CLA-2 CO:R:C:M 088506 AJS
District Director
U.S. Customs Service
Port of Milwaukee
P.O. Box 37260
Milwaukee, WI 53237-0260
RE: Protest No. 3701-90-000063; screen plate; Subheading
8439.91.10; Subheading 8439.91.90; stock-treating parts; Bird
Machine Company v. United States; A.N. Deringer, Inc. v. United
States; H. Rep. No. 100-576 (1988).
Dear Regional Director:
Protest for further review number 3701-90-000063 dated
10/29/90, was filed against the classification of screen plates.
FACTS:
The subject article is a screen plate for a dry end pulper.
Pulpers, also known as hydrapulpers, are machines used to
disintegrate dry pulp or waste paper into stock. They basically
consist of a large tank equipped with a rotating disk or rotor
located over an extraction or screen plate. The shearing action
of the rotor causes bales of pulp or waste paper to disintegrate
into individual fibers which, together with water that is added
to the tank, results in stock. This stock is then discharged
through the screen plate, a large metal plate containing many
small holes. It is stated that the function of this plate is to
strain the stock, and thus prevent large pieces of stock from
leaving the pulper.
ISSUE:
Whether the subject screen plate is properly classifiable
within subheading 8439.91.10, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the
United States Annotated (HTSUSA), which provides for "[p]arts:
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[o]f machinery for making pulp of fibrous cellulosic materials:
[b]ed plates, roll bars and other stock-treating parts."; or
classifiable within subheading 8439.91.90, HTSUSA, which provides
for other parts of machinery for making pulp of fibrous
cellulosic materials.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
The Area Director classified the subject screen plate within
subheading 8439.91.10, HTSUSA, which provides for stock-treating
parts of machinery for making pulp of fibrous cellulosic
materials. The protestant objects to this classification, and
claims that the screen plate has no function in any stock-
treating process. Neither the HTSUSA nor the Explanatory Notes
to the Harmonized System provides a description of the term
"stock-treating".
The Court of Customs and Patent Appeals has interpreted the
term "stock-treating" in Bird Machine Company v. United States,
51 CCPA 42 (1964). Bird also involved the classification of
screen plates. The Court held that screen plates used to
separate wanted fibres from unwanted dirt, knots, chips,
knuckles, cockle burrs, wet strength paper, cellophane, paper
clips, rubber bands etc., satisfied the description of "other
stock-treating parts" for pulp and paper machinery. Bird at 49.
Furthermore, the Court described "stock" as the admixture of
water, coarse pulp and impurities of all kinds. Bird at 50. In
handling stock the Court considered separation of parts thereof
to be treatment of stock. Bird at 50.
The Customs Court also addressed the meaning of the phrase
"stock-treating" in A.N. Deringer, Inc. v. United States, 56
Cust. Ct. 477 (1966). Deringer involved the classification of a
screen plate through which acceptable and usable stock was forced
by a spinning rotor. The Court held that these screen plates are
classifiable as "stock-treating parts" for pulp and paper
machinery. Deringer at 483. The Court stated that it found
insufficient reason to change the conclusion in Bird that "a
screen plate is a stock-treating part . . . that separation of
pulp fibers is stock treatment'." Deringer at 483.
While these decisions under the Tariff Schedules of the
United States (TSUS) are not binding under the HTSUSA, Congress
has indicated that prior cases must not be disregarded in
applying the HTSUSA. The conference report to the Omnibus Trade
Bill, states that "on a case-by-case basis prior decisions should
be considered instructive in interpreting the HTS[USA],
particularly where the nomenclature previously interpreted in
those decisions remain unchanged and no dissimilar interpretation
is required by the text of the HTS[USA]." H. Rep.
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No. 100-576, 100th Cong., 2D Sess. 548, 550 (1988). The Bird and
Deringer decisions satisfy these requirements. They also
involved the interpretation of the text "other stock-treating
parts" for pulp and paper machinery. In addition, the text of
the HTSUSA does not require a different interpretation of this
term. Accordingly, we find the interpretation rendered in Bird
and Deringer of the term "other stock-treating parts" instructive
in this instance.
Applying the interpretation of "other stock-treating parts"
reached in Bird and Deringer to the instant case would lead to a
similar result. The subject screen plates are perforated metal
plates through which stock is forced by a spinning rotor in order
to strain the stock, and thus affecting the composition of the
stock. This is exactly the type of device described in Bird and
Deringer. Accordingly, the subject screen plates satisfy the
description of "other stock-treating parts" provided for within
subheading 8439.91.10, HTSUSA. Since classification is
appropriate within this subheading, resort to classification as
an "other" part within subheading 8439.91.90, HTSUSA, would not
be appropriate.
HOLDING:
The subject screen plates are classifiable within subheading
8439.91.10, HTSUSA, which provides for other stock-treating
parts. The protest should be denied in full and a copy of this
letter should be attached to the Customs Form 19 Notice of Action
and forwarded to the protestant.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division