CLA-2 RR:CR:GC 966034 AML
Port Director
U.S. Customs Service
#1 La Puntilla
San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901
RE: Protest 4909-02-100054; “Sensorvac” steel product
Dear Port Director:
This is in response to protest 4909-02-100054, filed by a customs broker on behalf of Sensormatic Electronics Corporation, against your tariff classification of a “Sensorvac”, part number 3200-0320-01, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Technical literature and printed digital images were submitted for our examination.
FACTS:
The article at issue, referred to as the Sensorvac, is described as an alloy steel strip imported in coil form and measuring 0.046 millimeters (“mm”) in thickness and 6 mm in width. The Sensorvac is produced by melting, several stages of intermediate annealing, several stages of hot and cold rolling, heat treating and slitting to the required thickness. The protestant alleges that the articles are classifiable under subheading 7226.92.70, HTSUS, which provides for flat-rolled products of other alloy steel, of a width less than 600 mm, not further worked and than cold rolled (cold-reduced), other, of a width less than 300 mm, of a thickness not exceeding 0.25 mm, other.
The articles were entered on February 27, 2002, and the entries were liquidated on May 24, 2002, with classification (based upon method of manufacture; see the Customs Forms (“CF”) 29 and 6445) under subheading 7228.60.80, HTSUS, which provides for other bars and rods of other alloy steel; angles, shapes and sections, of other alloy steel; hollow drill bars and
rods, of alloy or non-alloy steel, other bars and rods, cold formed. The protest was filed on August 21, 2002.
ISSUE:
Whether the articles are classified under subheading 7226.92.70, HTSUS, which provides for flat-rolled products of other alloy steel, of a width less than 600 mm, not further worked and than cold rolled (cold-reduced), other, of a width less than 300 mm, of a thickness not exceeding 0.25 mm, other; or under subheading 7228.60.80, HTSUS, which provides for other bars and rods of other alloy steel; angles, shapes and sections, of other alloy steel; hollow drill bars and rods, of alloy or non-alloy steel, other bars and rods, cold formed?
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 matter protested is protestable (see 19 U.S.C. §1514(a)(2) and (5)).
Merchandise imported into the United States is classified under the HTSUS. Tariff classification is governed by the principles set forth in the General Rules of Interpretation (GRIs) and, in the absence of special language or context that requires otherwise, by the Additional U.S. Rules of Interpretation. The GRIs and the Additional U.S. Rules of Interpretation are part of the HTSUS and are to be considered statutory provisions of law for all purposes.
GRI 1 requires that classification be determined first according to the terms of
the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative section or chapter notes and, unless otherwise required, according to the remaining GRIs taken in order. GRI 6 requires that the classification of goods in the subheadings of headings shall be determined according to the terms of those subheadings, any related subheading notes and mutatis mutandis, to the GRIs. Further, only those subheadings at the same level of indentation are comparable.
The HTSUS provisions under consideration are as follows:
7226 Flat-rolled products of other alloy steel, of a width of less than 600 mm:
Other:
7226.92 Not further worked than cold-rolled (cold-reduced):
Other:
Of a width less than 300 mm:
7226.92.70 Of a thickness not exceeding 0.25 mm.
* * *
7228 Other bars and rods of other alloy steel; angles, shapes and sections, of other alloy steel; hollow drill bars and rods, of alloy or non-alloy steel:
7228.60 Other bars and rods:
Other:
7228.60.80 Cold-formed.
The Harmonized Commodity Description And Coding System Explanatory Notes (ENs) constitute the official interpretation of the Harmonized System. While not legally binding on the contracting parties, and therefore not dispositive, the ENs provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the Harmonized System and are thus useful in ascertaining the classification of merchandise. Customs believes the ENs should always be consulted. See T.D. 89-80, published in the Federal Register August 23, 1989 (54 FR 35127, 35128).
Heading 7226 is in Section XV, HTSUS, which provides for base metals and articles thereof. The General ENs to Section XV provide, in pertinent part, that:
This Section covers base metals (including those in a chemically pure state) and many articles thereof. A list of goods of base metal not covered by this Section is reproduced at the end of this Explanatory Note.
* * *
Each of the Chapters 72 to 76 and 78 to 81 covers particular unwrought base metals and products of those metals such as bars, rods, wire or sheets, as well as articles thereof, except certain specified articles of base metal which, without regard to the nature of the constituent metal, are classified in Chapter 82 or 83, these Chapters being limited to the specified articles.
Chapter 72, Note 1(k), defines flat-rolled products in part as including:
Rolled products of solid rectangular (other than square) cross-section, which do not conform to the definition at (ij) [which provides for semi-finished products] above in the form of:
- coils of successively superimposed layers, or
-straight lengths, which if of a thickness less than 4.75 mm are of a width measuring at least ten times the thickness or if of a thickness of 4.75 mm or more are of a width which exceeds 150 mm and measures at least twice the thickness.
Flat-rolled products include those with patterns in relief derived directly from rolling (for example, grooves, ribs, chequers, tears, buttons, lozenges) and those which have been perforated, corrugated or polished, provided that they do not thereby assume the character of articles or products of other headings.
As indicated in the “facts” above, the Sensorvacs were classified under heading 7228, HTSUS, based upon the conclusion that the articles were not derived from a rolling method of manufacture. In its submission, the protestant, through technical literature, demonstrates that the Sensorvac is produced by one hot and two cold rolling processes. Given that heading 7226 provides for flat-rolled articles of steel and that the unrefuted evidence presented demonstrates that the Sensorvacs are manufactured by the rolling process, we conclude that the articles are classifiable under heading 7226, HTSUS.
Subheading 7226.92, HTSUS, provides for such material that is not further worked (see the definition of the term of art “further worked” as interpreted by United States Court of International Trade in Winter-Wolff, Inc., v. United States, 996 F. Supp.1258, 1264 (1998). There, the CIT determined, based upon common meaning gleaned from dictionary definitions, that the definition of “further worked”, for purposes of classification within the HTSUS, “amounts to the following: to form, fashion, or shape an existing product to a greater extent.” Id.). As the articles are imported in coils and have not been further worked within this definition, we conclude that the articles are classifiable under this subheading.
This determination comports with New York Ruling Letter D89149, dated March 25, 1999, which classified a similar article that was produced by a rolling process under heading 7226, HTSUS.
HOLDING:
The Sensorvacs described above are classified under subheading 7226.92.70, HTSUS, which provides for flat-rolled products of other alloy steel, of a width less than 600 mm, not further worked and than cold rolled (cold-reduced), other, of a width less than 300 mm, of a thickness not exceeding 0.25 mm, other.
The protest should be GRANTED. 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.gov, by means of the Freedom of Information Act, and other methods of public distribution.
Sincerely,
Myles B. Harmon, Director
Commercial Rulings Division