CLA-2 OT:RR:CTF:TCM H226415 RES
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Service Port – Otay Mesa
9777 Via De La Amistad
San Diego, CA 92154
ATTN: Judi Vance, Senior Import Specialist
RE: Internal Advice Request No. 12/027; Tariff classification of a Synthetic Diamond Tipped Grinding Wheel Dresser.
Dear Port Director:
On June 18, 2012, you requested internal advice with regard to the tariff classification of a “single point diamond dresser” (“the dresser”) under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”). This letter responds to your request.
FACTS:
The article at issue in this request for internal advice is called a single point diamond dresser, which is a grinding wheel dresser, that is used on a grinder machine to dress or form a radius on a grinding wheel to true a wheel by knocking off/dislodging abrasive particles from a wheel’s surface to expose fresh abrasive grains of a wheel and to clean a grinding wheel by removing fragments of abrasives and other material leftovers. See Figures 1 and 2.
Figure 1 Figure 2
A diamond dresser is applied against a grinding wheel by holding it by hand, or by using a pair of vise grips to hold it, or with some non hand-held holder.
The dresser at issue here is described in pertinent part in the request for internal advice as:
* * * * *
The product is a single point diamond dresser (SPDD) used with any grinding machine to dress or form a radius on a grinding wheel or for dressing or shaping an abrasive wheel. These SPDDs are usually used on wheels that are made of aluminum oxide on a base of rubber. The dresser may be used in a variety of ways to include 1) hand-held using a pair of vise grips, 2) within a CNC machine or 3) with a non-hand held holder.
The SPDD is considered a throw away because once the point has been worn it cannot be reset.
The diamond of the [single point diamond dresser] SPDD is a non-agglomerated industrial diamond with a single point incorporated with a bond matrix consisting of metal powders. The bond is made of copper powder base, copper powder and tin powder. The body or shank of the article is comprised of solid 12L14 steel round. The SPDD is set on the shank covered with the matrix or pasted onto the item.
The production process for the SPDD is as indicated below. “Prepare the steel (grade 12L14) according to specifications indicated by the print. Steel is drilled according to specifications. The cavity is filled with powder bond (Copper powder base, Copper powder and Tin powder) according with the manufacturing process. Place the diamond tip, orient it in a vertical position chosen [sic] and inserted a piece of graphite with serves to press the diamond with the steel and then remove the piece of graphite and observed that has not lost its orientation and if necessary repeat this step until the diamond stay[s] upright. Place the work piece on the machine induction unit, apply heat and pressure, which will encapsulate[] the diamond. The tool is now placed in the lathe machine, in which the diamond is exposed and machined to print, then sent to the finished area (polished) after that it goes to Inspection. Finely [sic] the finished tool is sent to the shipping.”
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Diamond dressers in general come in various shapes and sizes and can have more than one diamond point. See Figure 3. In addition, they can be resettable (reusable) or consumable (throwaway).
Figure 3
ISSUE:
Whether a grinding wheel dresser with a synthetic diamond tip is classified under heading 6804, HTSUS, as an article of agglomerated natural or artificial abrasive, or under heading 6805, HTSUS, as a natural or artificial abrasive powder or grain, or under heading 7116, HTSUS, as a precious or semi-precious stone, or under heading 8205 as a hand tool.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Classification under the HTSUS is made in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI). GRI 1 provides that the classification of goods shall be “determined according to the terms of the headings 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 GRIs 2 through 6 may be applied in order.
The following HTSUS provisions are under consideration:
6804 Millstones, grindstones, grinding wheels and the like, without frameworks, for grinding, sharpening, polishing, trueing or cutting, hand sharpening or polishing stones, and parts thereof, of natural stone, of agglomerated natural or artificial abrasives, or of ceramics, with or without parts of other materials:
6805 Natural or artificial abrasive powder or grain, on a base of textile material, of paper, of paperboard or of other materials, whether or not cut to shape or sewn or otherwise made up:
7116 Articles of natural or cultured pearls, precious or semi-precious stones (natural, synthetic or reconstructed):
8205 Handtools (including glass cutters) not elsewhere specified or included; blow torches and similar self-contained torches; vises, clamps and the like, other than accessories for and parts of machine tools; anvils; portable forges; hand- or pedal-operated grinding wheels with frameworks; base metal parts thereof:
Legal Note 1(e) to Chapter 68, HTSUS, provides that this chapter does not cover “[t]ools or parts of tools, of Chapter 82.”
Legal Note 3(k) to Chapter 71, HTSUS, in pertinent part excludes from classification under this chapter the following:
Abrasive goods of heading 6804 or 6805 or chapter 82, containing dust or powder of precious or semiprecious stones (natural, synthetic or reconstructed); machinery, mechanical appliances or electrical goods, or parts thereof, of section XVI. However, articles and parts thereof, wholly of precious or semiprecious stones (natural, synthetic or reconstructed) remain classified in this chapter, except unmounted worked sapphires and diamonds for styli (heading 8522).
Legal Note 1 of Chapter 82, HTSUS, provides the following:
1. Apart from blow torches and similar self-contained torches, portable forges, grinding wheels with frameworks, manicure or pedicure sets, and goods of heading 8209, this chapter covers only articles with a blade, working edge, working surface or other working part of:
(a) Base metal;
(b) Metal carbides or cermets;
(c) Precious or semiprecious stones (natural, synthetic or reconstructed) on a support of base metal, metal carbide or cermet; or
(d) Abrasive materials on a support of base metal, provided that the articles have cutting teeth, flutes, grooves or the like, of base metal, which retain their identity and function after the application of the abrasive.
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 Harmonized System 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 ENs to heading 6804 provide in pertinent part:
This heading covers, in particular:
Millstones and grindstones, often of considerable size, for crushing, grinding, pulping, etc., (e.g., for milling grain (upper or lower stones); pulping wood, asbestos, etc.; paper-makers’ or paint mixers’ grindstones).
Grindstones for sharpening cutlery, tools, etc., and designed for mounting on hand, pedal or power operated machines.
The grindstones and millstones described in the two categories above are usually flat, cylindrical or in the shape of truncated cones.
Grinding wheels, heads, discs, points, etc., as used on machine-tools, electro-mechanical or pneumatic hand tools, for the trimming, polishing, sharpening, trueing or sometimes for the cutting of metals, stone, glass, plastics, ceramics, rubber, leather, mother of pearl, ivory, etc.
Except for some cutting discs, which may be of considerable diameter, these goods are usually much smaller than those described above, and they may be of any shape, (e.g., flat, conical, spherical, dished, ring-shaped, recessed or stepped); they may also be planed or profiled at the edges.
The heading covers such tools not only when they are predominantly of abrasive materials, but also when they consist of only a very small abrasive head on a metal shank, or of a centre or core of rigid material (metal, wood, plastics, cork, etc.) on to which compact layers of agglomerated abrasive have been permanently bonded (e.g., cutting discs of metal, etc., fitted with rims or with a series of peripheral inserts of abrasive material). The heading also covers abrasive elements for hones, whether or not they are mounted in the carriers required for their fixation in the body of the hone.
It should, however, be noted that certain abrasive tools are excluded and fall in Chapter 82. The latter Chapter, however, covers only those tools with cutting teeth, flutes, grooves, etc., which retain their identity and function even after application of the abrasive material (i.e., tools which, unlike those of this heading, could be put to use even if the abrasive had not been applied). Saws with cutting teeth covered with abrasive therefore remain in heading 82.02. Similarly crown drills as used for cutting discs from sheets of glass, quartz, etc., are classified in this heading if the working edge is smooth apart from the abrasive coating, but in heading 82.07 if toothed (whether or not coated with abrasive).
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The ENs to heading 7116 provide in pertinent part:
* * * * *
The heading does not cover:
(a) Goods of Chapter 82 with a working part of precious or semi-precious stones (natural, synthetic or reconstructed) on a support of base metal, metal carbide or cermet, whether or not assembled (e.g., mounted glaziers’ diamonds).
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EN(E)(7) to heading 8205 provides in pertinent part:
This heading covers all hand tools not included in other headings of this Chapter or elsewhere in the Nomenclature (see the General Explanatory Notes to this Chapter), together with certain other tools or appliances specifically mentioned in the title.
It includes a large number of hand tools (including some with simple hand-operated mechanisms such as cranks, ratchets or gearing). This group of tools includes:
* * * * *
(E) Other hand tools (including glaziers’ diamonds).
This group includes:
(7) Miscellaneous hand tools such as . . . grinding wheel dressers . . . .
The legal notes to Chapters 68 and Chapter 71 exclude from classification in those respective chapters articles classified under Chapter 82. Accordingly, the threshold issue is whether a single point diamond dresser is prima facie classifiable under Chapter 82.
The diamond dresser is a shaft of stainless steel that has a synthetic diamond embedded in the tip of the shaft. The synthetic diamond is the working part of the article as it is the synthetic diamond that performs the actual dressing/truing on a grinder wheel. According to Note 1(c) of Chapter 82, an article that has a working part that is a synthetic precious stone on a support of base metal is classifiable under Chapter 82. Thus, the single point diamond dresser article is prima facie classifiable under Chapter 82.
Furthermore, EN(E)(7) specifically lists grinding wheel dressers as a miscellaneous hand tool that is classifiable under heading 8205, HTSUS. Grinding wheel dressers are not listed by name or description in any of the ENs to headings 6804, 6805, or 7116, HTSUS. Accordingly, because the diamond dresser is a grinding wheel dresser, it is classified under heading 8205, HTSUS. The next issue is to determine the six digit subheading classification, which requires the application of GRI 6. GRI 6 requires that the GRI's be applied at the subheading level on the understanding that only subheadings at the same level are comparable. There are two subheadings at issue because the diamond dresser is a composite article composed of a steel shaft and a synthetic diamond tip. The subheading 8205.59.55, HTSUS, covers articles that are composed of steel while subheading 8205.59.80, HTSUS, is a residual heading for tools composed of materials, such as synthetic diamond, not specified elsewhere.
The diamond dresser article is analyzed under GRI 3(b), because it is a composite good consisting of different components each of which, if imported separately, would be classifiable under different headings. According to GRI 3(b), “mixtures, composite goods consisting of different materials or made up of different components . . . shall be classified as if they consisted of the material or component which gives them their essential character . . . .” Thus, to determine under which subheading to properly classify the diamond dresser, we must determine which component gives the article its essential character: the steel shaft or the synthetic diamond tip.
Although the GRI’s do not provide a definition of “essential character,” EN (VIII) of GRI 3(b) provides guidance. According to this EN, the essential character may “. . . be determined by the nature of the material or component, its bulk, quantity, weight or value, or by the role of a constituent material in relation to the use of the goods.” This is known as the “essential character test” and the application of this test requires a fact-intensive analysis. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. v. United States, 491 F.3d 1334, 1337 (Fed. Cir. 2007). Many factors should be considered when determining the essential character of an article, including but not limited to those factors enumerated in Explanatory Note (VIII) to GRI 3(b). Id. Although the stainless steel shaft is bigger than the synthetic diamond and comprises the predominant weight of the dresser, the synthetic diamond tip imparts the essential character because it is what performs the actual function of dressing/truing a grinder wheel, of which without the diamond tip, the steel shank has no particular function, and the synthetic diamond predominates in value over the steel shank.
Therefore, the subheading classification of the diamond dresser is based on the synthetic diamond tip, which would be classified under the residual subheading 8205.59.80, HTSUS, as “[h]andtools (including glass cutters) not elsewhere specified or included; blow torches and similar self-contained torches; vises, clamps and the like, other than accessories for and parts of machine tools; anvils; portable forges; hand- or pedal-operated grinding wheels with frameworks; base metal parts thereof: [o]ther handtools (including glass cutters) and parts thereof: [o]ther: [o]ther: [o]ther.”
Because the diamond dresser is classified under Chapter 82, this obviates the need to determine whether it also prima facie falls under headings 6804, 6805, or 7116, HTSUS.
HOLDING:
Pursuant to GRIs 1 (note 1(a) to Chapter 82), 3(b), and 6, HTSUS, the diamond dresser is classified under subheading 8205.59.8000, HTSUSA, as “[h]andtools (including glass cutters) not elsewhere specified or included; blow torches and similar self-contained torches; vises, clamps and the like, other than accessories for and parts of machine tools; anvils; portable forges; hand- or pedal-operated grinding wheels with frameworks; base metal parts thereof: [o]ther handtools (including glass cutters) and parts thereof: [o]ther: [o]ther: [o]ther.” The column one, rate of duty, is 3.7 percent ad valorem.
Duty rates are provided for your convenience and are subject to change. The text of the most recent HTSUS and the accompanying duty rates are provided on the World Wide Web at www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/.
You are to mail this decision to the internal advice requestor no later than sixty days from the date of the decision. At that time, Regulations and Rulings of the Office of International Trade 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