CLA-2 RR:CR:GC 965790 AML
Area Port Director
U.S. Customs Service
4430 East Adamo Drive
Tampa, Florida 33605
Re: Protest 1801-01-100069; Aluminum Extrusion Press Line
Dear Port Director:
This is our decision on Protest 1801-01-100069, filed by counsel on behalf of Keymark Corporation of Florida, against your classification, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), of machines and components that comprise a press line for processing aluminum billets. The merchandise was entered in August and September of 2000, and the entries liquidated on June 8, 2001. This protest was timely filed on September 4, 2001. A catalog and other descriptive literature were provided. In preparing this decision, consideration was given to a supplemental submission from counsel, dated February 13, 2002.
FACTS:
The articles at issue are described as machines for the heating, extrusion, tempering, cutting and handling of aluminum billets or logs. Counsel states that, after importation, the machines will be assembled into a plant for converting large aluminum logs into specific shapes. The goods were imported in three shipments, on different days, each shipment covered by a separate entry. The goods were entered under a provision of heading 8479, HTSUS, as other machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere [in Chapter 84]. The entries were liquidated under a provision of heading 8462, HTSUS, as presses for working metal.
Counsel initially maintained that the heading 8479 classification was appropriate but, in the alternative, proposes alternative classifications for the
articles at issue. Also, counsel maintains that certain costs associated with assembling and erecting the merchandise after importation are non-dutiable under 19 U.S.C. 1401a(b)(3)(A)(i).
The press line operates by first shearing the aluminum logs, approximately seven (7) inches in diameter, to the appropriate length, then heating them to a temperature of 1000° F. The heated billets or logs are hydraulically pushed through specially heated dies in the extrusion press to the desired form, in this case, door frames. The door frames are then pulled onto a system of conveyors referred to as cooling and handling tables. The forms cool as they travel across the cooling table and are then cut-to-length by a cold cutting saw. Finally, the forms are heat-tempered to impart the desired strength.
The merchandise at issue was imported in three shipments, described by entry, as follows:
Entry D98-xxxxxx8-8
Extrusion press
Log heater oven
Run out table
Puller saw
Handling system (partial)
Automatic stretcher
Roller saw feed table
Cold cutting saw
Age oven
Entry D98-xxxxxx2-0
Press tank
Handling system (balance)
Stacker
Die heater oven
Log storage feeder table
Entry D98-xxxxxx9-3
Oil Tank
Counsel maintains that it was inappropriate to liquidate the entries under heading 8462, HTSUS, because in their condition as imported, not all of the components are described by that heading. Counsel alleges that only one of the articles, the extrusion press, is classifiable under heading 8462, HTSUS. Referring to pages in the descriptive literature, counsel proposes the following classifications: the handling and conveying machines under heading 8428, HTSUS, which provides for other lifting, handling, loading or unloading machinery; melting furnaces under heading 8417.10.00, HTSUS, which provides for industrial furnaces and ovens; and the oil tanks of iron or steel under heading 7309 or 7310, HTSUS, based on capacity.
We note that counsel provided a supplemental submission in response to Customs request for additional information on the order in which the machines are used in the extrusion process, their specific function, as well as a value breakdown on the imported machines. However, the submission does not sufficiently describe the individual or concerted function(s) of several of the machines, nor does it ascribe a value to several of the machines.
ISSUE:
Whether any or all of the machines at issue are provided for in heading 8462, HTSUS, or in heading 8479, HTSUS; whether they are provided for individually under other headings in Chapter 84.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Under General Rule of Interpretation (GRI) 1, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), goods are to be classified 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 HTSUS provisions under consideration are as follows:
7309 Reservoirs, tanks, vats and similar containers for any material (other than compressed or liquefied gas), of iron or steel, of a capacity exceeding 300 liters, whether or not lined or
heat insulated, but not fitted with mechanical or thermal equipment.
* * * * *
8417 Industrial or laboratory furnaces and ovens, including incinerators, nonelectric, and parts thereof.
* * * * *
8428 Other lifting, handling, loading or unloading machinery (for example, elevators, escalators, conveyors, teleferics).
* * * * *
8461 Machine tools for planing, shaping, slotting, broaching, gear cutting, gear grinding or gear finishing, sawing, cutting-off and other machine tools working by removing metal or cermets, not elsewhere specified or included.
* * * * *
8462 Machine tools (including presses) for working metal by forging, hammering or die-stamping; machine tools (including presses) for working metal by bending, folding, straightening, flattening, shearing, punching or notching; presses for working metal or metal carbides, not specified above.
* * * * *
8479 Machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof.
Legal Note 4 to section XVI provides that 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. Customs has recognized that an incomplete or unfinished functional unit may exist if a particular importation has the essential character of the complete or finished article. See HQ 965638, dated July 16, 2002, and related cases. The facts here, however, do not establish that the components in any one shipment meet this criteria. However, a finding that an entire importation fails the functional unit test does not negate the possibility that two or more components within the importation might constitute a functional unit, provided the requirements of Section XVI, Note 4, HTSUS, are met.
Under that facts presented, some of the machines at issue are intended to function together, in tandem, to complete a specific step in the manufacturing process. As such, they constitute functional units within the system. For example, three items on the extrusion press line, the feed table, log oven and shear, comprise one such functional unit. Because the table feeds the shear, we consider the feed table and the shear to comprise a functional unit. Likewise, the puller, puller saw, and the runout table comprise a functional unit, as do the roller saw feed table and the cold cutting
saw. These three groupings of machines function to feed and shear or cut aluminum billets, which is metal working, a function described by heading 8462, HTSUS. It is noted that component parts not complying with the terms of Note 4 fall in their own appropriate headings. See HQ 965635, dated July 16, 2002.
As to the alternative classification claims, as well as the claim under 19 U.S. C. 1401a(b)(3)(A)(i), protests against decisions of the appropriate Customs officers must be in conformity with applicable statutory and regulatory requirements. Under 19 U.S.C. 1514(c)(1), a protest of a decision under subsection (a) of section 1514 must set forth distinctly and specifically each decision as to which a protest is made. Additionally, the Customs Regulations require that a protest set forth the nature of, and justification for the objection set forth distinctly and specifically with respect to each decision. 19 CFR 174.13(a)(6). In acting on a protest, Customs lacks the legal authority to assume facts and arguments that are not presented and, therefore, not in the official record. In this case, protest is properly made against your decision to classify the goods as described above, as well as the noninclusion in the appraised value of the cost of construction, erection, assembly or maintenance of the merchandise after importation. However, counsel has not adequately supported these claims by credible evidence, nor is there other evidence of record from which we can independently determine the validity of the claims.
HOLDING:
Under the authority of GRI 1, the articles at issue are classifiable as follows:
Entry D98-xxxxxx8-8
Extrusion press - under subheading 8462.91.80, HTSUS; log heater - under subheading 8417.10, HTSUS; run out table - (described in the descriptive literature as an extraction belt table) under subheading 8428.33, HTSUS; puller saw - (along with the puller saw and runout table) under subheading 8461.50, HSTUS; handling system
(partial) - based on protestant’s failure to comply with the requirements of 19 CFR 174.13(a)(6), the protest regarding this article should be DENIED; automatic stretcher - under subheading 8462.29.80, HTSUS; roller saw feed table - under subheading 8428.39, HTSUS; cold cutting saw - under subheading 8461,50, HTSUS; age oven - under subheading 8417.10, HTSUS.
Entry D98-xxxxxx2-0
Press tank - based on protestant’s failure to comply with the requirements of 19 CFR 174.13(a)(6), the protest regarding this article should be DENIED; handling system (balance) - based on protestant’s failure to comply with the requirements of 19 CFR 174.13(a)(6), the protest regarding this article should be DENIED; stacker - under subheading 8428.90, HTSUS; die heater - under subheading 8417.10, HTSUS; log storage feeder table - under subheading 8428.22 or -.39, HTSUS, depending on whether it is belt or roller.
Entry D98-0020949-3
Oil Tank - under heading 7309 or 7310, HTSUS, depending upon capacity.
The claim under 19 U.S. C. 1401a(b)(3)(A)(i) is DENIED for noncompliance with 19 CFR 174.13(a)(6).
The protest is ALLOWED in part and DENIED in part, as indicated, except to the extent that the reclassification as indicated above results in a refund of duties paid. In accordance with Section 3A(11)(b) of Customs Directive 099 3550-065, dated August 4, 1993, Subject: Revised Protest Directive, this decision, together with Customs Form 19, should be mailed by your office to the protestant no later than sixty (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 this decision.
Sixty (60) days from the date of this decision the Office of Regulations and Rulings will take steps to make the decision available to Customs personnel via the Customs Rulings Module in ACS and the public via the Diskette Subscription Service,
the World Wide Web at www.customs.treas.gov, and other public access channels.
Sincerely,
Myles B. Harmon, Acting Director
Commercial Rulings Division