CLA-2 RR:CR:GC 965296 GOB
John Eaton
Bristol Metals, Inc.
P.O. Box 1589
Bristol, TN 37621-1589
RE: Welded Tube Mill; NY 810478 Modified
Dear Mr. Eaton:
This letter is with respect to NY 810478, issued to you by the Area Director, U.S. Customs Service, New York Seaport, on June 12, 1995, which involved the classification, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”), of a welded tube mill and an uncoiler.
Pursuant to section 625(c), Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1625(c)), as amended by section 623 of Title VI (Customs Modernization) of the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, Pub. L. 103-182, 107 Stat. 2057, 2186 (1993), notice of the proposed modification of NY 810478, as described below, was published in the Customs Bulletin on May 22, 2002, Volume 36, Number 21.
One comment was received in response to the notice. The commenter makes the following claims: 1. The welded tube mill of
NY 810478 precisely fits the description of rolling mills in EN 84.55; 2. A welded tube mill does not bend, fold, flatten, or straighten metal – it continuously rolls metal strip into the form of a tube; and 3. EN 84.62 does not actually describe a machine that forms a complete cylinder or tube – it describes a more simple machine. Our response to the commenter’s claims is as follows: 1. The welded tube mill in NY 810478 does not precisely fit the description in EN 84.55 because EN 84.55 provides no reference to welding; 2. The continuous rolling of the metal strip into a tube is bending. The machine at issue in NY 810478 takes flat strip metal and bends it into the shape of a tube; and 3. EN 84.62 provides in pertinent part as follows: “Bending machines. These include machines for working flat products (sheets, plates and strips) which, by passing the products through three or four sets of rollers, give them a cylindrical curve (for this the rollers are parallel as with tube forming machines) . . . “ [Emphasis of “bending machines” in original. Emphasis of “tube forming machines” supplied.]
In summary, the commenter’s claims have not persuaded us to substantively amend or withdraw our proposal to modify NY 810478.
FACTS:
In NY 810478, the merchandise at issue was described as follows:
The equipment will be set up in-line to produce welded tube from flat strip as follows: (1) uncoiler; (2) strip leveler; (3) endwelder (TIG welder joins outgoing and incoming coil); (4) roll forming section; (5) mechanical welding table; (6) three cathodes TIG and plasma welding unit; (7) seam tracking system; (8) spray cooling section; (9) tube seam grinding unit; (10) inside bead rolling (flattens the weld on the inside); (11) final calibrating and tube straightening; (12) roll out table; (13) flying cut-off saw; (14) complete drive and control cabinet; (15) control data registration system; [and] (16) four tooling sets for four sizes of pipe, 10, 12, 14 and 16 inch.
In NY 810478, Customs classified the welded tube mill (with the exception of the uncoiler which was determined to be eligible for classification in subheading 9801.00.10, HTSUS) in subheading 8515.31.00, HTSUS.
ISSUE:
Whether the welded tube mill is a good of heading 8462, HTSUS.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Classification under the HTSUS is made in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (“GRI’s”). GRI 1 provides that the classification of goods shall be determined according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative Section or Chapter Notes. In the event that the goods cannot be classified solely on the basis of GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRI’s may then be applied.
The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (“EN’s”) constitute the official interpretation of the Harmonized System at the international level. While neither legally binding nor dispositive, the EN’s 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.
The HTSUS provisions under consideration are as follows:
8455 Metal-rolling mills and rolls therefor; parts thereof:
8455.10.00 Tube mills
* * * * * *
8462 . . . machine tools (including presses) for working metal by bending, folding, straightening, flattening, shearing, punching or notching . . .
Bending, folding, straightening or flattening machines (including presses):
8462.21 Numerically controlled:
8462.21.80 Other
8462.29 Other:
8462.29.80 Other
* * * * * *
8515 . . . magnetic pulse or plasma arc soldering, brazing or welding machines and apparatus, whether or not capable of cutting . . .
Machines and apparatus for arc (including plasma arc) welding of metals:
8515.31.00 Fully or party automatic
* * * * * *
Note 4 to Section XVI, HTSUS (which includes Chapters 84 and 85, HTSUS) provides as follows:
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 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.
EN 84.55 provides in pertinent part as follows:
Rolling mills are metal working machines consisting essentially of a system of rollers between which the metal is passed; the metal is rolled out or shaped by the pressure exerted by the rollers, and at the same time the rolling modifies the structure of the metal and improves its quality . . .
. . . Other roller machines (e.g., for gumming metal foil on to a paper support) (heading 84.20), bending, folding, straightening or flattening machines (heading 84.62) are not regarded as rolling mills in the sense described above and are therefore excluded from this heading.
Rolling mills are of various types according to the particular rolling operations for which they are designed, viz. :
(A) Rolling out to reduce the thickness with a corresponding increase in length (e.g., in the rolling of ingots into blooms, billets or slabs; rolling of slabs into sheet, strip, etc.).
(B) Rolling of blooms, billets, etc., to form a particular cross-section (e.g., in the production of bars, rods, angles, shapes, sections, girders, railway rails).
(C) Rolling tubes.
(D) Rolling of wheel blanks or wheel rim blanks (e.g., to shape the flanges of railway wheels).
[All emphasis in original.]
EN 84.62 provides in pertinent part as follows:
The heading covers certain machine tools, listed in the heading text, which work by changing the shape or form of metal or metal carbides.
. . .
The heading includes:
. . .
(2) Bending machines. These include machines for working flat products (sheets, plates and strips) which, by passing the products through three or four sets of rollers, give them a cylindrical curve (for this the rollers are parallel as with tube forming machines) or else a conical shape . . . ; machines for working non-flat products (bars, rods, angles, shapes, sections, tubes). These machines work either by means of forming rollers, by press bending, or, for tubes (and, in particular, oil pipes), by drawing their ends while the main section is held by a fixed cylinder.
[Emphasis in original.]
HSC Decision
In HSC NC0319E1 (See Annex H/11 to Doc. NC0340E2; HSC/26/Nov. 2000), the Harmonized System Committee of the World Customs Organization “agreed unanimously with the conclusions of the United States and of the Secretariat to classify the machinery [tube mill machinery, described below] at issue in heading 84.62, rather than in heading 84.55.” The HSC had determined that only headings 8455 and 8462 merited consideration (i.e., heading 8515 did not merit consideration). In the Compendium of Classification Opinions (p. 34E), the HSC classified the following machinery in subheading 8462.21 or 8462.29 (depending upon whether or not it is numerically controlled):
Welded tube mill machinery presented without welding equipment, used to process coiled metal strip into tubular forms. The machinery consists of the following components: an edge trimmer; breakdown and forming rolls; idler vertical closing rolls and fin pass rolls. [Emphasis in original.]
As we stated in T.D. 89-80, decisions in the Compendium of Classification Opinions should be treated in the same manner as the EN’s, i.e., while neither legally binding nor dispositive, they provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the HTSUS and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of these headings. T.D. 89-80 further states that EN’s and decisions in the Compendium of Classification Opinions “should receive considerable weight.”
A welded tube mill essentially takes coiled metal strip, passes it through a series of bending rolls which gradually form it into a cylindrical tube, welds the seam to close the tube, sizes the welded tube, and cuts it off to the desired length. The merchandise at issue here is a complete welded tube mill.
With respect to the applicability of heading 8455, HTSUS, we note the exclusion from heading 8455, HTSUS, in EN 84.55, excerpted above, of “ . . . bending, folding, straightening and flattening machines (heading 84.62) . . .” The subject welded tube mill is essentially a metal forming or bending machine which would exclude it from heading 8455, HTSUS. Further, we find that the welded tube mill is not a rolling mill described in EN 84.55, excerpted above (see (A) through (D)). Additionally, EN 84.55 provides several specific examples (not excerpted above)) of the rolling mills of the
type referred to in (C) and (D). Welded tube mills are not included in these specific examples. With respect to the applicability of heading 8515, HTSUS, we note that the welding operation is a comparatively minor component of the tube mill.
We find that the welded tube mill consists of several components which are intended to contribute together to the clearly defined function of forming the metal. The components are either separate or interconnected by devices within the meaning of Note 4 to Section XVI, HTSUS. Therefore, by Note 4 to Section XVI, HTSUS, we conclude that the function of the welded tube mill is essentially a metal forming operation which involves a bending of the metal so as to impart a cylindrical curve to the metal sheet to form a tube. Accordingly, we find that the welded tube mill is described in heading 8462, HTSUS. See EN 84.62, excerpted above. If it is numerically controlled, it is classified in subheading 8462.21.80, HTSUS, as: “. . . machine tools (including presses) for working metal by bending, folding, straightening, flattening, shearing, punching or notching . . .: Bending, folding, straightening or flattening machines (including presses): Numerically controlled: . . . Other.”
If it is not numerically controlled, it is classified in subheading 8462.29.80, HTSUS, as: “. . . machine tools (including presses) for working metal by bending, folding, straightening, flattening, shearing, punching or notching . . .: Bending, folding, straightening or flattening machines (including presses): . . . Other: . . . Other.”
Our determination is consistent with the decision of the Harmonized System Committee described above. Also, see HQ 965198 dated May 1, 2002 for a similar determination.
HOLDING:
The welded tube mill is described in heading 8462, HTSUS, as: “. . . machine tools (including presses) for working metal by bending, folding, straightening, flattening, shearing, punching or notching . . .” If it is numerically controlled it is classified in subheading 8462.21.80, HTSUS. If it is not numerically controlled it is classified in subheading 8462.29.80, HTSUS.
EFFECT ON OTHER RULINGS:
NY 810478 is modified. In accordance with 19 U.S.C. 1625(c), this ruling will become effective 60 days after its publication in the Customs Bulletin.
Sincerely,
Myles B. Harmon, Acting Director
Commercial Rulings Division