CLA-2 RR:CR:GC 965606 GOB
Port Director
U.S. Customs Service
1210 Corbin Street
Elizabeth, NJ 07201
RE: Protest 4601-01-100116; Unit Assembly Machine
Dear Port Director:
This is our decision regarding Protest 4601-01-100116, filed on behalf of Denso Manufacturing Michigan Inc. (“protestant”), concerning the classification, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”), of a unit assembly machine. In addition to the original submission filed on behalf of the protestant, we have considered the claims made by counsel in a telephone conference held on August 8, 2002, and in a submission dated August 16, 2002.
FACTS:
The file reflects the following. The entry at issue at issue was filed on May 9, 2001. It was liquidated on July 13, 2001. Your office advises that the protest was filed on September 26, 2001.
The protestant describes the good as follows:
The import invoice describes the machine as a “unit assembly machine” and a “hole check unit,” which is part of the unit assembly machine. It is a multi-station machine which utilizes conveyors and robots, mechanisms for feeding, cutting, folding and crimping, as well as checking apparatus to ensure that all parts and pallets meet design and configuration specifications...
To operate the machine, magazines located at one end of the line are first filled with evaporative plates. A robot (robot “A”) then removes the plates from the magazine and places them in the “Plate Holding Area” and moves the empty magazine to the magazine exit. Simultaneously, an “Uncoiler,” located at the opposite side of the line, provides the aluminum material which is used to manufacture fins. The aluminum is fed through a “Fin Cutter” where it is cut to length to form radiator fins The fin is picked up by robot “B” and deposited in the “Fin Holding Area.”
Pallets are held in the “Pallet Check” area, where they are checked to ensure that the proper pallet is utilized in each operation. After the check on the pallet is performed, the pallet moves to the “Plate/Fin Stack area.” Robot “C” then picks up a plate from the plate holding area and places it on the pallet located in the plate/fin stack area. Immediately thereafter, Robot “D” picks up a fin from the fin holding area and places it on top of the plate held by the pallet. The pallet with the stacked plate and fin moves to the “Fold Area” where the plate is folded in half with the fin inside the folded plate. The folded plate is then moved to the “Crimp Area” where the plate is crimped to ensure that the fin remains inside. The crimped plate, now a complete finished “evaporative core plate,” is then moved to the “Plate Thickness Check” station where it is measured to ensure that it conforms to the proper dimensional specifications. The evaporative core plate is then removed from the pallet by robot “E.” The empty pallet is pushed onto the “Pallet Transfer Conveyor” to move it back to the pallet check area. Robot “E” places the evaporative core plate on the “Hole Check Unit” where it is again inspected to ensure that it is properly aligned and conforms to specifications.
In its August 16, 2002 submission, the protestant states in pertinent part as follows:
After importation the various machines were fitted together to form a whole on a common base, and in a common enclosure . . . Common mounting is critical to the high-speed, complex coordination required for the subject assembly machine to operate.
Specifically, with the exception of the uncoiler and magazine feeder, the machines were bolted onto the surface of two main base sections. The two main base sections were bolted securely, one to the other, and the uncoiler and magazine feeder were then bolted onto the side of the common base. In addition, all of the machines were placed within a glass or plastic enclosure for safety purposes.
ISSUE:
What is the classification under the HTSUS of the unit assembly machine?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
We note initially that the protest was timely filed under the statutory and regulatory provisions for protests, 19 U.S.C. 1514(c)(3)(A) and 19 CFR 174.12(e)(1).
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. GRI 6 permits the comparison of same-level subheadings within the same heading, in part by application of GRI 1 through GRI 5.
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 (2001) under consideration are as follows:
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
Shearing machines (including presses), other than combined punching and shearing machines:
8462.31.00 Numerically controlled
8462.39.00 Other
* * * * * *
8479 Machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof:
Other machines and mechanical appliances:
8479.89 Other:
8479.97 Other
Note 3 to Section XVI, HTSUS (which includes Chapters 84 and 85, HTSUS) provides as follows:
Unless the context otherwise requires, composite machines consisting of two or more machines fitted together to form a whole and other machines designed 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.
The General EN for Note 3, Section XVI, HTSUS, provides in pertinent part as follows with respect to composite machines:
For the purposes of the above provisions, machines of different kinds are taken to be fitted together to form a whole when incorporated one in the other or mounted one on the other, or mounted on a common base or frame or in a common housing.
[Emphasis in original.]
Note 7 to Chapter 84, HTSUS, provides in pertinent part as follows:
A machine which is used for more than one purpose is, for the purposes of classification, to be treated as if its principal purpose were its sole purpose.
Subject to note 2 to this chapter and note 3 to section XVI, a machine the principal purpose of which is not described in any heading or for which no one purpose is the principal purpose is, unless the context otherwise requires, to be classified in heading 8479.
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.
(5) Shearing machines. The shearing process involves two cutting tools with faces in the same plane applied vertically to the metal to be cut. These tools penetrate the metal which is subjected to plastic deformation and the fibres of which, under progressively more and more pressure and penetration, rupture along the line of the blades.
[All emphasis in original.]
We find that the unit assembly machine is a composite machine within the meaning of Note 3 to Section XVI, HTSUS. The crucial inquiry, therefore, is which component or machine performs the principal function of the composite machine.
The protestant’s essential claim, as presented in its August 16, 2002 submission is as follows:
. . . while each unit performs a specific task, such as checking, material handling, folding, crimping, stacking, cutting, and conveying, none of these individual tasks represent the principal purpose of the machine as a whole. The principal purpose of the machine is the high-speed, high quality assembly of evaporative core plates. As past Customs rulings have repeatedly held, assembly machines with multiple functions, like these machines for the assembly of evaporative core plates, are designed for the specific purpose of assembly, which is not described in a heading other than 8479. Therefore, by application of Chapter 84, Note 7, the machine must be classified under HTS heading 8479.
We do not share the protestant’s view with respect to the applicability of Note 7 to Chapter 84, HTSUS, and classification in heading 8479, HTSUS. We are guided by Note 3 to Section XVI, HTSUS, which directs us to classify this composite machine according to its principal function. As detailed below, it is our view that the unit assembly machine has functions, including a principal function, which is described in a heading other than heading 8479, HTSUS. The General EN for Note 3 to Section XVI, HTSUS, provides in pertinent part: “It should be noted that multi-purpose machines (e.g., machine-tools capable of working metals and other materials or eyeletting machines used equally well in the paper, textile, leather, plastics, etc., industries) are to be classified according to the provisions of Note 7 to Chapter 84.” The protestant has not established that the unit assembly machine is a multi-purpose machine as described in the General EN for Note 3 to Section XVI, HTSUS. As stated above, we are guided in our classification task by Note 3 to Section XVI, HTSUS, which requires the classification of composite machines “. . . as if consisting only of that component or as being that machine which performs the principal function.”
The various components or machines of the unit assembly machine perform the following functions: 1. shearing (“The aluminum is fed through a ‘Fin Cutter’ where it is cut to length to form radiator fins.”); 2. bending and folding, which includes crimping (“The pallet with the stacked plate and fin moves to the ‘Fold Area’ where the plate is folded in half with the fin inside the folded plate. The folded plate is then moved to the ‘Crimp Area’ where the plate is crimped to ensure that the fin remains inside. The crimped plate, now a complete finished 'evaporative core plate' . . .”); and 3. checking (“The crimped plate, now a complete finished “evaporative core plate,” is then moved to the “Plate Thickness Check” station where it is measured to ensure that it conforms to the proper dimensional specifications. The evaporative core plate is then removed from the pallet by robot “E.” The empty pallet is pushed onto the “Pallet Transfer Conveyor” to move it back to the pallet check area. Robot “E” places the evaporative core plate on the “Hole Check Unit” where it is again inspected to ensure that it is properly aligned and conforms to specifications.”)
The checking function is clearly not the principal function of the unit assembly machine as checking is not the primary work of the machine. The checking is more of a secondary or ancillary function. As between the shearing function and the bending and folding function, we find that the principal function is the bending and folding. While the shearing is a material part of the overall operation, it is the bending (including both the folding and the crimping, as described above) which is the integral and essential part of the process. The shearing is a function which is preparatory to the bending and folding. The bending and folding function is the function which, more than any other function, serves to create the evaporative core plates. Accordingly, based upon our determination pursuant to Note 3 to Section XVI, HTSUS, that the principal function of the unit assembly machine is bending and folding, we find that the unit assembly machine 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.”
HOLDING:
Pursuant to Note 3 to Section XVI, HTSUS, and GRI 6, the unit assembly machine 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.”
You are instructed to DENY the protest.
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 in accordance with the decision must be accomplished prior to mailing of 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.treas.gov, by means of the Freedom of Information Act, and other methods of public distribution.
Sincerely,
Myles B. Harmon, Acting Director
Commercial Rulings Division