CLA-2 OT: RR: CTF: TCM H254127 ERB
Mr. Brett Ian Harris
Pisani & Roll LLP
1629 K Street NW
Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006
RE: Tariff classification of Tempur-Up, Tempur-Ergo Grand, and Tempur-Ergo Premier textile mattress foundation covers
Dear Mr. Harris:
This is in reply to your letter of March 14, 2014, to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) National Commodity Specialist Division (NCSD) in New York, on behalf of Tempur-Pedic North America, LLC (Tempur-Pedic or Protestant). Therein, you sought a binding ruling regarding the tariff classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) of certain mattress foundation covers. Your request was forwarded to this office for a response.
FACTS:
Tempur-Pedic is a designer, manufacturer and distributor of mattresses and beds, along with accompanying accessories. Customers purchase: (1) a mattress foundation, which incorporates a bed frame and sits directly on the ground, and, (2) a mattress which sits atop the foundation. The mattress foundation incorporates characteristics of a bed frame, in that it sits directly on the floor, and it replaces a standard box spring for this specialized adjustable bed. The foundation is composed of a wooden frame (medium-density fiberboard or MDF) with various adjustable steel parts which allow the head portions and/or the foot portions of the bed to raise and lower electronically. Due to this adjustability, the bed needs a non-conventional mattress. The mattress foundation does not contain any springs or wire mesh or stuffing of any kind.
The Tempur-Pedic mattress used in this combination contains a laminated support for pressure-relief comprising an upper layer of visco-elastic foam, a middle layer of visco-elastic foam having a greater hardness, and a bottom layers of highly resilient polyurethane foam. The layers are sandwiched between two layers of reticulated filter polyurethane foam. The patented mattress is designed only to fit with Tempur-Pedic’s mattress foundation. It is not designed to fit or work as intended on a firm, solid-surface, non-spring foundation or other adjustable bed base. The pieces described above are purchased only through the Tempur-Pedic company and its representatives.
The subject merchandise are three different styles of textile mattress foundation covers, which are placed on the mattress foundation and secured via staples post-importation. The styles are the Tempur-Up, Tempur-Ergo Grand, and the Tempur-Ergo Premier. Each features a rectangular stich bonded or woven fabric platform piece sewn to decorative knit or woven side panels. The Tempur-Up style also features a separate rectangular non-woven fabric dust cover stapled to the bottom of the mattress foundation. The products are not used as bed covers or used to cover the mattress layer, rather, they are only attached to the mattress foundation.
ISSUE:
Whether a textile mattress foundation cover is considered a “part” of goods classified as “other furniture” under heading 9403, HTSUS, or whether it is considered “other made up articles” of heading 6307, HTSUS?
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 of the tariff schedule and any relative Section of 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 may then be applied.
The HTSUS headings discussed herein are the following:
6307 Other made up articles, including dress patterns:
6307.90 Other
***
9403 Other furniture and parts thereof:
9403.90 Parts:
Other:
9403.90.60 Of textile material, except cotton
Note 2 to Chapter 94 states the following, in relevant part:
The articles (other than parts) referred to in headings 9401 to 9403 are to be classified in those headings only if they are designed for placing on the floor or ground.
The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (ENs) constitute the official interpretation of the Harmonized System at the international level. While not legally binding, the ENs provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the Harmonized System and are thus useful in ascertaining the proper classification of merchandise. See T.D. 89-90, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989).
The General EN to Chapter 94 provides, in relevant part:
This Chapter covers, subject to the exclusions listed in the Explanatory Notes to this Chapter:
All furniture and parts thereof (headings 94.01 to 94.03).
For the purposes of this Chapter, the term “furniture” means:
Any “moveable” articles (not included under other more specific headings of the Nomenclature), which have the essential characteristic that they are constructed for placing on the floor or ground, and which are used, mainly with a utilitarian purpose, to equip private dwellings, hotels…
The EN to 94.03 provides in relevant part:
This heading covers furniture and parts thereof, not covered by the previous headings. It includes furniture for general use…and also furniture for special uses.
The heading includes furniture for:
Private dwellings, hotels, etc., such as: cabinets…beds (including wardrobe beds, camp-beds, folding beds, cots, etc.)…
The General EN to Chapter 94 continues in relevant part:
PARTS
This Chapter only covers parts, whether or not in the rough, of the goods of headings 94.01 to 94.03 and 94.05, when identifiable by their shape or other specific features as parts designed solely or principally for an article of those headings. They are classified in this Chapter when not more specifically covered elsewhere.
The General ENs to Chapter 94 state, in relevant part, with regard to the meaning of furniture at subpart (A): “For the purposes of this Chapter, the term “furniture” means: Any “moveable” articles (not included under other more specific headings of the Nomenclature), which have the essential characteristic that they are constructed for placing on the floor or ground, and which are used, mainly with a utilitarian purpose, to equip private dwellings…”. See also Note 2 to Chapter 94. In HQ 964352, dated September 11, 2000, Customs cited The Random House Dictionary of the English Language (1973), which defines the word “equip” as meaning: “To furnish or provide with whatever is needed for service or for any undertaking.” A bed is a piece of furniture, commonly understood to equip a bedroom with a place to lie, sleep, or relax. Further, the ENs to heading 9403, HTSUS, list “beds” as one exemplar included under the category of furniture.
The Tempur-Pedic products described in your submission as a “mattress foundation” sits directly on the floor of one’s bedroom and is a permanent structure or arrangement for sleeping upon. The Tempur-Pedic bed is a regular household piece of furniture, insofar as it is recognized as a “bed”, albeit with the enhanced characteristic of allowing users to raise and lower their head and/or feet in a supine or alpine position. Therefore, classification of the various models of Tempur-Pedic mattress foundations as a whole are within Chapter 94, which provides for furniture, and also comport with Note 2 to Chapter 94.
The Tempur-Pedic mattress foundation itself is constructed of MDF pieces with adjustable steel elements installed in the interior which permit multiple mattress positions. MDF is an engineered wood product made by breaking down hardwood or softwood residuals into wood fibers and combined with wax and a resin binder and forming panels by applying high temperature and pressure. Therefore, classification of the mattress foundation is specifically provided for in heading 9403, HTSUS, which provides for bedroom furniture.
The next step in this analysis is to determine whether the subject textile mattress foundation covers are considered “parts” of furniture classified in heading 9403, HTSUS. The Courts have adopted two tests for determining whether merchandise may be classified as a part of an article. The first is when the article of which the merchandise in question is claimed to be a part of “could not function as such article” without the claimed part. United States v. Willoughby Camera Stores, Inc., 21 C.C.P.A. 322, 321, Treas. Dec. 46851 (1933), see also id at 326 (merchandise is legally a part of another article if that article is “not capable of the use for which it was intended” without the merchandise in question; see also Bauerhin Techs. Ltd. P’ship, v. United States, 110 F.3d 774, 778 (Fed. Cir. 1997) (relying on this “oft-quoted passage” of Willoughby.)). Thus, for example, a lens that allows a camera to take colored photos is properly a part of such cameras – without such lens, “cameras could not perform one of their proper functions – the taking of colored pictures,” Willoughby, 21 C.C.P.A. at 326 -7. The second test is if, when imported, the claimed part is “dedicated solely for use” in such article and, “when applied to that use,” the claimed part meets the Willoughby test. See Pomeroy Collection Ltd. v. United States, 783 F. Supp. 2d 1257, 1260 (Ct. Int’t Trade 2011), citing United States v. Pompeo, 43 C.C.P.A. 9, 14 (1955) (see also Bauerhin, 110 F.3d at 779 (“[Willoughby and Pompeo] must be read together. […] Willoughby [ ] does not address the situation where an imported item is dedicated solely for use with an article. Pompeo addresses that scenario and states that such an item can also be classified as a part.”). With this framework in mind, CBP will now consider the textile mattress foundation cover.
The subject merchandise are different styles though they are substantially similar and perform the same function on each of three styles of foundations. Each style is cut and shaped specifically to fit only the model to which it belongs. They are not interchangeable among the various Tempur-Pedic models, nor are they interchangeable with any other type of fitted sheet or mattress cover available on the market. Once affixed to the mattress foundation, they are not removed. They are permanently attached. Given that these covers are specially cut so as to fit over the mattress foundation, and around the various mechanical parts in the mattress foundation, and are permanently affixed to the underside in specified places, the covers would be ill-fitting at best, and useless at worst, on a standard box spring or box mattress foundation. The covers are designed to provide a permanent decorative look and cover part of the mattress foundation which would otherwise be exposed, including the various steel mechanical parts. It thus meets the various tests developed by the Courts for such an analysis, in that, the mattress foundation covers are dedicated solely for use with the models in which they are designed, and the product will be considered incomplete without the cover attached. The subject covers have no distinct commercial identity outside of its use with the Tempur-Pedic bed frames and mattresses. This analysis also comports with the ENs to Chapter 94, which provides for “parts” so long as they are identifiable by their shape or other specific features as designed solely or principally for an article of those headings. See General ENs to Chapter 94.
Therefore, the subject merchandise are “parts” of an article classifiable in heading 9403, HTSUS, and as such, they too are classified therein. This is consistent with previous CBP rulings on textile mattress foundation covers. See NY N187630, dated October 24, 2011 (classifying Tempur-Pedic textile mattress foundation covers substantially similar to the subject merchandise in subheading 9403.90.60, HTSUS, which provides for, “Other furniture and parts thereof: Parts: Other: Of textile material, except cotton”); see also NY N058761, dated May 20, 2009 (distinguishing between a mattress cover, classified as a textile in heading 6304, HTSUS, and a foundation cover, classified in subheading 9403.90.60, HTSUS, which provides for parts of furniture).
HOLDING:
By application of GRI 1, the subject merchandise, textile mattress foundation covers, is classified in heading 9403, HTSUS. It is specifically provided for in subheading 9403.90.60, HTSUS, which provides for “Other furniture and parts thereof: Parts: Other: Of textile material except cotton”. The 2014 column one, general rate of duty is free.
Sincerely,
Ieva K. O’Rourke, Chief
Tariff Classification & Marking Branch