OT: RR: CTF: EMAIN: H296917 PF
Jennie Baldwin
Michelin North America
One Parkway South 29615
P.O. Box 19001
Greenville, SC 29602
Re: Request for Reconsideration of NY N284492; Classification of Michelin Tweels for Skid Steer Loaders; Revocation of HQ 088585 and HQ 955547 by operation of law
Dear Ms. Baldwin:
This is in response to your letter, dated March 15, 2018, in which you request reconsideration of New York Ruling Letter (“NY”) N284492. NY N284492, issued to you on April 7, 2017 by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”), involves classification of certain Michelin Tweels under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”). In NY N284492, we classified four types of Michelin Tweels, but your request for reconsideration only challenges the classification of “Michelin X Tweel SSL Hard Surface & Hard Surface Traction for Skid Steer Loaders” and “Michelin X Tweel SSL All Terrain for Skid Steer Loaders” (“Michelin Tweels for Skid Steer Loaders”). As a result, our review of NY N284492 is limited to evaluating the classification of these two types of products. We have determined that NY N284492 is correct, and, for the reasons set forth below, are affirming that ruling.
NY 284492 provided the following description of the Michelin Tweels for Skid Steer Loaders:
Michelin X Tweel SSL Hard Surface & Hard Surface Traction for Skid Steer Loaders (CAI# 040921 and CAI# 619642), are designed to help provide maximum tread life on pavement. Maximum load @ 15km/h is 4,400 lbs.
Michelin X Tweel SSL All Terrain for Skid Steer Loaders (CAI# 357108 and CAI# 297671), The all terrain model is ideal for use on a wide range of surfaces. Maximum load @ 15km/h is 3,700-4,400 lbs.
The product literature for the Michelin Tweels for Skid Steer Loaders describes them as “designed for use on skid steer loaders.” The product literature notes that the “All Terrain model is ideal for use on a wide range of surfaces while the Hard Surface Traction models help provide maximum tread life on pavement.”
A skid steer loader is a small compact machine with lift arms. It is designed to work in compact areas. A wide variety of tools can be attached to these arms such as angle brooms, augers, backhoes, bucks and pallet forks. Depending on the attachment used, a skid steer loader can be used in pushing material from one location to another, carrying material in a bucket, or loading material into a truck or trailer.
The HTSUS provisions under consideration in this reconsideration are as follows:
8427 Fork-lift trucks; other works trucks fitted with lifting or handling equipment
8429 Self-propelled bulldozers, angledozers, graders, levelers, scrapers, mechanical shovels, excavators, shovel loaders, tamping machines and road rollers
8431 Parts suitable for use solely or principally with the machinery of headings 8425 to 8430
The Explanatory Notes (EN) 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).
EN 84.27 states in pertinent part:
[T]his heading covers works trucks fitted with lifting or handling equipment.
Works trucks of this description include, for example:
FORK LIFT AND OTHER ELEVATING OR STACKING TRUCKS
* * *
The lifting device of the above trucks is normally powered by the motive power unit of the vehicle, and is usually designed to be fitted with various special attachments (forks, jibs, buckets, grabs, etc.) according to the type of load to be handled.
* * *
(B) OTHER WORKS TRUCKS FITTED WITH LIFTING OR HANDLING EQUIPMENT
This group includes:
* * *
(2) Other trucks fitted with lifting or handling equipment including those specialised for use in particular industries (e.g., in the textile or ceramic industries, in dairies, etc.).
PARTS
Subject to the general provisions regarding the classification of parts (see the General Explanatory Note to Section XVI), parts of the trucks of this heading are classified in heading 84.31.
EN 84.29 provides in relevant part:
The heading covers a number of earth digging, excavating or compacting machines which are explicitly cited in the heading and which have in common the fact that they are all self propelled.
In NY N284492, CBP classified the Michelin Tweels for Skid Steer Loaders in subheading 8431.20.00, HTSUS, which provides for “Parts suitable for use solely or principally with the machinery of headings 8425 to 8430: Of machinery of heading 8427.” There is no dispute that the Michelin Tweels for Skid Steer Loaders are “parts” of a skid steer loader. However, you maintain that a skid steer loader should be classified in heading 8429, HTSUS, which provides for “Self-propelled bulldozers, angledozers, graders, levelers, scrapers, mechanical shovels, excavators, shovel loaders, tamping machines and road rollers” instead of heading 8427, HTSUS, which provides for “Fork-lift trucks; other work trucks fitted with lifting and handling equipment.”
A skid steer loader is properly classified in heading 8427, HTSUS, because it is a work truck fitted with lifting or handling equipment. A skid steer loader has lift arms and a wide variety of tools can be added to these arms, including pallet forks, augers, buckets, and backhoes which are used for lifting, pushing, and pulling. EN 84.27, HTSUS, also supports the classification of a skid steer loader in heading 8427, HTSUS, because it is a work truck “designed to be fitted with various special attachments (forks, jibs, buckets, grabs, etc.) according to the type of load to be handled.” See EN 84.27(A)(1).
The Court of International Trade (“CIT”) addressed the classification of skid steer loaders in Thomas Equipment Limited v. United States and determined that skid steer loaders were work trucks with lifting and handling equipment of heading 8427, HTSUS. See 881 F. Supp. 611, Slip Op. 95-29 (Ct. Int’l Trade 1995). The CIT rejected the classification of skid steer loaders in heading 8429, HTSUS, and noted that heading 8429, HTSUS, covered more specialized kinds of machines that manipulated the earth. In reaching its determination, the CIT compared the language of the Tariff Schedules of the United States with the HTSUS, the Explanatory Notes for headings 8427 and 8429, HTSUS, and an U.S. International Trade Conversion Report. The CIT determined that skid steer loaders remained classified in heading 8427, HTSUS, based on a finding of a uniform and established classification practice. As a result, all prior rulings classifying skid steer loaders in heading 8429, HTSUS, were revoked by operation of law.
CBP has also classified similar articles in NY J81427, dated March 7, 2003. In J81427, an all surface loader that was designed for working in compact areas and used attachments such as buckets, pallet forks, power augers, snow blowers, among other attachments, was classified in heading 8427, HTSUS. CBP determined that the all surface loader was substantially similar to a skid steer loader and that both remained classified in heading 8427, HTSUS.
Lastly, we recognize that in Headquarters Ruling (“HQ”) 088585, dated May 2, 1991 and HQ 955547, dated March 24, 1994, CBP classified similar articles in subheading 8429, HTSUS. However, those rulings were issued prior to the Thomas Equipment decision and, to the extent they are inconsistent with the Thomas Equipment decision, are revoked by operation of law. Consequently, HQ 088585 and HQ 955547 do not preclude classification of a skid steer loader in heading 8427, HTSUS and as “parts” of a skid steer loader in subheading 8431.20.00, HTSUS.
For all the aforementioned reasons, we hereby affirm NY N284492. Accordingly, the subject Michelin Tweels for Skid Steer Loaders remain classified in heading 8431, HTSUS, specifically in subheading 8431.20.00, HTSUS, as “Parts suitable for use solely or principally with the machinery of headings 8425 to 8430: Of machinery of heading 8427.”
Sincerely,
Myles B. Harmon, Director
Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division