CLA-2- OT:RR:CTF:TCM H213695 TNA
Port Director
Port of Detroit, Metropolitan Airport
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Edward H. McNamara Terminal 2596 Worldgateway Place Detroit, MI 48242
Attn: Liza Politano, Import Specialist
Re: Application for Further Review of Protest No: 3801-11-100725; Classification of a Laser Cutting Machine, a Tube Welding Machine, a Feed Channel/ Tube Puller, and a Strip Trimming Machine/ Decoiler
Dear Port Director:
The following is our decision regarding the Application for Further Review (“AFR”) of Protest No. 3801-11-100725, timely filed on December 28, 2011, on behalf of Witzenmann GmbH. The AFR concerns the classification of four machines used on an assembly line to produce exhaust bellows for motor vehicles under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). In coming to our decision, we have taken into account information and arguments presented by Protestant’s counsel in a supplemental submission dated October 9, 2012.
FACTS:
The subject merchandise consists of thirteen items, imported as a single entry, that together make up four machines. A strip trimming machine/decoiler is imported with its tool carriage, machine equipment for a tube mounting machine, and machine equipment for the Bellows Forming Unit 150 are imported to form the strip trimming machine/ decoiler. A tube cutting unit, a laser BFTL, and a switch cabinet panel BFTL 150 are imported to make up a laser cutting machine. A switch cabinet, noise protection BFU 150, an in-feed channel, and an Aweko tube puller are imported for a feed channel/ tube puller. Lastly, a tube welding machine is imported with different components that complete the tube welding machine.
These machines are used to manufacture bellows that are used in the exhaust systems of various motor vehicles. Bellows are used to connect the exhaust gas pipes to the funnel of an engine in order to compensate for the vibration caused by the running engine, and the temperature differences that result in thermal expansion. Bellows consist of stainless steel tubing which has been corrugated to form the bellow. These corrugations, or convolutions, are essential to the bellows’ functioning, because they allow the bellows to deflect, or move, in the proper way to compensate for the engine’s vibrations and thermal expansion.
To produce the bellows, a coiled steel strip is unrolled, the ends are trimmed, and the strip is curled into tubing which is welded on the seam. The created tubes have two different diameters; the smaller tube is inserted into the larger one, and they are moved to a hydroforming machine, where high pressure water is injected into the tube, and the hydroforming machine collapses on the end of the tube, creating the corrugations in the tube. The bellow is then removed from the hydroforming machine by an automated process. The water is also removed, and a laser cuts the end and middle of the tube, forming two bellows. The bellows are subject to pressure tests and other measures to ensure their quality before being capped with an end cap.
The manufacturing process begins with steel strip in coils. The first machine at issue here is the strip trimming machine/decoiler, which removes the steel strip from the coils, stretches it so as to uncoil it, and trims it to remove impurities. The second machine is the BFTL 150 laser cutting machine, which uses a video-controlled laser to trim the ends from the tube and cut the tube in half to form two tubes of different diameters. The third machine is a feed channel that feeds the tubes into the hydroforming machines, which is not imported here. The last machine is the tube welding machine, numbered 983367, which bends the steel to form the tubes. As the steel strip is removed from the coil, it is forced into a cylinder shape and the tube welding machine welds the seam that is created on that tube. The bellows-making process requires the use of machines other than these four, including the hydroforming unit, which is not imported with the subject merchandise. The subject merchandise only creates a double, hollow tube.
The subject merchandise entered on October 2, 2010 under subheading 8479.81.00, HTSUS, as “Machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof: Other machines and mechanical appliances: For treating metal, including electric wire coil-winders.” U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) liquidated the entries on July 1, 2011 in four different subheadings. CBP liquidated the components of the Strip trimming machine/ decoiler in subheading 8462.29.00, HTSUS, which provides for “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: Bending, folding, straightening or flattening machines (including presses): Other.” CBP liquidated the components of the BFTL 150 in subheading 8456.10.10, HTSUS, which provides for “Machine tools for working any material by removal of material, by laser or other light or photon beam, ultrasonic, electro-discharge, electro-chemical, electron-beam, ionic-beam or plasma arc processes; water-jet cutting machines: Operated by laser or other light or photon beam processes: For working metal.”
CBP liquidated the feed channel and tube puller in subheading 8466.20.80, HTSUS, which provides for “Parts and accessories suitable for use solely or principally with the machines of headings 8456 to 8465, including work or tool holders, self-opening dieheads, dividing heads and other special attachments for machine tools; tool holders for any type of tool for working in the hand: Work holders: Other.” CBP liquidated the components of the tube welding machine in subheading 8515.31.00, HTSUS, which provides for “Electric (including electrically heated gas), laser or other light or photon beam, ultrasonic, electron beam, magnetic pulse or plasma arc soldering, brazing or welding machines and apparatus, whether or not capable of cutting; electric machines and apparatus for hot spraying of metals or cermets; parts thereof: Machines and apparatus for arc (including plasma arc) welding of metals: Fully or partly automatic.” The importer filed its protest on December 28, 2011, claiming classification as entered.
ISSUE:
Whether the instant machines, used in a bellows-producing operation, are classified together in heading 8479, HTSUS, as other machines and mechanical appliances for treating metal, having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter, or separately under their respective headings?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Initially, we note that the matter is protestable under 19 U.S.C. §1514(a)(2) against your decision on classification. The protest was timely filed, within 180 days of liquidation. (Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2004, Pub.L. 108-429, § 2103(2)(B)(ii), (iii) (codified as amended at 19 U.S.C. § 1514(c)(3) (2006)).
Further Review of Protest No. 3801-11-100725 is properly accorded to Protestant pursuant to 19 C.F.R. § 174.24(a) because the decision against which the protest was filed is alleged to be inconsistent with a ruling of the Commissioner of CBP or his designee, or with a decision made at any port with respect to the same or substantially similar merchandise. Specifically, the Protestant argues that CBP’s liquidation of the subject merchandise as separate components in headings 8456, 8462, 8466, and 8515, HTSUS, respectively, is contrary to HQ 961210, dated April 2, 1999, NY C83925, dated February 18, 1998, HQ 965639, dated July 16, 2002, HQ H063625, dated November 19, 2010, and HQ 966109, dated November 24, 2003.
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 which 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 their appropriate order.
The HTSUS headings under consideration are the following:
8456 Machine tools for working any material by removal of material, by laser or other light or photon beam, ultrasonic, electro-discharge, electro-chemical, electron-beam, ionic-beam or plasma arc processes; water-jet cutting machines:
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:
8466 Parts and accessories suitable for use solely or principally with the machines of headings 8456 to 8465, including work or tool holders, self-opening dieheads, dividing heads and other special attachments for machine tools; tool holders for any type of tool for working in the hand:
8466.20 Work holders:
8466.20.80 Other
Other:
8466.94 For machines of heading 8462 or 8463:
Other:
8466.94.85 Other
8479 Machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof:
8515 Electric (including electrically heated gas), laser or other light or photon beam, ultrasonic, electron beam, magnetic pulse or plasma arc soldering, brazing or welding machines and apparatus, whether or not capable of cutting; electric machines and apparatus for hot spraying of metals or cermets; parts thereof:
Note 2 to Section XVI, HTSUS, of which Chapters 85 and 85, HTSUS, are a part, states the following:
Subject to note 1 to this section, note 1 to chapter 84 and to note 1 to chapter 85, parts of machines (not being parts of the articles of heading 8484, 8544, 8545, 8546 or 8547) are to be classified according to the following rules:
Parts which are goods included in any of the headings of chapter 84 or 85
(other than headings 8409, 8431, 8448, 8466, 8473, 8487, 8503, 8522, 8529, 8538 and 8548) are in all cases to be classified in their respective headings;
Other parts, if suitable for use solely or principally with a particular kind of
machine, or with a number of machines of the same heading (including a machine of heading 8479 or 8543) are to be classified with the machines of that kind or in heading 8409, 8431, 8448, 8466, 8473, 8503, 8522, 8529 or 8538 as appropriate. However, parts which are equally suitable for use principally with the goods of headings 8517 and 8525 to 8528 are to be classified in heading 8517;
All other parts are to be classified in heading 8409, 8431, 8448, 8466,
8473, 8503, 8522, 8529 or 8538 as appropriate or, failing that, in heading 8487 or 8548.
Note 3 to Section XVI, HTSUS, states the following:
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.
Note 4 to Section XVI, HTSUS, states the following:
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.
In understanding the language of the HTSUS, the Explanatory Notes (ENs) of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, which constitute the official interpretation of the HTSUS at the international level, may be utilized. The ENs, although not dispositive or legally binding, provide a commentary on the scope of each heading, and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of the HTSUS. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127 (August 23, 1989).
The EN for heading 8456, HTSUS, states, in pertinent part, the following:
The machine tools of this heading are machines used for the shaping or surface working of any material. They must meet three essential requirements:
(i) They must work by removing material;
(ii) They must carry out operations of the kind performed by machine tools equipped with conventional tools;
They must use one of the following seven processes : laser or other light or photon beam, ultrasonic, electro discharge, electro chemical, electron beam, ionic beam or plasma arc….
(A) MACHINE TOOLS FOR WORKING BY LASER OR OTHER LIGHT
OR PHOTON BEAM PROCESSES
Laser beam machining (photonic machining) consists of bombarding a target with photons. This group covers, in particular, machines for drilling (metals, rubies for watches, etc.), machines for cutting metals or other hard materials and machines for engraving (figures, letters, lines, etc.) on various highly resistant materials.
The EN for heading 8462, HTSUS, states, in pertinent part, the following:
The heading covers certain machine tools, listed in the heading text, which work by changing the shape or form of metal or metal carbides.
In general machine tools are power driven but similar machines, worked by hand or pedal, are also covered by this heading. These latter types can be distinguished from the hand tools of heading 82.05 and from the tools for working in the hand of heading 84.67, by the fact that they are usually designed to be mounted on the floor, on a bench, on a wall or on another machine, and are thus usually provided with a base plate, mounting frame, stand, etc.
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 (in which the rollers are not parallel); 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.
(3) Folding machines. These machines include the following:
(a) machines for working flat products. The folding of a flat product consists of giving a sheet (or strip) in a straight line a permanent deformation of small radius, without rupturing the metal. This operation is carried out, either on a universal folding machine, or on a folding press;
(b) machines for working non flat products. The folding of bars, rods, tubes, angles, shapes and sections is akin to forming (see paragraph (2) above); wire bending involves giving it a curvature within a single plane. Wire bending machines carrying out more complex operations (for example, spring manufacturing machines) do not constitute simple folding machines and fall in heading 84.63.
(4) Straightening machines and flattening machines. These machines are for remedying imperfections in non flat products, such as wire, bars, rods, tubes, angles, shapes and sections, or flat products, such as sheets or strip, arising during their manipulation after manufacture.
Flattening machines include the following, for example :
(a) Flattening machines of the roller type which consist of a series of parallel rollers (or cylinders), either small in number (5 to 11) but of relatively large diameter and great rigidity, or large in number (generally 15 to 23) but of small diameter, great flexibility, and supported by an equal number of counter rollers;
(b) Tables for flattening by drawing in which imperfections are eliminated by slight permanent stretching.
The EN for heading 8466, HTSUS, states, in pertinent part, the following:
With the exception of the tools of Chapter 82 and subject to the general provisions regarding the classification of parts (see the General Explanatory Note to Section XVI), this heading covers:
(A) Parts of the machines of headings 84.56 to 84.65.
The very wide range of parts and accessories classified here includes:…
(2) Work holders designed to hold and sometimes manipulate (as required for a particular operation) the part being worked by the machine. These include:
Lathe centres; mechanical or pneumatic lathe chucks of all kinds and their clamping jaws; work holding plates and tables (whether or not with a micrometer adjusting or setting device); clamps and angle plates; chocks and wedges; fixed, revolving or adjustable machine vices; steady rests (ring shaped devices designed to support long parts during turning, in order to prevent buckling and overcome vibrations set up by the pressure of the tool)….
(6) Mechanical or pneumatic attachments used to automatically control the
progress of the work or the tool in the course of working.
The EN for heading 8515, HTSUS, states, in pertinent part, the following:
(I) SOLDERING, BRAZING OR WELDING MACHINES AND APPARATUS
This group covers certain soldering, brazing or welding machines and apparatus, whether portable or fixed. They are also classified here when they are capable of cutting.
Welding operations may be performed manually or be fully or partly automatic.
These include:…
(C) Machines and apparatus for arc or plasma arc welding of metals, whether or not capable of cutting…
(2) Plasma arc welding.
The source of heat is a constricted arc which, by ionisation and dissociation, converts auxiliary gas into a plasma (plasma jet). The gas may be inert (argon, helium), polyatomic (nitrogen, hydrogen) or a mixture of the two.
Protestant argues that the subject components of four different machines, intended to work together to produce bellows for the exhaust system of vehicles, constitutes either a composite machine of Note 3 to Section XVI, HTSUS, or a functional unit of Note 4 to Section XVI, HTSUS. Protestant admits, however, that not all of the components of a bellows-making composite machine or functional unit are imported in the subject entry. Hence, protestant argues that the components are classified together as an incomplete composite machine or functional unit under GRI 2(a). In support of these arguments, Protestant cites Headquarters Ruling Letters (HQ) 961210, dated April 2, 1999, HQ 965639, dated September 12, 2002, HQ H063625, dated November 19, 2010, and HQ 966109, dated November 24, 2003, and New York Ruling Letter (NY) NY C83925, dated February 18, 1998.
It is a well-established principle that goods must be classified in their condition as imported. See Mita Copystar Am. v. United States, 21 F.3d 1079, 1082 (Fed. Cir. 1994); see also HQ H197758, dated April 27, 2012; HQ H154040, dated June 9, 2011; HQ H135335, dated April 18, 2011. In HQ 966109, for example, semiautomatic precision layer respooling machines, vertical left and right machines, pail packer machines and coating tanks and parts for them, were imported in 13 separate entries over the course of six months. There, CBP determined whether the merchandise could be classified as a complete system or functional whole by analyzing the relationship between Note 4 and GRI 2(a) as follows:
By its terms, GRI 2(a), HTSUS, extends the scope of a 4-digit heading to include an article, whether assembled or unassembled, that is imported incomplete or unfinished. The imported article, however, must be found to have the essential character of the complete or unfinished good. Section XVI, Note 4, HTSUS, is the authority under GRI 1 for classifying a series of machines or components in a 4-digit heading describing a clearly defined function performed by the goods. Given the relationship between GRI 1 and GRI 2(a) in determining the scope of headings, it logically follows, in our opinion, that GRI 2(a) may also be applied to determine whether under GRI 1 a series of machines or components may qualify for classification under Section XVI, Note 4, even if imported incomplete or unfinished.
See HQ 966109. Following this analysis, CBP acknowledged that some of the articles in question were indeed designed and intended to function together to complete a specific step in the manufacturing process. Nonetheless, we still declined to classify them as a complete system or functional whole, in part because they had been imported in thirteen separate entries, and in part because they all had individual functions that were contemplated and described by different headings of the tariff. See HQ 966109.
In the present case, by contrast, the subject machines were entered in a single entry on a single date, and under the same bill of lading number. However, a completed bellows is corrugated in the center, and it is this feature that allows the bellows to perform the types of deflections necessary to compensate for the engine’s vibrations and thermal expansion. The machine necessary to form the corrugation is called a hydroforming machine and it is notably absent from the entry. Without the hydroforming machine, the end product would simply be a metal pipe incapable of compensating for the engine’s vibrations and thermal expansion. Without the hydroforming machine, the imported machines cannot complete the bellows-making operation.
Because the corrugations allow the bellows to perform its essential function and distinguish it from a simple pipe, we find that even if the four machines were completely assembled, they do not form the essential character of a bellows-forming functional unit. As a result, the entered machine parts cannot be classified as a functional unit of Note 4 to Section XVI, HTSUS, and each machine must be classified separately. Therefore, the four unassembled machines must be classified separately under GRI 2(a).
The subject strip trimming machine/decoiler removes the steel strip from the coils, unwinds it, and trims it. Heading 8462, HTSUS, provides for machine-tools for working metal by bending, folding, straightening, flattening, shearing, punching or notching. See heading 8462, HTSUS. Machines are classified here when they work by changing the shape or form of metal. See EN 84.62. Furthermore, CBP has defined “machine-tools” as ones that are power-driven but can also be worked by hand or pedal. See EN 84.63; HQ 087746, dated August 21, 1990. “Machine tools” have also been defined as “...any machine used for shaping or surface-working metals...whether by cutting away or otherwise removing the material or by changing its shape or form without removing any of it…” Additionally, machines that do not work metal by a process of fabrication, manufacture or improvement toward an intended end use are not regarded as “machine tools” under the HTSUS. See HQ 966109; see also HQ 955395, dated February 14, 1994, citing Pitney-Bowes, Inc. v. United States, C.D. 3116 (1967); Kurt Orban Co., Inc. v. United States, C.D. 2041, aff’d. C.A.D. 724 (1959). The subject strip trimming machine/ decoiler meets these terms because it is a power-driven tool that trimming (i.e., shearing) metal. As such, the strip trimming machine/ decoiler is classified in heading 8462, HTSUS. We note that the Port liquidated this machine in subheading 8462.29.00, HTSUS, as a flattening machine. This is a machine that unrolls the steel from its coils and trims it for impurities. Without the removal of these impurities, the efficacy of the finished product would be compromised. As a result, the subject strip trimming machine/decoiler is better described by the terms of subheading 8462.39.00, HTSUS, which provides for “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: Shearing machines (including presses), other than combined punching and shearing machines: Other.”
The subject BFTL 150 laser cutting machine uses a video-controlled laser to trim the ends from the bellow and cut the bellow in half to form two bellows. Heading 8456, HTSUS, provides for “Machine tools for working any material by removal of material, by laser…” Furthermore, machines that are classified in this heading are used for the shaping or surface-working of any material and must meet three requirements: they must work by removing material; they must carry out operations of the kind performed by machine-tools equipped with conventional tools; and they must use one of seven processes, including the use of a laser or other light or photon beam. See EN 84.56. Merchandise previously classified in heading 8456, HTSUS, has included a laser cutting system used to bend and manipulate 3000 x 1500 mm sheet metal blanks; a laser machine used to texture the surface of metal work rolls; laser cutting machines that cut (shear) straight steel die maker's rules to length. See, e.g., NY I81274, dated May 3, 2002; NY 862758, dated May 08, 1991; NY 812761, dated July 28, 1995. In the present case, the subject BFTL 150 laser cutting machine, like the merchandise in the rulings cited, uses a laser to work metal and does so by removing material. As such, it meets the terms of heading 8456, HTSUS, and is classified there.
The Port liquidated the subject in-feed channel/ Aweko tube puller as a “part” of heading 8466, HTSUS. Merchandise classified as parts of Chapters 84 and 85, HTSUS, are subject to the provisions of Note 2 to Section XVI, HTSUS. Furthermore, the courts have considered the nature of “parts” under the HTSUS and two distinct though not inconsistent tests have resulted. See Bauerhin Technologies Limited Partnership, & John V. Carr & Son, Inc. v. United States, (“Bauerhin”) 110 F.3d 774. The first, articulated in United States v. Willoughby Camera Stores, (“Willoughby Camera”) 21 C.C.P.A. 322 (1933), requires a determination of whether the imported item is “an integral, constituent, or component part, without which the article to which it is to be joined, could not function as such article.” Bauerhin, 110 F.3d at 778 (quoting Willoughby Camera, 21 C.C.P.A. 322 at 324). The second, set forth in United States v. Pompeo, (“Pompeo”) 43 C.C.P.A. 9 (1955), states that “an imported item dedicated solely for use with another article is a ‘part’ of that article within the meaning of the HTSUS.” Id. at 779 (citing Pompeo, 43 C.C.P.A. 9 at 13). Under either line of cases, an imported item is not a part if it is “a separate and distinct commercial entity.” Id.
The subject in-feed channel/ Aweko tube puller is a machine that feeds the metal cylinder, which has already been cut by mechanical means, into the bellows-forming unit, where the steel tube is subject to pressure to form the double-walled cylinder. In its various submissions, Protestant has provided no evidence that this in-feed channel/ tube puller is dedicated solely for use with the bellows-forming machines. Furthermore, an internet search for tube pullers shows that these machines are sold by themselves, which is evidence that they are a separate and distinct commercial entity. As such, the subject in-feed channel/Aweko tube puller cannot be classified as a “part,” of a bellows hydro-forming machine of heading 8462, HTSUS, and we examine alternate headings.
In prior rulings classifying similar merchandise, CBP has examined the applicability of heading 8428, HTSUS, which provides for “Other lifting, handling, loading or unloading machinery (for example, elevators, escalators, conveyors, teleferics).” In HQ 957460, dated April 26, 1995, for example, CBP classified nut feeders, which were machines for delivering weld nuts to a spot welding machine. It functioned by feeding single nuts through the tube to a feed unit atop the welding machine. There, CBP examined EN 84.28 and concluded that it described machines for inserting, handling, or withdrawing the pieces being worked from devices such as furnaces and rolling mills. EN 84.28 also listed examples such as coke oven discharging machines, special machines for lifting out ingots and other materials, and machines that use cylinders fitted with rams or pistons to insert or remove objects being treated by a furnace. In HQ 957460, CBP reasoned that the nut feeders at issue functioned by way of a continuous feed, and, as such, functioned differently than the exemplars of EN 84.28. We then reasoned that the nut feeders functioned more like the machinery described by EN 84.79, Paragraph (I)(3), which provides as follows:
This group includes, for example:
(3) Volumetric distributing apparatus (e.g., mechanical hopper feeds) and mechanical distributors for continuous presentation of work pieces in the same alignment ready for the working operation, not specialised for any particular industry.
As a result, we precluded classification in heading 8428, HTSUS, in favor of classification in heading 8479, HTSUS. See HQ 957460. Similarly, in the present case, the subject in-feed channel/Aweko tube puller functions in a continuous feed, which is different than the exemplars of heading 8428, HTSUS, and we examine alternate headings.
Heading 8479, HTSUS, provides for machinery with individual functions that is not described elsewhere in Chapter 84, HTSUS. It provides for a wide range of merchandise, but specifically provides for “mechanical distributors for continuous presentation of work pieces in the same alignment ready for the working operation, not specialised for any particular industry.” See EN 84.79. Thus, the subject in-feed channel/Aweko tube puller is described by the terms of heading 8479, HTSUS, and comports with the exemplars of EN 84.79. Furthermore, it is not described by another heading in this chapter. As a result, the subject in-feed channel/Aweko tube puller is classified in heading 8479, HTSUS. This classification is consistent with prior CBP rulings. See, e.g., HQ 957460; HQ 965394 dated September 10, 2002; NY I84115, dated August 12, 2002; HQ 965394, dated September 10, 2002.
The subject tube welding machine bends the steel to form the tubes. As the steel strip is removed from the coil, it is forced into a cylinder shape and is subject to a micro plasma welding operation in order to seal the seam of the tube. Heading 8515, HTSUS, provides for “Electric (including electrically heated gas), laser or other light or photon beam, ultrasonic, electron beam, magnetic pulse or plasma arc soldering, brazing or welding machines and apparatus, whether or not capable of cutting.” In particular, the merchandise of this heading includes machines for plasma arc welding. See EN 85.15. The subject tube welding machine is therefore described by the terms of this heading and is classified here.
HOLDING:
By application of GRI 2(a), the components of the subject strip trimming machine/decoiler is provided for under heading 8462, HTSUS. It is specifically provided for under subheading 8462.39.00, HTSUS, which provides for “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: Shearing machines (including presses), other than combined punching and shearing machines: Other.” The general column one duty rate is 4.4% ad valorem.
By application of GRI 2(a), the subject components of the BFTL 150 laser cutting machine is provided for under heading 8456, HTSUS. It is specifically provided for under subheading 8456.10.10, HTSUS, which provides for “Machine tools for working any material by removal of material, by laser or other light or photon beam, ultrasonic, electro-discharge, electro-chemical, electron-beam, ionic-beam or plasma arc processes; water-jet cutting machines: Operated by laser or other light or photon beam processes: For working metal.” The general column one duty rate is 3.5% ad valorem.
By application of GRI 2(a), the subject components of the in-feed channel/Aweko tube puller is provided for under heading 8479, HTSUS. It is specifically provided for under subheading 8479.89.98, HTSUS, which provides for “Machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof: Other machines and mechanical appliances: Other: Other.” The general column one duty rate is 2.5% ad valorem.
By application of GRI 2(a), the components of the subject tube welding machine is provided for under heading 8515, HTSUS. It is specifically provided for under subheading 8515.31.00, HTSUS, which provides for “Electric (including electrically heated gas), laser or other light or photon beam, ultrasonic, electron beam, magnetic pulse or plasma arc soldering, brazing or welding machines and apparatus, whether or not capable of cutting; electric machines and apparatus for hot spraying of metals or cermets; parts thereof: Machines and apparatus for arc (including plasma arc) welding of metals: Fully or partly automatic.” The general column one duty rate is 1.6% ad valorem.
You are instructed to DENY the protest.
In accordance with Sections IV and VI of the CBP Protest/Petition Processing Handbook (HB 3500-08A, December 2007, pp. 24 and 26), you are to mail this decision, together with the CBP Form 19, to the protestant no later than 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 days from the date of the decision, the Office International Trade, Regulations and Rulings, will make the decision available to CBP personnel, and to the public on the CBP Home Page on the World Wide Web at www.cbp.gov, by means of the Freedom of Information Act, and other methods of public distribution.
Sincerely,
Myles B. Harmon, Director
Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division