CLA-2 CO:R:C:M 952866 CMS
District Director of Customs
300 South Ferry Street
Terminal Island, Room 2017
San Pedro, CA 90731
RE: PRD 2704-92-103706; Flat Bed Pen Plotter; Drawing; Drafting
Table; Computer Aided Design; CAD; Automatic Data Processing
Machine; Control Unit; 9017.10.00
Dear District Director:
The following is our decision regarding the request for
further review of Protest No. 2704-92-103706 concerning your action
in classifying and assessing duty on a flat bed pen plotter and
control unit under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United
States (HTSUS).
FACTS:
The merchandise is described by the protestant as an automatic
drafting table, model number 1550. The "table" consists of a flat
bed pen plotter and control unit. The merchandise is used in a
computer aided design (CAD) system for the design of automobiles.
No workstation components with which the designs are created are
entered with the merchandise.
The merchandise was entered under subheading 9017.10.00,
HTSUS, as drafting tables and machines. However, the entry was
liquidated on September 11, 1992, under subheading 9017.20.80,
HTSUS, as other drawing instruments. The protest was timely filed
by the protestant on September 14, 1992.
The subheadings under consideration are as follows:
9017.10.00: Drawing...instruments (for example, drafting
machines...: Drafting tables and machines, whether or
not automatic.
Goods classifiable under this provision are subject to a
Column 1 General rate of duty of 4.9%, ad valorem.
--2--
9017.20.80: Drawing...instruments (for example, drafting
machines...: ...Other drawing...instruments:
...Other.
Goods classifiable under this provision are subject to a Column
1 General rate of duty of 5.8%, ad valorem.
ISSUE:
Is the merchandise classified under subheading 9017.10.00,
HTSUS, as drafting tables and machines, or under subheading
9017.20.80, HTSUS, as other drawing instruments?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
The HTSUS provides that the classification of articles is
governed by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's). GRI 1
states in pertinent part that "...classification shall be
determined according to the terms of the headings and any
relative section or chapter notes...".
Heading 9017 in part describes "Drawing...instruments (for
example, drafting machines...)". Heading 9017 encompasses drawing
instruments of the type used in CAD and for other high precision
applications. It is not disputed that the merchandise under
consideration is classified in heading 9017.
It is stated in the protest that the merchandise is an
"Automatic Drawing Machine". The merchandise is more specifically
described in the illustrated product literature as a "Flat Bed Pen
Plotter". The illustration of the product depicts a large pen
plotter with a pen holder mechanism that appears to move back and
forth along a straight bar which at each end is fitted into guide
channels which run the length of the drawing surface.
From the information provided, the merchandise is not the type
of drafting machine such as that described in the Harmonized
Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes to heading
9017, paragraph (A)(2), as generally using a system of
parallelograms, which can be used in the actual designing of an
image. The merchandise under consideration appears to be a type
of pen plotter that merely draws a hard copy of an image which has
already been created or designed on other CAD workstation
components.
In the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System
Compendium of Classification Opinions, No. 9017.10 (1), a CAD system
which included an automatic data processing machine, an interactive
design console on which drawings are drafted, and a
--3--
digitizer/plotter, were classified in subheading 9017.10, HTS.
In the instant protest, however, no interactive design console or
similar apparatus for such drafting of drawings is entered with the
plotter.
What is entered in the instant protest is not a CAD drafting
system, but a pen plotter that draws on paper. The merchandise is
not described as a drafting machine in subheading 9017.10.00, but
is classified as an other drawing instrument in subheading
9017.20.80, HTSUS.
The control unit for the pen plotter is classified with the pen
plotter as a Chapter 90 Note 3 functional unit.
HOLDING:
For the foregoing reasons, we find that the merchandise is
classified as other drawing instruments under subheading 9017.20.80,
HTSUS.
The protest should be denied in full. A copy of this decision
should be attached to the Customs Form 19 and provided to the
protestant as part of the notice of action on the protest.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division