CLA-2 RR:TC:MM 961280 HMC
Mr. Karl Krueger
AEI-Carr Customs Brokerage Services
1600 West Lafayette
Detroit, MI 48216
RE: Bearing Kit #88244; NY C81279, Affirmed
Dear Mr. Krueger:
This is in response to your letter, dated December 22, 1997, to the National Commodity Specialist Division, New York, on behalf of Champion Road Machinery Ltd., requesting reconsideration of New York Ruling Letter (NY) C81279, which classified a bearing kit for road graders, identified as part # 88244. In NY C81279, Customs determined that the bearing kit failed to constitute a set under GRI 3(b) and classified them separately under various subheadings of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). It was determined that the merchandise was not goods put up in sets for retail sale because the bearings, when put together, did not meet a particular need or carry out a specific activity. Your letter was referred to this office for reply. We regret the delay.
FACTS:
The merchandise consists of eight spherical plain bearings, two thrust ball bearings, and two tapered roller bearing cone assemblies with matching cups. In NY C81279, a more specific description was provided which is incorporated by reference. The bearings are packaged together in a kit for repair of road graders. You state that the kit supplies the bearings required for performing scheduled, preventative maintenance after a given number of hours. All bearings are to be replaced regardless of the condition of the bearings currently in use. The particular bearings are chosen based on the cycle of maintenance.
The provisions under consideration are as follows:
8482 Ball or roller bearings, and parts thereof:
8482.10 Ball bearings:
8482.10.50 Other...9%
8482.20.00 Tapered roller bearings, including cone and tapered roller assemblies...5.8%
* * * *
8483 Transmission shafts (including camshafts and crankshafts) and cranks; bearing housings, housed bearings and plain shaft bearings; gears and gearing; ball or roller screws; gear boxes and other speed changers, including torque converters; flywheels and pulleys, including pulley blocks; clutches and shaft couplings (including universal joints); parts thereof:
8483.30 Bearing housings; plain shaft bearings:
8483.30.80 Other...4.5%
ISSUE:
Whether the bearings of bearing kit # 88244 for road graders are classifiable together or separately.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Merchandise is classifiable under the HTSUS in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRIs). GRI 1 states in part that for legal purposes, classification shall be determined according to the terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes, and provided the headings or notes do not require otherwise, according to GRIs 2 through 6.
The various bearings in the kit are described by headings 8482, HTSUS, which provides for ball and roller bearings and heading 8483, HTSUS, which includes plain shaft bearings. Since the bearing kit contains goods described in more than one heading of the HTSUS, we must apply GRI 3(a).
GRI 3(a) states that when, by application of rule 2(b) or for any other reason, goods are, prima facie, classifiable under two or more headings, the heading which provides the most specific description shall be preferred to headings providing a more general description. However, when two or more headings each refer to part only of the materials or substances contained in mixed or composite goods or to part only of the items in a set put up for retail sale, those headings are to be regarded as equally specific in relation to those goods, even if one of them gives a more complete or precise description of the goods.
GRI 3(b) states that mixtures, composite goods consisting of different materials or made up of different components, and goods put up in sets for retail sale, which cannot be classified by reference to 3(a), shall be classified as if they consisted of the material or component which gives them their essential character, insofar as this criterion is applicable. Since we have various bearings sold together as a repair kit for road graders, we must determine if we have a set put up for retail sale.
The Harmonized Commodity Description And Coding System Explanatory Notes (ENs) constitute the official interpretation of the Harmonized system. While not legally binding on the contracting parties, and therefore not dispositive, the ENs provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the Harmonized System and are thus useful in ascertaining the classification of merchandise under the System. Customs believes the Notes should always be consulted. See T.D. 89 80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (Aug. 23, 1989).
Explanatory Note (X) to GRI 3(b), at page 5, states that the term “goods put up in sets for retail sale” shall be taken to mean goods which:
(a) consist of at least two different articles which are, prima facie, classifiable in different headings.
(b) consist of products or articles put up together to meet a particular need or carry out a specific activity; and
(c) are put up in a manner suitable for sale directly to users without repacking (e.g., in boxes or cases or on boards).
In NY C81279, it was determined that the kit did not meet prong (2). Customs found that the merchandise did not consist of articles put up together to carry out a specific activity. The ruling states that the kit is designed to include the particular parts necessary to repair failures in a road grader’s mechanical systems. The kit is not dedicated to the repair of a single failure in any one particular system, but rather provides an assortment of the bearings which may be used individually or severally to effect a range of repairs to the drive, clutch and brake assemblies of the graders.
In your reconsideration request, you state that the kit is designed to supply the bearings required to perform scheduled, preventative maintenance. This is not enough evidence to support a finding that the bearings will be used together or in conjunction with one another to carry out any specific activity with respect to preventative maintenance. We fail to find any correlation between the number of bearings contained in the kit and the number of bearings to be replaced together at any one time in the road graders. We thus find that the bearing kit fails to qualify as a set of GRI 3(b), and that the bearings must be classified separately. Accordingly, NY C81279 is affirmed.
HOLDING:
Under the authority of GRI 1, the bearing kit, part # 88244, is properly classifiable under subheadings 8482.10.50, HTSUS, 8482.20.00, HTSUS, and 8483.30.80, HTSUS, as set forth in NY C81279.
EFFECT ON OTHER RULINGS:
NY C81279 is affirmed.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division