CLA-2 RR:TC:MMC 959098 MMC
Port Director
U.S. Customs Service
Building # 77
Jamaica, NY 11430
RE: Protest 1001-95-110855; mounts for telescopic sights ; HRLs
087590, 088704
Dear Port Director:
The following is our response to Protest 1001-95-110855
concerning your actions in classifying and assessing duty on mounts
for telescopic sights used with various models of "air gun" scopes,
under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS).
Literature containing pictures of the subject articles was
submitted for our review.
FACTS:
The subject mounts for telescopic sights are identified as the
C mount part 230 0575 and the two piece C mount, part 230 0595.
The subject devices are secured to an air gun and have a vice-like
apparatus in which a telescopic sight is placed. The subject
mounts are used with models 300, 400, 450, 500, 550, 650EP and
700EP of air gun sights. Protestant was directed to enter the
mounts under subheading 9013.90.20, HTSUS, as parts and accessories
for telescopic sights for rifles. Protestant asserts that the
mounts are classifiable under subheading 9013.90.40, HTSUS, as
other parts and accessories, because they are mounted on sights
used for air guns. Protestant asserts that air guns are not
considered rifles for tariff purposes. The entries were liquidated
on September 29, 1995. A protest was timely filed on December 22,
1995.
ISSUE:
Whether an air gun is considered a rifle for tariff purposes?
Whether telescopic sight mounts are classifiable as either parts or
accessories of telescopic sights for rifles?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
The classification of merchandise under the HTSUS is governed
by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's). GRI 1, HTSUS,
states, in part, that "for legal purposes, classification shall be
determined according to terms of the headings and any relative
section or chapter notes...."
Chapter 90, HTSUS, provides for optical, photographic,
cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or
surgical instruments and apparatus; parts and accessories thereof.
Heading 9013 provides for liquid crystal devices not constituting
articles provided for more specifically in other headings; lasers,
other than laser diodes; other optical appliances and instruments,
not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts and
accessories thereof.
In an effort to determine the classification of an article,
the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory
Notes (ENs) may be consulted. The ENs, although not dispositive
nor legally binding, provide a commentary on the scope of each
heading of the HTSUS and are generally indicative of the proper
interpretation of these headings. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg.
35127, 35128, (August 23, 1989). EN 90.13, p. 1478-1480, states,
in pertinent part, that:
...This heading also includes:
...(5) Telescopic sights for weapons, refracting or
reflecting, presented separately; optical devices
suitable for use with arms and mounted thereon or
presented with the firearms on which they are designed to
be mounted, are classified with the arm, see Note 1 (d)
to Chapter 93...
...PARTS AND ACCESSORIES
...parts and accessories of apparatus or appliances of this
heading remain classified here.
As the subject articles are the mounts upon which optical devices
for weapons will be secured, they are either parts or accessories
and the heading describes them.
GRI 6 provides that for legal purposes, the classification of
goods in the subheadings of a heading shall be determined according
to the terms of those subheadings and any related subheading notes
and, mutatis mutandis, to the above rules, on the understanding
that only subheadings at the same level are comparable. For the
purposes of this rule, the relative section, chapter and subchapter
notes also apply, unless the context otherwise requires.
As the mounts are considered either parts or accessories to
telescopic sights, they are described by subheading 9013.90, which
provides for liquid crystal devices not constituting articles
provided for more specifically in other headings; lasers, other
than laser diodes; other optical appliances and instruments, not
specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts and
accessories thereof: Parts and accessories.
The subheadings under consideration are as follows:
9013.90 Liquid crystal devices not constituting
articles provided for more specifically in
other headings; lasers, other than laser
diodes; other optical appliances and
instruments, not specified or included
elsewhere in this chapter; parts and
accessories thereof
9013.90.20 Of telescopic sights for rifles
9013.90.40 Other
The issue of whether an air gun is considered a rifle for tariff
purposes was addressed in Headquarters Ruling Letter (HRL) 088704,
dated May 28, 1991, wherein it states that:
An air rifle is described as "a rifle using compressed air or
gas to propel a pellet or B-B from its barrel." C. Mueller &
J. Olson, Small Arms Lexicon and Concise Encyclopedia (1968).
See also Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary
(1984). This description supports the meaning of the term
"rifle" as used in the text of the HTSUSA.... Accordingly it
is our view that the term rifle as used with in subheading
9013.10.10, HTSUSA, encompasses both rifles which operate by
the firing of an explosive charge and ones which operate by
compressed air or gas.
See also HRL 087590 dated November 9, 1990. The word "rifle" for
heading 9013 purposes includes both air and explosive propelled
rifles. As such, the mounts are classified as parts and
accessories of telescopic sights for rifles under subheading
9013.90.20.
HOLDING:
The protest should be DENIED. The mounts are classifiable
under subheading 9013.90.20, HTSUS, as parts and accessories of
telescopic sights for rifles.
In accordance with section 3A(11)(b) of Customs Directive 099
3550-065, dated August 4, 1993, Subject: Revised Protest
Directive, this decision should be mailed by your office to the
Protestant no later than 60 days from the date of this letter. Any
reliquidation of the entry in accordance with this decision must be
accomplished prior to the mailing of the decision. Sixty days from
the date of this decision, the Office of Regulations and Rulings
will take steps to make the decision available to Customs personnel
via the Customs Rulings Module in ACS and to the public via the
Diskette Subscription Service, Freedom of Information Act and other
public access channels.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Tariff Classification Appeals
Division