CLA-2 RR:CR:GC 962534 AML
Port Director
U.S. Customs Service
6 World Trade Center
New York, N.Y. 10048
Re: Protest 1001-98-103327; Paper feeding machine imported as component of an
offset printing press.
Dear Port Director:
The following is our decision regarding protest 1001-98-103327, concerning your classification of a paper feeding machine imported as a component of an offset printing press pursuant to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Sales brochures and blueprints of the complete offset printing press and the paper feeding machines were provided for our examination.
FACTS:
The article is a paper feeding machine imported as a component of the Komori Lithrone 28, model L-628, six-color offset printing press. The paper feeding machine is an integral component of the finished press, enabling the press to produce between 3,000 and 15,000 sheets per hour (sph). The paper feeding machine is manufactured as a component of the offset printing press; it does and cannot function independently of the other components. It is not sold separately. The printing press, manufactured in Japan, was disassembled for ease of shipment and packed into six separate crates which were shipped and entered together in entry # AK9 . . .3167-6. After importation, the components are to be reassembled on a common base and interconnected with power, vacuum and air lines.
The article was entered on December 4, 1997, and the entry was liquidated on May 29, 1998. This protest was filed on August 27, 1998.
ISSUE:
Whether the paper feeding machine imported as a component of an offset printing press is classifiable under subheading 8443.19.90, HTSUS, as other offset printing machinery weighing 1,600 kg or more; or subheading 8443.60.00, HTSUS, as other printing machinery for ancillary uses to printing?
LAW and ANALYSIS:
Initially we note that the protest was timely filed (i.e., within 90 days after but not before the notice of liquidation; see 19 U.S.C. 1514 (c)(3)(A)) and the matter is protestable (see 1514 U.S.C. 1514 (a)(2) and (5)).
Classification of imported merchandise is accomplished pursuant to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Classification under the HTSUS is guided by the General Rules of Interpretation of the Harmonized System (GRIs). GRI 1, HTSUS, 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[.]” GRI 2(a) provides, in part, that “[a]ny reference in a heading to an article ... shall also include a reference to that article ... entered unassembled or disassembled.” GRI 6 provides, in part, that “[f]or 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 [and] [f]or the purposes of this rule, the relative section, chapter and subchapter notes also apply, unless the context otherwise requires.”
The HTSUS heading and subheadings under consideration are as follows:
8443 Printing machinery, including ink jet printing
machines, other than those of heading 8471;
machines for uses ancillary to printing;
parts thereof:
Offset printing machinery:
8443.19 Other:
8443.19.90 Weighing 1,600 kg or more:
8443.60.00 Machines for uses ancillary to printing.
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 ENs should always be consulted. See T.D. 89 80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (Aug. 23, 1989).
There is no disagreement that the paper feeding machine and the offset printing press are classified in heading 8443, HTSUS. We must determine whether the paper feeding machine is classified with the offset printing press in subheading 8443.19, HTSUS, as offset printing machinery, by virtue of GRI 2(a), or any applicable section, chapter, or subchapter notes made applicable at the subheading level, pursuant to GRI 6, or whether it is separately classified as a machine for uses ancillary to printing in subheading 8443.60.00, HTSUS.
EN 84.43 states, in part:
...
The heading also covers: ... (3) ancillary machinery (whether or not presented separately) such as feeders and folding machines, provided they are specially designed as ancillary machines to printing machines.
...
(II) MACHINES FOR USES ANCILLARY TO PRINTING
This group covers machines (whether or not presented separately) for uses ancillary to printing exclusively designed to operate with printing machines and used during or after the printing operation for feeding, handling or further working the sheets or rolls of paper.
These machines, which are usually separate from the printing machine itself, include:
* * *
(B) Automatic feeders, used for sheet by sheet printing. Their function is to grip the sheets in the pile one by one (usually by means of an arm with pneumatic suction cups) and feed them into the press, perfectly centered. Frequently they are used in combination with a pile elevator.
* * *
Notes 3 and 4, Section XVI (which includes chapters 84 and 85), HTSUS, provide:
3. Unless the context otherwise requires, composite machines consisting of two or more machines fitted together to form a whole and other machines adapted for the purpose of performing two or more complementary or alternative functions are to be classified as if consisting only of that component or as being that machine which performs the principal function.
4. 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.
These section notes, and GRI 2(a), are applicable at the subheading level within heading 8443, HTSUS, “unless the context otherwise requires.” We conclude that the context does otherwise require in this case. That is, heading 8443 includes separate subheadings for both various kinds of printing machinery and machines for uses ancillary to printing. The EN for heading 8443 unambiguously includes within the latter paper feeders. The EN, in two different places, clearly states that the subheading for machines for uses ancillary to printing covers such machines “whether or not presented separately.” Our research of the background to this caveat reveals that it has been a part of the EN for the heading for printing machinery since at least 1967 (formerly in EN 84.35, in which the corresponding parenthetical phrase was “(whether or not imported separately)”). We conclude that the context (i.e., the separate headings for printing machinery and machines for uses ancillary to printing and the intent indicated by the EN) precludes treatment of the paper feeding machine as an unassembled component of the printing press under GRI 2(a), a composite machine or a machine adapted for the purpose of performing two or more complementary or alternative functions under Note 3, Section XVI, or a functional unit of a machine or combination of machines intended to contribute together to a clearly defined function under Note 4, Section XVI. This is consistent with New York Ruling (NY) 803750 dated November 23, 1994, in which a reel stand (used for feeding paper with printing machinery) was classified as a machine for uses ancillary to printing in subheading 8443.60.00, HTSUS.
HOLDING:
The paper feeding machine imported as part of an offset printing press is classified in subheading 8443.60.00, HTSUS, which provides for machines for use ancillary to printing.
The protest should be DENIED. In accordance with Section 3A(11)(b) of Customs Directive 099 3550-065, dated August 4, 1993, Subject: Revised Protest Directive, you are to mail this decision, together with the Customs Form 19, to the protestant no later than 60 days from the date of this letter. Any reliquidation of the entry or entries in accordance with the decision must be accomplished prior to mailing the decision. Sixty days from the date of the decision, the Office of Regulations and Rulings will make the decision available to Customs personnel, and to the public on the Customs Home Page on the World Wide Web at www.customs.ustreas.gov, by means of the Freedom of Information Act, and other methods of public distribution.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division