CLA-2 OT:RR:CTF:TCM H276631 NCD
Leslie Fitzpatrick
Virtus Limited
Adamstown, Lucan
Co. Dublin, Ireland
RE: Revocation of NY H87018 and NY E84866; Classification of hospital bed and chair mattresses
Dear Mr. Fitzpatrick:
This is in reference to New York Ruling Letter (NY) H87018, issued to you by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) January 9, 2002. We have reviewed NY H87018, which involved classification of the Primeaire Therapy Mattress Surface under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), and determined that it is incorrect. For the reasons set forth below, we are revoking that ruling.
We have additionally reviewed NY E84866, issued to you July 27, 1999, which similarly involved classification of two hospital bed and chair mattresses under the HTSUS. As with NY H87018, we have determined that NY E84866 is incorrect and, for the reasons set forth below, are revoking it.
Pursuant to section 625(c)(1), Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. §1625(c)(1)), as amended by section 623 of Title VI, notice of the proposed action was published in the Customs Bulletin, Vol. 50, No. 34, on August 24, 2016. No comments were received in response to the notice.
FACTS:
In NY H87018, CBP described the Primeaire Therapy Mattress Surface at issue as follows:
The mattress mainly consists of a cover, zoned foam inner sections and air cushions. The foam comprises approximately 80% of the total weight of the complete mattress. The cover material is a polyurethane-coated nylon fabric with a zipper and straps attached. The straps hold the therapy mattress to the Hill-Rom bed frame. The zoned foam sections give different pressure care therapy and significantly reduce the risk of developing bedsores. The air cushions are also made from polyurethane material and are attached to the foam sections. The cushions have air supply fittings fitted to them. The mattresses and covers/foam cushions sections can only be used to make up a complete Hill-Rom hospital bed and have no other use. They are an integral part of the complete hospital bed.
In NY E84866, CBP stated as follows with respect to the subject mattresses:
The submitted literature depicts the following items to be imported:
A mattress for the Affinity Bed, a birthing bed that has been designed to meet the challenges of changing perinatal needs in the hospital.
A mattress for the TotalCare hospital bed and "chair," a system which has been designed for critical elderly patients to help them through the hospital faster with improved outcomes.
You will be manufacturing and selling the complete mattress for both beds (and parts of it) to Hill-Rom Inc.
In both NY H87018 and NY E84866, CBP classified the subject mattresses in subheading 9402.90.00, HTSUS, which provides for: “Medical, surgical, dental or veterinary furniture (for example, operating tables, examination tables, hospital beds with mechanical fittings, dentists’ chairs); barbers’ chairs and similar chairs, having rotating as well as both reclining and elevating movements; parts of the foregoing articles: Other.”
ISSUE:
Whether the subject mattresses are properly classified as medical furniture or parts thereof in heading 9402, HTSUS, or as articles of bedding in heading 9404, HTSUS.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
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. In the event that the goods cannot be classified solely on the basis of GRI 1, and if the heading and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRIs 2 through 6 may then be applied in order.
The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (“ENs”) constitute the official interpretation of the Harmonized System 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 HTSUS provisions under consideration are as follows:
9402 Medical, surgical, dental or veterinary furniture (for example, operating tables, examination tables, hospital beds with mechanical fittings, dentists' chairs); barbers' chairs and similar chairs, having rotating as well as both reclining and elevating movements; parts of the foregoing articles:
9402.90.00 Other
9404 Mattress supports; articles of bedding and similar furnishing (for example, mattresses, quilts, eiderdowns, cushions, pouffes and pillows) fitted with springs or stuffed or internally fitted with any material or of cellular rubber or plastics, whether or not covered:
Mattresses:
9404.21.00 Of cellular rubber or plastics, whether or not covered
Heading 9402, HTSUS, provides, inter alia, for medical furniture and parts thereof. Note 2 to Chapter 94 states as follows:
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 following are, however, to be classified in the above-mentioned headings even if they are designed to be hung, to be fixed to the wall or to stand one on the other:
Cupboards, bookcases, other shelved furniture (including single shelves presented with supports for fixing them to the wall) and unit furniture;
Seats and beds.
Note 3(b) to Chapter 94 states as follows:
Goods described in heading 9404, entered separately, are not to be classified in heading 9401, 9402 or 9403 as parts of goods.
With reference to Note 2 to Chapter 94, the General EN to Chapter 94 states, in pertinent part, as follows:
For the purposes of this Chapter, the term “furniture” means:
Any “movable” 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, theatres, cinemas, offices, churches, schools, cafés, restaurants, laboratories, hospitals, dentists’ surgeries, etc., or ships, aircraft, railway coaches, motor vehicles, caravan-trailers or similar means of transport. (It should be noted that, for the purposes of this Chapter, articles are considered to be “movable” furniture even if they are designed for bolting, etc., to the floor, e.g., chairs for use on ships). Similar articles (seats, chairs, etc.) for use in gardens, squares, promenades, etc., are also included in this category.
The following:
Cupboards, bookcases, other shelved furniture (including single shelves presented with supports for fixing them to the wall) and unit furniture, designed to be hung, to be fixed to the wall or to stand one on the other or side by side, for holding various objects or articles (books, crockery, kitchen utensils, glassware, linen, medicaments, toilet articles, radio or television receivers, ornaments, etc.) and separately presented elements of unit furniture.
Seats or beds designed to be hung or to be fixed to the wall.
Pursuant to Note 2 to Chapter 94, as explained by the General EN to the chapter, the tariff term “furniture” applies to the following: Movable articles that are designed for placement on the floor; shelved articles and “unit furniture” designed to be hung, fixed to a wall, or placed adjacent or sub/superjacent to each other; separately-presented “unit furniture”; and seats or beds designed to be hung or fixed to a wall. The term “unit furniture” is not defined in the HTSUS, but the courts have held that it denotes “an item (a) fitted with other pieces to form a larger system or which is itself composed of smaller complementary items, (b) designed to be hung, to be fixed to the wall, or to stand one on the other or side by side, and (c) assembled together in various ways to suit the consumer's individual needs to hold various objects or articles, but (d) excludes other wall fixtures such as coat, hat and similar racks, key racks, clothes brush hangers, and newspaper racks.” See Container Store v. United States, 800 F. Supp. 2d 1329, 1337 (Ct. Int'l Trade 2011); see also StoreWALL, LLC v. United States, 644 F.3d 1358, 1363 (Fed. Cir. 2011) (endorsing definition of “unit furniture” adopted by Court of International Trade).
Here, the subject mattresses, while movable, are designed strictly for placement atop hospital beds and chairs rather than upon the floor. Moreover, because the mattresses are not designed for hanging, fixture to walls, or placement adjacent to each other, and are not designed to hold other articles, they do not qualify as “unit furniture” within the meaning of Note 2 to Chapter 94. Nor can they be described as seats or beds designed for hanging or fixing to a wall. While they are designed for superjacent placement upon beds and chairs, which are furniture, they are not “shelved” articles. Accordingly, the mattresses do not meet any of the definitions of “furniture” set forth in Note 2 to Chapter 94, and cannot be classified as such in heading 9202, HTSUS.
As to whether the subject mattresses can be classified as parts of furniture within heading 9402, HTSUS, Note 3(b) to Chapter 94 precludes classification as such where classification in heading 9404, HTSUS, is possible. Heading 9404, HTSUS, provides, inter alia, for “articles of bedding…internally fitted with any material,” and explicitly lists mattresses as an exemplar of such articles. EN 94.04 states, in pertinent part, as follows:
This heading covers:
***
Articles of bedding and similar furnishing which are sprung or stuffed or internally fitted with any material (cotton, wool, horsehair, down, synthetic fibres, etc.), or are of cellular rubber or plastics (whether or not covered with woven fabric, plastics, etc.). For example:
Mattresses, including mattresses with a metal frame.
According to the plain language of heading 9404, HTSUS, as explained in EN 94.04, the heading applies to mattresses that are internally fitted with any material. Here, it is beyond dispute that the subject products are mattresses within the meaning of heading 9404. NY H87018 states that the Primeaire Therapy Mattress Surface consists of a fabric cover, air cushions, and foam inner sections, the last of which account for 80 percent of the total weight of the mattress. Moreover, our research indicates that both mattresses at issue in NY E84866 consist of polyurethane foam padding covered by fabric exteriors. All the subject mattresses are thus “internally fitted” for purposes of classification of heading 9404, and are consequently described by the heading. Therefore, by operation of Note 3(b) to Chapter 94, the subject mattresses are properly classified as articles of that heading rather than as parts of heading 9402, HTSUS. We note that this determination is consistent with various CBP rulings classifying mattresses and other articles of bedding in heading 9404, HTSUS, where they, like the subject merchandise, are designed for placement upon hospital beds. See NY N235215 and NY N235249, dated December 3, 2012; NY N217518, dated June 12, 2012; and NY 808052, dated March 24, 1995.
HOLDING:
By application of GRI 1, the subject mattresses are properly classified in heading 9404, HTSUS. They are specifically classified in subheading 9404.21.0095, HTSUSA (Annotated), which provides for: “Mattress supports; articles of bedding and similar furnishing (for example, mattresses, quilts, eiderdowns, cushions, pouffes and pillows) fitted with springs or stuffed or internally fitted with any material or of cellular rubber or plastics, whether or not covered: Mattresses: Of cellular rubber or plastics, whether or not covered: Other.” The 2016 column one general rate of duty is 3.0% 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 internet at www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/.
EFFECT ON OTHER RULINGS:
New York Ruling Letters H87018, dated January 9, 2002, and NY E84866, dated July 27, 1999, are hereby REVOKED in accordance with the above analysis.
In accordance with 19 U.S.C. §1625(c), this ruling will become effective 60 days after its publication in the Customs Bulletin.
Sincerely,
Myles B. Harmon, Director
Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division