CLA-2 OT:RR:CTF:TCM H271910 ALS
Mr. John M. Peterson
Neville Peterson, LLP
53 Broadway, Suite 2602
New York, New York 10006
RE: Ruling request regarding the tariff classification of certain Cutting Plotters; Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS); tariff classification of combination of certain cutting plotters imported with certain printers as functional units; Revocation by operation of law of CBP Ruling HQ 965004 (March 28, 2002); and revocation by operation of law of CBP Ruling HQ 965000 (March 28, 2002)
Dear Mr. Peterson:
This letter is in reply to your request for, on behalf of Mutoh America, Inc., a ruling on the proper tariff classification of certain Cutting Plotters. Our decision is set forth below.
FACTS:
The articles at issue are three models of cutting plotters, which Mutoh markets under the name “Value Cut.” The cutting plotters are used with graphic printers and are imported in various sizes. Model VC-600 has a 24” cutting width, model VC-1300 has a 52” cutting width, and model VC-1800 has a 72” cutting width. You state that the Mutoh “specialty piezo ink-jet printers” for which the cutting plotters are used “print designs, decals, labels, and similar designs on roll media—typically flexible vinyl, or adhesive-backed vinyl which is supported by a backing layer of paper.” You further states that the cutting plotters “take printed matter on vinyl roll media (in some cases, paper-backed media is used) and cut the same to specific sizes and shapes—forming signs, or other goods.”
The cutting plotters accept rolls of printed media, scans the rolls with a laser-based optical sensor system, detects contours of the images printed thereon, transmits the scanned information to a printer control software program installed on a connected automatic data processing system, and receives information from the software program as to where to cut to produce individual stickers or signs. The cutting plotters have a USB interface, a four (4) megabyte memory buffer, and a digital screen to monitor operations. You also state that the cutting plotters at issue might be imported with the Mutoh printers with which they are meant to work.
You assert that the cutting plotters are properly classified under heading 8443, HTSUS, specifically subheading 8443.99.50 as other printing accessories or, alternatively, under subheading 8443.91.10 as machines for uses incidental to printing.
ISSUES:
Are the Cutting Plotters, as described above, properly classified under HTSUS heading 8443, HTSUS, which provides for “Printing machinery used for printing by means of plates, cylinders and other printing components of heading 8442; other printers, copying machines and facsimile machines, whether or not combined; parts and accessories thereof”, or under heading 8477, which provides for “Machinery for working rubber or plastics or for the manufacture of products from these materials, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof”?
Is the combination of the Cutting Plotter and the Mutoh printer, when imported together, properly classified as a functional unit under heading 8443?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
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:
8443 Printing machinery used for printing by means of plates, cylinders and other printing components of heading 8442; other printers, copying machines and facsimile machines, whether or not combined; parts and accessories thereof:
Parts and accessories:
8443.91 Parts and accessories of printing machinery used for printing by means of plates, cylinders and other printing components of heading 8442:
8443.91.10 Machines for uses ancillary to printing...
* * *
8443.99 Other:
8443.99.50 Other...
* * *
8477 Machinery for working rubber or plastics or for the manufacture of products from these materials, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof:
8477.80.00 Other machinery...
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Notes 2(a), 3, and 4 of Section XVI, HTSUS, provide 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
3. 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.
4. 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.
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).
You contend that the cutting plotters are classifiable under heading 8443 because “Mutoh’s plotters do not ‘work’ plastics or rubber in the same sense as the other exemplars listed in Heading 8477... [the plotters] are designed to work exclusively with printing machines, after the printing operation and for further working print media in sheet or roll form.” You argue that the “Explanatory Notes to HTS Heading 8443 indicate that the heading includes a wide range of machines for uses ancillary to printing exclusively designed to operate with printing machines and used during or after the printing operation for feeding, handling or further working the sheets or rolls of paper.” You further argue that “[n]othing in the statute or Explanatory Notes limits the classification of these machines to those working paper as a print media; machines handling any media, including plastic, are susceptible of classification thereunder.”
You further argue that the subject cutting plotters “are not ejusdem generis with the exemplars of machines provided in HTS Heading 8477 and the Explanatory Notes thereto.” You contend that the machines of heading 8477 take rubber or plastic in crude and material form and form those materials into something else, and that the subject cutting plotters do not. In particular, you contend that the subject cutting plotters do not operate on plastics, they only operate on printed matter, and therefore do not fall under heading 8477. You argue that when an equal number of printers and cutting plotters are imported in the same shipment, then the printer/cutting plotter combination should be classified as a functional unit in accordance with Note 4 to Section XVI, HTSUS. With your alternative suggestion that the cutting plotters are classifiable under subheading 8443.91.10, you suggest that we find the cutting plotters to be parts of a printing machine.
The ENs for heading 8477 provide that “[t]he heading covers machinery for working rubber or plastics or for the manufacture of products from these materials, not specified or included elsewhere in this Chapter.” Regarding the type of materials the subject cutting plotters work with, we note that you state that plastic films and vinyl films are used in the Mutoh printers and then the cutting plotters. “Vinyl” is generally defined as a form of plastic. See, e.g., www.dictionary.com (2017) (“any resin formed by polymerizing vinyl compounds, or any of a group of plastics made from such resins”); www.merriam-webster.com (2017) (“a plastic material that is used to make records, clothing, etc., and as a covering for floors, walls, furniture, etc.”).
As a machine that works with plastic to manufacture products composed in part of plastic, the subject cutting plotters are clearly provided for in heading 8477. You argue that “working... plastics” as stated in heading 8477 refers specifically to “forming these materials into shapes and forms” or taking plastic “in unwrought form” and giving them shape, and that the subject cutting plotters do not do so and therefore are not provided for under the terms of heading 8477. We do not, however, find a basis for your argument in either heading 8477 or the ENs thereto. Furthermore, while the ENs to heading 8477 list a number of specific machines that are included in heading 8477, the list is not meant as exclusive of those machines not so listed. Thus, we find that the subject cutting plotters fall within those machines provided for in heading 8477 as machines for the manufacture of products from plastics.
With regard to the subject cutting plotters and heading 8443, you argue, as noted above, that the ENs to heading 8443 “indicate that the heading includes a wide range of machines for uses ancillary to printing exclusively designed to operate with printing machines and used during or after the printing operation for feeding, handling or further working the sheets or rolls of paper.” While the ENs to heading 8443 do in fact refer to a broad range of printing machines, heading 8443 itself specifically refers to “printing machinery used for printing by means of plates, cylinders and other printing components of heading 8442.” The subject cutting plotters are not used for printing in any sense, whether by a printing component of heading 8442 or otherwise. Thus, it is immaterial to the present case that heading 8443 covers a broad range of printing machinery because the subject cutting plotters are not printing machinery at all. Stated differently, all the machines referenced in the EN for heading 8443 actually perform printing functions, while the subject cutting plotters do not. Therefore, the subject cutting plotters are not specified or included in heading 8443.
You contend that CBP has ruled that one cutting plotter is classified under heading 8441, and two others under heading 8479. You argue that these cases are indicative of a “somewhat inconsistent... classification of cutting plotters.” In CBP Ruling NY 851188 (April 18, 1990), CBP classified a machine referred to as a “plot cutter” used to trim and cut drawings, produced on a separate electrostatic plotter, under heading 8441, which provides for “Other machinery for making up paper pulp, paper or paperboard, including cutting machines of all kinds, and parts thereof.” The plot cutter of NY 851188 is distinguishable from the cutting plotters at issue here in that the plot cutter of NY 851188 accepts printed material from an “electrostatic cutter,” not a printer as is the case here.
The two other rulings referred to in the previous paragraph, CBP Ruling HQ 965004 (March 28, 2004) and CBP Ruling HQ 965000 (March 28, 2002), both classified a combination printer/cutter under heading 8479 as machines having individual functions not specified or included elsewhere in chapter 84. The printer/cutters in HQ 965004 and HQ 965000 are distinguished from the cutting plotters at issue in that they combine both printing and cutting functions, which clearly place them outside the scope of heading 8477. Actually, these rulings have been revoked by operation of law as of the effective date of the 2007 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. Upon publication of the 2007 HTSUS, printers are now classified under heading 8443, HTSUS.
With regard to considering the subject cutting plotters as a part or accessory of printing machinery under heading 8443, note 2(a) of Section XVI, HTSUS, directs us to classify machines that are included in any heading of chapter 84 or 85 in their respective headings. Thus, with our finding that the subject cutting plotters are included in heading 8477, the cutting plotters cannot be considered as parts of any machinery of heading 8443. We note here that your inquiry as to whether the cutting plotters might form a functional unit with printers is a tacit acknowledgment that the cutting plotters are separate machines with a function distinct from that of a printer.
With regard to considering the subject cutting plotters, when combined with the Mutoh printers as noted above, to be functional units, you cite to note 4 of Section XVI, delineated above. We have previously concluded the following with respect to machines combined with printers to form functional units:
Customs has previously determined that when items like the Scotchprint 2000 Printer, the print controller, and the workstation are imported together, they are classifiable as a functional unit in accordance with Legal Note 4 to Section XVI. See HQ 957981 and HQ 959651, both dated July 9, 1997, in which Customs determined that color digital printing systems consisting of a printing unit, digital system/work-stations and other components were classifiable as a functional unit, performing a specific function of printing machinery under heading 8443, HTSUS. If the Scotchprint 2000 Printer is imported with the print controller and workstation together, we believe that they would constitute a functional unit and be classified under heading 8443, HTSUS, as printing machinery.
CBP Ruling HQ 960081 (February 21, 2001).
Given our previous rulings concerning functional units that include printers and the similarities between the functional units of those rulings and the combination of the subject cutting plotter imported with the Mutoh printers noted above, we find that when the subject cutting plotter is in fact imported with the above-referenced printer, they together comprise a functional unit in accordance with Note 4 of Section XVI, HTSUS. The clearly defined function of the cutting plotter/printer functional unit would be to print graphics for designs, labels, decals, and similar graphics.
Therefore, based on the foregoing, we conclude that the subject cutting plotters are to be classified under heading 8477, HTSUS. Specifically the cutting plotters are classified under subheading 8477.80.00, which provides for “Machinery for working rubber or plastics or for the manufacture of products from these materials, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof: Other machinery...” The functional unit comprised of the Mutoh cutting plotter and a Mutoh printer is to be classified under heading 8443, HTSUS. Specifically, the functional unit is classified under subheading 8443.99.50, which provides for “Printing machinery used for printing by means of plates, cylinders and other printing components of heading 8442; other printers, copying machines and facsimile machines, whether or not combined; parts and accessories thereof: Other: Other...
HOLDING:
By application of GRI 1 and Note 2(a) of Section XVI, HTSUS, the subject cutting plotters are to be classified under heading 8477, HTSUS. Specifically the cutting plotters are classified under subheading 8477.80.00, which provides for “Machinery for working rubber or plastics or for the manufacture of products from these materials, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof: Other machinery...” The 2017 column one, general rate of duty for merchandise classified in this subheading is 3.1% ad valorem.
By application of GRI 1 and Note 4 of Section XVI, HTSUS, the functional unit comprised of the Mutoh cutting plotter and a Mutoh printer is to be classified under heading 8443, HTSUS. Specifically, the functional unit is classified under subheading 8443.99.50, which provides for “Printing machinery used for printing by means of plates, cylinders and other printing components of heading 8442; other printers, copying machines and facsimile machines, whether or not combined; parts and accessories thereof: Other: Other... The 2017 column one, general rate of duty for merchandise classified in this subheading is Free.
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.
Please note that this ruling letter is “issued on the assumption that all of the information furnished in connection with the ruling request and incorporated in the ruling letter, either directly, by reference, or by implication, is accurate and complete in every material respect.” 19 CFR 177.9(b)(1). The application of this ruling letter “is subject to the verification of the facts incorporated in the ruling letter, a comparison of the transaction described therein to the actual transaction, and the satisfaction of any conditions on which the ruling was based.” See id. CBP therefore reserves the right to verify all facts as noted herein. Furthermore, this ruling letter will be “applied only with respect to transactions involving articles identical to the sample submitted with the ruling request or to articles whose description is identical to the description set forth in the ruling letter.” 19 CFR 177.9(b)(2).
A copy of this ruling letter should be attached to the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is entered. If the documents have been filed without
a copy, this ruling should be brought to the attention of the CBP officer handling the transaction.
Sincerely,
Ieva K. O’Rourke, Chief
Tariff Classification and Marking Branch