CLA-2 CO:R:C:G 086890 WAW
Ms. Elizabeth Brault
4400 Baker Road
Minnetonka, MN 55343
RE: Modification of Headquarters Ruling Letter (HRL) 086281;
Travel Bag
Dear Ms. Brault:
This letter is to inform you that we are modifying HRL
086281, dated March 2, 1990, which concerns the classification of
a travel bag containing a wallet, mirror, pen, raincoat, memo
pad, umbrella, comb, and calculator with a battery. In that
ruling, we determined that the travel bag and its accompanying
accessories packaged together to be sold as a single unit should
be classified separately, since the articles do not meet the
requirements for a "set." We determined that the items
considered together do not fulfill the same particular need nor
are they used for the same specific activity. Thus, in HRL
086281, the travel bag as well as each item in the bag was
classified under a separate tariff provision.
After reviewing HRL 086281, we have determined that the
calculator and the accompanying battery which operates the
calculator should not have been separately classified. Legal
Note 4 to Section XVI of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the
United States Annotated (HTSUSA) states the following:
Where a machine (including a combination of machines)
consists of individual components (whether separate or
interconnected by piping, by transmission devices, by
electric cables or by other devices) intended to
contribute together to a clearly defined function
covered by one of the headings in chapter 84 or chapter
85, then the whole falls to be classified in the
heading appropriate to that function.
In the case of the calculator and battery combination, the
battery contributes to the operation of the calculator, however,
the primary function of the two components centers on the
calculator. Thus, between the two competing headings, the
calculator and battery combination are more properly classified
under subheading 8470.10.0040, HTSUSA, which provides for
calculating machines; accounting machines, cash registers,
postage-franking machines, inter alia, and similar machines,
incorporating a calculating device: electronic calculators
capable of operation without an external source of power, display
only. Items classified under this subheading enter at a rate of
duty of 3.7 percent ad valorem.
We have attached a copy of HRL 086281 for your reference.
Please feel free to contact this office if you have any
questions regarding this matter or if we can be of any further
assistance.
HRL 086281 is hereby modified pursuant to 19 CFR 177.9(d).
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division