CLA-2 OT:RR:CTF:TCM H263910 ALS
Port Director
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
2nd & Chestnut Streets, Room 102
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106
RE: Application for Further Review Protest No. 1101-14-100373; Tariff classification of a Bearing Cup
Dear Port Director:
This letter is in reply to an Application for Further Review (“AFR”) of Protest number 1101-14-100373, filed by Dana Driveshaft Products, LLC (also referred to herein as “Protestant” or “DDP”) on December 22, 2014. The Protest is against U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (“CBP’s”) tariff classification of a Bearing Cup under subheading 8482.20.0060 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”). Our decision is set forth below.
FACTS:
The Bearing Cup is described as a part of a drive shaft universal joint that functions as a cap used on the end of a universal joint cross Journal. It rotates parallel to the drive shaft that is connected to the universal joints. The Bearing Cup is a cap at the end of a roller bearing assembly which includes a thrust washer, a bearing needle support, a bearing cup seal, a bearing retainer, a shipping retainer, and cylindrical rollers. The rollers measure 5.5 millimeters in diameter and 19.8 millimeters in length.
Your office liquidated the entries under subheading 8482.20.00, HTSUS, as other tapered roller assemblies. The Protestant asserts that the Bearing Cup is properly classified under subheading 8482.99.65, HTSUS, as another part of a roller bearing.
ISSUE:
Is the Bearing Cup, as described above, properly classified under subheading 8482.20.00, HTSUS, which provides for “Ball or roller bearings, and parts thereof: Tapered roller bearings, including cone and tapered roller assemblies”, or subheading 8482.99.65, HTSUS, which provides for “Ball or roller bearings, and parts thereof: Parts: Other: Other: Other”, or heading 8483, HTSUS, which provides for “Transmission shafts (including camshafts and crankshafts) and cranks; bearing housings, housed bearings and plain shaft bearings; gears and gearing; ball or roller screws; gear boxes and other speed changers, including torque converters; flywheels and pulleys, including pulley blocks; clutches and shaft couplings (including universal joints); parts thereof”?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Initially, we note that CBP’s classification of the merchandise is a protestable matter under 19 U.S.C. §1514(a)(2). Further Review of Protest No. 4101-15-100473 is properly accorded to the Protestant pursuant to 19 CFR 174.24(a), which provides the following:
Further review of a protest which would otherwise be denied by the port director shall be accorded a party filing an application for further review which meets the requirements of §174.25 when the decision against which the protest was filed:
(a) Is alleged to be inconsistent with a ruling of the Commissioner of CBP or his designee, or with a decision made by CBP with respect to the same or substantially similar merchandise;…
Specifically, the Protestant cites to CBP Ruling HQ 086411 (April 16, 1990), which classified a bearing roller diameter of 9.53 millimeters (mm) and a length of 63.5mm under subheading 8482.50.00, HTSUS, as "...Other cylindrical roller bearings..." The Protestant also cites to CBP Ruling NY N195278 (December 27, 2011), which classified a bearing retainer, that was part of a cylindrical roller bearing assembly, under subheading 8482.99.65 as “[a part] for other cylindrical roller bearings.” Also cited are CBP Ruling NY 893035 (January 7, 1994), CBP Ruling NY A86701 (October 8, 1996), and CBP Ruling NY N017778 (October 19, 2007), which classified parts of roller bearings under subheading 8482.99.65.
Classification under the HTSUS is determined in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (“GRI”) and, in the absence of special language or context which otherwise requires, by the Additional U.S. Rules of Interpretation (“ARI”). 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, GRIs 2 through 6 may be applied in order.
The following headings and subheadings of the HTSUS are under consideration in this case:
8482 Ball or roller bearings, and parts thereof:
8482.20.00 Tapered roller bearings, including cone and tapered roller assemblies...
* * *
Parts:
8482.99 Other:
Other:
8482.99.65 Other…
* * *
8483 Transmission shafts (including camshafts and crankshafts) and cranks; bearing housings, housed bearings and plain shaft bearings; gears and gearing; ball or roller screws; gear boxes and other speed changers, including torque converters; flywheels and pulleys, including pulley blocks; clutches and shaft couplings (including universal joints); parts thereof:
8483.90 Toothed wheels, chain sprockets and other transmission elements presented separately; parts:
8483.90.80 Other…
* * * * * * * * *
Note 2 to Section XVI, HTSUS, provides the following:
2. 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:
(a) 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;
(b) 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;
The Bearing Cup “serves as a cap used on the end of a yoke for the cylindrical roller bearing,” and “[i]t is a bearing bushing” according to the Protestant. The Protestant further states that the “cup/cap holds the rollers all around the inside… ‘[t]he cup/cap is the item into which the cylindrical roller bearings are placed and does not serve the function of a cup in a [tapered roller bearing] inasmuch as the cup that is the imported merchandise is not used in conjunction with or assembled with a cone.”
The Bearing Cup connects to the end of a yoke that is a direct part of the universal joint. While the Bearing Cup holds the bearing assembly in place, it is not a part of the completed assembly. As such, it is distinguished from the parts of bearing assemblies in the above-referenced CBP rulings, all of which are either actual roller bearings or direct parts of roller bearing assemblies, such as bearing cages to separate the rolling elements in the bearings.
The Explanatory Notes (ENs) to the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System represent the official interpretation of the tariff at the international level. While neither legally binding nor dispositive, the ENs provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the HTSUS and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of these headings. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989).
The EN for heading 8482 states that “[t]he heading does not cover machinery parts incorporating ball, roller or needle roller bearings; these are classified in their own appropriate headings, e.g.: (a) Bearing housings and bearing brackets (heading 8483).” We find the Bearing Cup to be a part of a bearing bracket, the universal joint in this case, as opposed to a part of the bearing assembly that is attached to it. As such, the Bearing Cup is not, in and of itself, a ball or roller bearing of heading 8482, or a universal joint of heading 8483. Thus, Note 2(a) to Section XVI is not applicable in this case.
Given the foregoing, we conclude, in accordance with Note 2(b) to Section XVI, that the Bearing Cup is a part of a universal joint. Therefore, we further conclude that the subject Bearing Cup is properly classified under heading 8483, HTSUS. Specifically, the Bearing Cup is properly classified under subheading 8483.90.80, HTSUS, which provides for “Transmission shafts (including camshafts and crankshafts) and cranks; bearing housings, housed bearings and plain shaft bearings; gears and gearing; ball or roller screws; gear boxes and other speed changers, including torque converters; flywheels and pulleys, including pulley blocks; clutches and shaft couplings (including universal joints); parts thereof: Toothed wheels, chain sprockets and other transmission elements presented separately; parts: Other…”
HOLDING:
By application of GRI 1 and Note 2(b) to Section XVI, the Bearing Cup is properly classified under heading 8483, HTSUS. Specifically, the Bearing Cup is properly classified under subheading 8483.90.80, HTSUS, which provides for “Transmission shafts (including camshafts and crankshafts) and cranks; bearing housings, housed bearings and plain shaft bearings; gears and gearing; ball or roller screws; gear boxes and other speed changers, including torque converters; flywheels and pulleys, including pulley blocks; clutches and shaft couplings (including universal joints); parts thereof: Toothed wheels, chain sprockets and other transmission elements presented separately; parts: Other…” The general column one rate of duty, for merchandise classified in this subheading is 2.8%.
Duty rates are provided for your convenience and 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.
Since reclassification of the merchandise as indicated above will result in a lower rate of duty than claimed, you are instructed to GRANT the Protest with respect to the classification of the subject merchandise under the HTSUS, in accordance with the LAW AND ANALYSIS section above. A copy of this ruling should be attached to the CBP Form 19 or equivalent document and provided to the Protestant as part of the notice of action on the protest.
The merchandise in question may be subject to antidumping duties or countervailing duties. We note that the International Trade Administration is not necessarily bound by a country of origin or classification determination issued by CBP, with regard to the scope of antidumping orders or countervailing duties. Written decisions regarding the scope of AD/CVD orders are issued by the Import Administration in the Department of Commerce and are separate from tariff classification and origin rulings issued by Customs and Border Protection. You can contact them at http://www.trade.gov/ia/ (click on “Contact Us”). For your information, you can view a list of current AD/CVD cases at the United States International Trade Commission website at http://www.usitc.gov (click on “Antidumping and countervailing duty investigations”), and you can search AD/CVD deposit and liquidation messages using ACE, the system of record for AD/CVD messages, or the AD/CVD Search tool at http://addcvd.cbp.gov/index.asp?ac=home.
Sixty days from the date of the decision the Office of International Trade, Regulations and Rulings, will make the decision available to CBP personnel, and to the public on 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