CLA-2 RR:CR:GC 965861 KBR
Mark G. Sun
Kmart Corporation
Resource Center
3100 West Big Beaver Road
Troy, MI 48084-3163
RE: Modification of NY I80666; Roaster Oven
Dear Mr. Sun:
This is in reference to your letter of September 5, 2002, requesting that we reconsider New York Ruling Letter (NY) I80666, issued to you, by the Customs National Commodity Specialist Division, New York, on April 23, 2002. This ruling concerned the classification, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), of a roaster oven. We have reviewed NY I80666 and determined that the classification provided is incorrect.
Pursuant to section 625(c)(1), 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), a notice was published on December 4, 2002, in Vol. 36, No. 49 of the Customs Bulletin, proposing to revoke NY I80666. No comments were received in response to this notice. This ruling revokes NY I80666 by providing the correct classification for the roaster oven.
FACTS:
NY I80666 concerns the Rival 18-Quart Roaster Oven (R0180KW). The roaster oven has an enamel-on-steel roasting pan and a removable steel roasting rack. The roaster oven is a 1450 watt, table top appliance with two carry handles. It has a dial temperature control ranging from 150 to 450 degrees to allow roasting, baking and cooking. NY I80666 also concerned a Rival Buffet Server and an electric knife. Only the roaster oven is at issue in this ruling.
In NY I80666, it was determined that the roaster oven was classifiable in subheading 8516.60.60, HTSUS, as other ovens; cooking stoves, ranges, cooking plates, boiling rings, grillers and roasters, other. We have reviewed that ruling and determined that the classification of the roaster oven is incorrect. This ruling sets forth the correct classification.
ISSUE:
What is the proper classification under the HTSUS of the subject roaster oven?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Merchandise is classifiable under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRIs). Under GRI 1, merchandise is classifiable 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 on the basis of GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRIs may then be applied.
The HTSUS provisions under consideration are as follows:
8516 Electric instantaneous or storage water heaters and immersion heaters; electric space heating apparatus and soil heating apparatus; electrothermic hairdressing apparatus (for example, hair dryers, hair curlers, curling tong heaters) and hand dryers; electric flatirons; other electrothermic appliances of a kind used for domestic purposes; electric heating resistors, other than those of heading 8545; parts thereof:
Other ovens; cooking stoves, ranges, cooking plates, boiling rings, grillers and roasters:
8516.60.40 Cooking stoves, ranges and ovens
8516.60.60 Other
Within Chapter 85, HTSUS, heading 8516, in pertinent part, provides for other electrothermic appliances of a kind used for domestic purposes. Review of both the HTSUS legal notes and the ENs indicates that neither defines the phrase “domestic purposes.” A tariff term that is not defined in the HTSUS or in the ENs is construed in accordance with its common and commercial meanings, which are presumed to be the same. Nippon Kogasku (USA) Inc. v. United States, 69 CCPA 89, 673 F. 2d 380 (1982). Common and commercial meaning may be determined by consulting dictionaries, lexicons, scientific authorities and other reliable sources. C.J. Tower & Sons v. United States, 69 CCPA 128, 673 F. 2d 1268 (1982). The term “domestic” is described as “of or relating to the household or the family.” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 10th, p.344, (1999).
After careful consideration of the information, dimensions, capacity, power and other features of the roaster oven, we conclude that the roaster oven is an electrothermic appliance belonging to a class or kind principally used for domestic purposes under heading 8516, HTSUS. See HQ 954781 (September 22, 1993).
Next, we must determine under which of the following subheadings the article is classifiable. EN 85.16, states that other electro-thermic appliances used for domestic purposes include "other ovens and cookers, cooking plates, boiling rings, grillers and roasters. . ." EN 85.16 does not provide direction as to what characterizes "other ovens" and "roasters." As noted above, classification is in accordance with the GRI and the terms of the headings, with the guidance of the ENs, to understand the scope of the headings and GRI. Since the article cannot be classified pursuant to GRI 1 alone, i.e., according to the terms of the heading, and since there is no disagreement that the roaster oven is classifiable under heading 8516, HTSUS, we look to GRI 6, which states:
“For 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. For the purposes of this rule, the relative section, chapter and subchapter notes also apply, unless the context otherwise requires.”
Subheading 8516.60.40, provides only for cooking stoves, ranges and
ovens . . ..” Subheading 8516.60.60 provides for all remaining articles in subheading 8516.60, cooking plates, boiling rings, grillers and roasters.
The provision in heading 8516, electrothermic appliances of a kind used for domestic purposes, is governed by “use.” Group Italglass U.S.A., Inc. v. United States, Slip Op. 93-46 (1993). Classification based upon use is governed by the language of Additional U.S. Rule of Interpretation 1(a) which requires that:
“In the absence of special language or context which otherwise requires –
A tariff classification controlled by use (other than actual use) is to be determined in accordance with the use in the United States at, or immediately prior to, the date of importation, of goods of that class or kind to which the imported goods belong, and the controlling use is the principal use.”
To conclude that the roaster oven is classifiable in subheading 8516.60.40, HTSUS, the article must belong to a class or kind of goods for which the principal use is as an oven, i.e., the oven’s principal use must be for cooking food like an oven. The term "oven" is not defined in the HTSUS or the ENs. In examining the common meaning of the term, we find that “oven” is broadly defined in the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition, p. 827 (1999), as: "a chamber used for baking, heating, or drying.” In HQ 956227, dated September 19, 1994, Customs relied upon a similar definition provided for in Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary,
p. 837 (1984), that an oven is “[a]n enclosed compartment supplied with heat and used for cooking food and for heating or drying objects placed within.” See also
HQ 953619 (June 23, 1993).
In NY F80111, dated December 1, 1999, Customs determined that the 18-quart portable “NESCO Roaster Oven” with cookwell, lid and “circle of heat” heating element within an enclosed compartment, an electrothermic domestic appliance nearly identical to the Rival roaster oven at issue here, was classifiable as an “oven”, under subheading 8516.60.40, HTSUS. In HQ 963678 (September 11, 2000), Customs cited with approval the decision in NY F80111, and stated that “even though that appliance was commercially known as a “roaster,” it also met the common meaning of the term “oven” as an enclosed compartment capable of cooking food.” See also HQ 954781 (September 22, 1993) (finding a countertop baking unit is an “oven” under subheading 8516.60.40, HTSUS). Therefore, since the instant roaster oven is nearly identical to the one in NY F80111, we find that the roaster oven at issue is classifiable as an "oven" under subheading 8516.60.40, HTSUS.
HOLDING:
The Rival 18-Quart Roaster Oven is classifiable under subheading 8516.60.40, HTSUS, as other electrothermic appliances of a kind used for domestic purposes; parts thereof: Other ovens; cooking stoves, ranges, cooking plates, boiling rings, grillers and roasters: cooking stoves, ranges and ovens, other.
EFFECT ON OTHER RULINGS:
NY I80666 dated April 23, 2002, is MODIFIED as to the roaster oven. In accordance with 19 U.S.C. § 1625(c), this ruling will become effective sixty (60) days after its publication in the Customs Bulletin.
Sincerely,
Myles B. Harmon, Acting Director
Commercial Rulings Division