CLA-2 CO:R:C:G 085348 jlj 844155
Philip Yale Simon
Freeman, Wasserman & Schneider
90 John Street
New York, New York 10038
RE: Systems Studies (engineering studies)
Dear Mr. Simon:
On behalf of your client, Asea Brown Boveri, Inc., you
request a ruling under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the
United States Annotated (HTSUSA) that certain System Studies
imported from Sweden are not goods subject to the provisions of
the tariff schedule under General Note 4(c), HTSUSA. You
submitted a portion of a System Study as a sample.
FACTS:
The merchandise at issue is engineering studies called
System Studies. They are commissioned when high voltage
electrical equipment is purchased by public utilities for the
generation, transmission or distribution of electricity.
The high voltage electrical equipment is connected to
existing electrical networks. Utility companies want to know
how the equipment to be installed will interact with the local
electric network and what will happen to the network if it is
disturbed by outside forces, such as lightning. They
commission System Studies which calculate the results of events
based on a mathematical model of the local electric network.
Almost all the System Studies consist of columns of
computer-generated numbers printed on computer paper. These
numbers represent solutions to mathematical equations.
-2-
In Customs Headquarters Ruling Letter (HRL) 084780 of
August 1, 1989, we held that a set of such Systems Studies was
an intangible under General Headnote 5(e) of the Tariff
Schedules of the United States.
ISSUE:
Are the Systems Studies exempted from the provisions of
the tariff schedule under General Note 4(c) HTSUSA?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
General Note 4(c), HTSUSA, reads as follows:
4. Exemptions. For the purposes of
general note 1--
* * * * *
(c) records, diagrams and other data
with regard to any business,
engineering or exploration
operation whether on paper, cards,
photographs, blueprints, tapes or
other media...
* * * * *
are not goods subject to the provisions of the tariff
schedule.
Inasmuch as the instant merchandise does consist of data
regarding an engineering operation, we find that it is an
exemption under General Note 4(c), HTSUSA.
HOLDING:
The System Studies described above are exemptions under
General Note 4(c), HTSUSA.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division
6 cc: Area Director, N.Y. Seaport (NIS-234)
T. Jones library/peh
085348 JLJ