CLA-2 RR:CR:GC 963817 AML
Port Director
U.S. Customs Service
1 East Bay Street
Savannah, GA 31401
RE: Protest 1703-99-100214; roller table parts
Dear Port Director:
The following is our decision regarding protest 1703-99-100214, concerning your classification of roller table parts for metal rolling mills under subheading 8414.90.1080, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for parts of fans.
FACTS:
The articles are roller table parts to be used with metal rolling mills. Metal rolling mills are metal working machines that use multiple rollers mounted on stands to produce steel in the form, among others, of ingots, slabs or sheets. The roller table, which is similar in form and function to a conveyor, facilitates the movement of these forms of molten metal during their manufacture. A broker for the importer entered the articles under subheading 8455.90.80, HTSUS, which provides for metal rolling mills and rolls therefor; parts thereof. When the broker did not timely respond to either the Customs Form (“CF”) CF 28 or CF 29 requesting clarification of the broker’s use of the term “partial” in reference to what you determined to be a “commingled” entry, you classified the articles in accordance with General Note 17, HTSUS, (which provides that commingled goods will be dutiable at the highest rate applicable to any part of the shipment) under heading 8414, HTSUS, as parts of fans. The importer subsequently provided additional information that indicated that the shipment consisted only of parts of roller tables for metal rolling mills, substantiated by packing lists and diagrams. The packing lists identify the merchandise in question as
frames, rollers, squares, bed plates, hot rolled square bars, grease systems, shifting platform piping, rope length transmitter, hex bolts, self-locking type hex nuts, washers, screws, wire, shims and spacers.
A submission made by the protestant refers to the finished articles as the “entry/exit roller table” and the “changing roller table.” A design of the former was submitted and the latter is stated to be “made in the same way and to perform the same function.” The finished roller tables transfer the material from one point of the machine/plant to another via the rollers “which by turning, allow the material to advance along the table of the roller way.”
The articles were entered on April 3, 1999, and the entry was liquidated on August 27, 1999. The protest was filed on September 28, 1999.
ISSUE:
Whether the roller table components are classifiable under subheading 8414.90, HTSUS, which provides for part of fans; subheading 8428.39.00, HSTUS, which provides for other continuous action conveyors; subheading 8431.39.00, HTSUS, which provides for other parts of conveyors; or under subheading 8455.90.80, HTSUS, which provides for metal rolling mills and rolls therefor; parts thereof?
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 matters protested are protestable (see 19 U.S.C. §1514 (a)(2) and (5)).
Classification of merchandise under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) is governed by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRIs), taken in order. GRI 1 provides that the classification is determined first in accordance with the terms of the headings and any relative section and chapter notes. If GRI 1 fails to classify the goods and if the heading and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRIs are applied, taken in order.
The HTSUS provisions under consideration are as follows:
8414 Air or vacuum pumps, air or other gas compressors and fans; ventilating or
recycling hoods incorporating a fan, whether or not fitted with filters; parts thereof:
8414.90 Parts:
8414.90.10 Of fans (including blowers) and ventilating or
recycling hoods.
* * *
8428 Other lifting, handling, loading or unloading machinery (for example, elevators,
escalators, conveyors, teleferics):
Other continuous-action elevators and conveyors,
for goods or materials:
8428.39.00 Other.
* * *
8431Parts suitable for use solely or principally with the machinery of headings 8425 to
8430:
Of machinery of heading 8428:
8431.39.00 Other:
8431.39.0010 Of elevators and conveyors.
* * *
8455 Metal-rolling mills and rolls therefor; parts thereof:
8455.90 Other parts:
8455.90.80 Other.
As noted above, the articles were classified in accordance with General Note 17, HTSUS, (which provides that commingled goods will be dutiable at the highest rate applicable to any part of the shipment) under heading 8414, HTSUS, which provides for parts of fans. Because the protestant has provided supplemental information that demonstrates the articles are not fans or parts therefor, we find that classification under heading 8414, HTSUS, is inappropriate.
When interpreting and implementing the HTSUS, the Explanatory Notes (ENs) of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System may be utilized. The ENs, while neither legally binding nor dispositive, provide a guiding commentary on the scope of each heading, and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of the HTSUS. Customs believes the ENs should always be consulted. See, T.D. 89-90, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989).
Section XVI (in which Chapter 84 is found), note 2, HTSUS, states that:
2.Subject to note 1 to this section, note 1 to chapter 84 and to note 1 to chapter 85, parts of machines (not being parts of the articles of heading 8484, 8544, 8545, 8546 or 8547) are to be classified according to the following rules:
(a) Parts which are goods included in any of the headings of chapters 84 and 85 (other than headings 8409, 8431, 8448, 8466, 8473, 8485, 8503, 8522, 8529, 8538 and 8548) are in all cases to be classified in their respective headings;
(b) Other parts, if suitable for use solely or principally with a particular kind of machine, or with a number of machines of the same heading (including a machine of heading 8479 or 8543) are to be classified with the machines of that kind or in heading 8409, 8431, 8448, 8466, 8473, 8503, 8522, 8529 or 8538 as appropriate. However, parts which are equally suitable for use principally with the goods of headings 8517 and 8525 to 8528 are to be classified in heading 8517;
(c) All other parts are to be classified in heading 8409, 8431, 8448, 8466, 8473, 8503, 8522, 8529 or 8538 as appropriate or, failing that, in heading 8485 or 8548.
Subject to certain exceptions not relevant here, goods that are identifiable parts of machines or apparatus of Chapter 84 or Chapter 85 are classifiable in accordance with Section XVI, Note 2, HTSUS. Nidec Corporation v. United States, 861 F. Supp. 136, aff'd, 68 F. 3d 1333 (1995). Parts, which are goods included in any of the headings of Chapters 84 and 85, are in all cases to be classified in their respective headings. See Note 2(a). Other parts, if suitable for use solely or principally with a particular machine, or with a number of machines of the same heading, are to be classified with the machines of that kind. See Note 2(b).
The frames, rollers, and bedplates are (based upon the determination made by the National Commodity Specialist Division) identifiable as parts suitable for use solely or principally with conveyors that are integral parts of the metal rolling mills. The remaining merchandise detailed on the purchase order (hot rolled square bars, grease systems, shifting platform piping, rope length transmitter, hex bolts, self-locking type hex nuts, washers, screws, wire, shims and spacers) appears to be (based upon description only; samples were not provided) excluded from classification in either heading 8428 or 8431, HTSUS, by virtue of the exclusions delineated in Note 2 to Section XVI and those in Chapters 84 and 85 (which pertain to the exclusion of parts of general use).
The ENs to heading 8428, HTSUS provide, in pertinent part, that:
The heading covers lifting or handling machines usually based on pulley, winch or jacking systems, and often including large proportions of static structural steelwork, etc.
These static structural elements (e.g., pylons specialised for teleferics, etc.) are classified in this heading when they are presented as parts of a more or less complete handling machine.
When presented separately, they are classified in heading 84.31 provided they are fitted or designed to be fitted with the mechanical features essential for the operation of the moving parts of the complete installation (wheels, rollers, pulleys, running or guide rails, etc.). Otherwise these structural elements are classified in heading 73.08.
* * *
(2) Conveyors consisting of a train of motor-driven rollers (e.g., as used for feeding steel into cogging mills). The heading also covers roller conveyors, not power-driven, usually mounted on bearings (e.g., horizontal roller runways for manoeuvring crates, etc., and gravity roller conveyors), but it excludes similar equipment without rollers, e.g., straight, curved or spiral sliding chutes (heading 73.08, 73.25 or 73.26 according to type).
The ENs to heading 8431, HTSUS, provide, in pertinent part, that:
Subject to the general provisions regarding the classification of parts (see the General Explanatory Note to Section XVI), this heading covers parts for use solely or principally with the machinery of headings 84.25 to 84.30.
Classification of the parts of roller tables (conveyors) for metal rolling mills that are solely and principally designed for use with the metal mills - the frames, rollers, and bedplates – is governed by Note 2 to Section XVI and Nidec, supra. The frames, rollers and bed plates and are not provided for specifically in any heading of chapters 84 or 85. Note 2(a). However, they are integral, constituent and component parts of an entire roller table system. These components therefore qualify as parts of conveyors for tariff purposes. Note 2(b). This note requires that they be principally used with conveyors. Principal use, in this context, means that use which exceeds each other single use of the goods. Those parts are integral components of the roller tables and are therefore classifiable as such under heading 8431, HTSUS. We are unable to classify the remaining components detailed on the purchase order (hot rolled square bars, grease systems, shifting platform piping, rope length transmitter, hex bolts, self-locking type hex nuts, washers, screws, wire, shims and spacers) because of the inadequacy of the description and because samples were not provided. (The scope of review in a protest filed under 19 U.S.C. 1514 is limited to the administrative record. Customs will consider all relevant allegations that are supported by competent evidence. In acting on a protest, however, Customs lacks the legal authority to assume facts and arguments that are not presented and, therefore, not in the official record.)
HOLDING:
The parts of roller tables for metal rolling mills (the frames, rollers and bedplates) are classifiable under subheading 8431.39.00, HTSUS, which provides for other parts of conveyors.
The protest should be GRANTED in part (as it pertains to the frames, rollers, and bedplates) and DENIED in part (as it pertains to the hot rolled square bars, grease systems, shifting platform piping, rope length transmitter, hex bolts, self-locking type hex nuts, washers, screws, wire, shims and spacers). 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 sixty (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 (60) 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.treas.gov, by means of the Freedom of Information Act, and other methods of public distribution.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division