical
wiring harnesses in heading 8544.30.00 of the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States (HTSUS).
FACTS:
The submission states that the wiring harness is imported
from Mexico and is used in motor vehicle lighting equipment.
The harness consists of twin insulated electrical wires fitted
at one end with a twin lead connector and an electrical light
socket with or without its light bulb at the other end. The
New York office classified the merchandise under subheading
8544.30.0000, HTSUS.
You disagree with this classification claiming that the
harnesses should be classified under subheading 8512.90.6000
because they are used exclusively in motor vehicle lighting
equipment. The request for classification was submitted to the
New York office for reconsideration and forwarded to
Headquarters for resolution.
ISSUE:
Whether wiring harnesses used in lighting systems for
motor vehicles are insulated electrical conductors within the
terms of heading 8544, or whether they are electric lightning
equipment within the terms of heading 8512, HTSUS.
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LAW AND ANALYSIS:
The General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's), the legal
principles by which merchandise is classified, govern
classification under the HTSUS. GRI 1 states, in part, that
classification shall be determined according to the terms of
the headings and any relative section or chapter notes. Under
the HTSUS, electrical articles are classified in Chapter 85.
The competing headings 8512 and 8544 provide:
8512 Electrical lighting or signaling equipment
(excluding articles of heading 8539), windshield
wipers, defrosters and demisters, of a kind used
for cycles or motor vehicles; parts thereof:
* * * * * * * *
8544 Insulated (including enameled or anodized)
wire, cable (including coaxial cable) and other
insulated electric conductors whether or not
fitted with connectors; optical fiber cables,
made up of individually sheathed fibers, whether
or not assembled with electric conductors or
fitted with connectors:
* * * * * * * * * * *
8544.30.00 Ignition wiring sets and other
wiring sets of a kind used in
vehicles, aircraft or ships.
The wiring harnesses are precluded from classification in
heading 8512. The Explanatory Notes describe the articles
intended for classification in that heading. They exclude
insulated electric wire and cable, whether or not cut to length
or fitted with connectors or made up in sets. These articles
are provided for in heading 8544.
The Explanatory Notes to heading 8544 state that it
covers electric wire, cable and other conductors (e.g. braids,
strip bars) used as conductors in electrical machinery,
apparatus or installations, provided that they are insulated.
The insulated wires and cables covered in this heading include:
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(1) single or multiple strand insulated wires twisted together,
(2) two or more such insulated wires twisted together, and (3)
two or more such insulated wires assembled together in a common
insulating sheath. Fitting the wire or cable with connectors
(e.g. plugs, sockets, lugs, jacks, sleeves or terminals) at one
or both ends, or cutting it to length does not preclude
classification under 8544. The wiring harnesses in this case
clearly fall within this provision. They are comprised of two
insulated wires fitted at one end with a twin lead connector
and an electrical light socket.
It is our position that the harness, if imported with its
light bulb attached would also be classified under heading 8455
as a composite good whose essential character is determined by
the wiring harness under GRI 3(b). GRI 3(b) states that
mixtures, composite goods consisting of different materials or
made up of different components, and goods put up in sets for
retail sale, which cannot be classified by reference to 3(a),
shall be classified as if they consisted of the material or
component which gives them their essential character.
HOLDING:
Wiring harnesses used in lighting systems for motor
vehicles are properly classifiable in heading 8544, subheading
8544.30.00 as insulated electric conductors.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division