OT:RR:CTF:VS: H308209 JMV
Dean Barclay
White & Case PC
701 Thirteenth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005-3807
RE: Modification of HQ H276962; classification of ductile iron bolt rings and stainless steel bolt rings
Dear Mr. Barclay:
This is in reference to Headquarters Ruling Letter (“HQ”) H276962, issued to you on behalf of your client SIGMA Corp. (“SIGMA”), on March 16, 2018, concerning the reconsideration of New York Ruling Letter (“NY”) N077237, dated September 28, 2009, which considered the classification of ductile iron bolt rings and stainless steel bolt rings. In that ruling, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) found that the subject bolt rings are properly classified in heading 7307 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”). Specifically, the ductile iron bolt rings are classified in subheading 7307.19.30, HTSUS and the stainless steel bolt rings are classified in subheading 7307.19.90, HTSUS. In making this decision, CBP cited to HQ 561710, dated July 20, 2000, which was rescinded on September 19, 2000. See 34 Cust. Bull. & Dec., No. 39, 40-41, September 27, 2000. Therefore, we hereby modify HQ H276962 to remove reference to HQ 561710. The finding of HQ H276962 that the ductile iron bolt rings are classified in subheading 7307.19.30, HTSUS and the stainless steel bolt rings are classified in subheading 7307.19.90, HTSUS is unaffected.
On November 11, 2020, CBP published its proposed modification of HQ H276962 in the Customs Bulletin, Volume 54, Number 44, pursuant to section 625(c), Tariff Act of 1930, (19 U.S.C. 1625(c)), as amended by section 623 of Title VI (Customs Modernization) of the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, Pub.L. 103-182, 107 Stat. 2057, 2186 (1993). No comments were received in response to the proposed modification of HQ H276962.
HQ H276962 was in response to your letter of June 23, 2016, submitted on behalf of SIGMA, requesting reconsideration of NY N077237, dated September 28, 2009. NY N077237 involved classification of ductile iron bolt rings and stainless steel bolt rings (collectively, “bolt rings” or “subject merchandise”) under the HTSUS. In your June 23, 2016 letter (“reconsideration request”), you contend that the classification determination set forth in NY N077237 is erroneous. We regret the delay in responding to your reconsideration request.
Upon our review of NY N077237, we have determined the ruling to be correct. We are accordingly affirming the ruling. In reaching this decision, we have considered arguments presented in the reconsideration request, in a November 14, 2016 meeting, in a supplemental submission provided at the meeting, and in other communications with our office. Our decision is also based in part upon our inspection of product samples.
The bolt rings at issue are described and depicted as follows in NY N077237:
The products you plan to import are described as cast bolt rings made of two different materials, either ductile iron or stainless steel. The bolt rings are said to be used in the waterworks, sewer, fire protection, food and dairy industries. A sample of the stainless steel bolt ring has been submitted. The circular hollow sample measures 8.75 inches in outside diameter, approximately 4.5 inches in inside diameter, and approximately 1.12 inches in depth. It has a recessed inner circular groove. The circumference of the face of the ring contains six equally spaced holes for placement of bolts.
The bolt rings are described as being used specifically on HDPE (high density poly ethylene) pipes in conjunction with HDPE flange adaptors. The flange adaptors are fused by heat to the ends of the pipe. The flange adaptors provide a tighter seal but do not make a connection between the pipes. The bolt rings slip behind each of the fused flange adaptors. The rings are bolted together and serve as a clamping device to provide a tighter seal and connect the pipes together.
The reconsideration request provides the following additional information:
The bolt rings are placed on HDPE pipes in conjunction with HDPE flange adaptors. After HDPE flanges are fused to HDPE pipe ends, the Bolt Rings are then placed behind the HDPE flanges on the outside of the HDPE pipe (not within or in alignment with the pipe bore). The Bolt Rings do not fill the tube aperture or make an end-to-end connection with the bore…
* * *
Functionally, the Bolt Rings are used as adjoining compression or clamping devices to seal the two HDPE flanges to one another. The Bolt Rings apply high compressive force from outside of the pipe so that the two HDPE flanges press together to form a seal, clamping the flanges together. The Bolt Rings thus do not “chang[e] the direction of [nor even contact] fluid flow” or themselves connect the pipe bores. Customers use the Bolt Rings primarily the waterworks, sewer, fire protection, food, and dairy industries.
In NY N077237, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) classified the subject bolt rings in heading 7307, HTSUS. Specifically, the ductile iron bolt rings were classified in subheading 7307.19.30, HTSUS, which provides for: “Tube or pipe fittings of iron or steel: Cast fittings: Other: Ductile fittings.” The stainless steel bolt rings were classified in subheading 7307.19.90, HTSUS, which provides for: “Tube or pipe fittings of iron or steel: Cast fittings: Other: Other.” In your reconsideration request, you contend that these classifications are incorrect, and that the bolt rings are properly classified in heading 7325, HTSUS, which provides for “other cast articles of iron or steel.”
As a preliminary matter, the subject bolt rings can only be classified in heading 7325, HTSUS, if they are not more specifically classifiable in heading 7307, HTSUS. See EN 73.25 (“This heading covers all cast articles of iron or steel, not elsewhere specified or included.”). Heading 7307, HTSUS, applies to pipe fittings of iron or steel. The tariff term “pipe fitting” is not defined in the HTSUS. As such, it must be construed in accordance with its common meaning, which may be ascertained by reference to “standard lexicographic and scientific authorities” and to the pertinent ENs. GRK Can., Ltd. v. United States, 761 F.3d 1354, 1357 (Fed. Cir. 2014). EN 73.07 states, in pertinent part, as follows:
This heading covers fittings of iron or steel, mainly used for connecting the bores of two tubes together, or for connecting a tube to some other apparatus, or for closing the tube aperture. This heading does not however cover articles used for installing pipes and tubes but which do not form an integral part of the bore (e.g., hangers, stays and similar supports which merely fix or support the tubes and pipes on walls, clamping or tightening bands or collars (hose clips) used for clamping flexible tubing or hose to rigid piping, taps, connecting pieces, etc.) (heading 73.25 or 73.26).
The connection is obtained:
by screwing, when using cast iron or steel threaded fittings;
or by welding, when using butt welding or socket welding steel fittings. In the case of butt welding, the ends of the fittings and of the tubes are square cut or chamfered;
or by contact, when using removable steel fittings.
This heading therefore includes flat flanges and flanges with forged collars, elbows and bends and return bends, reducers, tees, crosses, caps and plugs, lap joint stub ends, fittings for tubular railings and structural elements, off sets, multi branch pieces, couplings or sleeves, clean out traps, nipples, unions, clamps and collars.
The heading excludes:
Clamps and other devices specially designed for assembling parts of structures (heading 73.08).
Bolts, nuts, screws, etc., suitable for use in assembly of tube or pipe fittings (heading 73.18).
According to the above EN, as well as various technical references, pipe fittings generally include articles used (inter alia) to connect separate pipes to each other. See, e.g., Headquarters Ruling Letter (“HQ”) H282297, dated July 6, 2017 (referencing technical definitions cited in various court cases). Additionally, EN 73.07 specifies that “flanges” and “lap joint stub-ends” are among the qualifying connectors of the heading. See also subheading 7307.21, HTSUS, and subheading 7307.91, HTSUS (providing for “Flanges” within the subheading structure of heading 7307). With regard to the former, we note that the dimensional criteria of “pipe flanges and flanged fittings” are detailed in industry standard B16.5, promulgated jointly by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (AMSE) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI). See Am. Soc’y Mech. Eng’r, Pipe Flanges and Flanged Fittings: NPS 1/2 through NPS 24 Metric/Inch Standard (2017). AMSE/ANSI B16.5 is particularly illuminative as to the types of articles falling under the banner of “flanges” and, by extension, pipe fittings of heading 7307. Per the standard, there are six recognized types of pipe flanges in industry, all of which are disc-shaped with a center aperture and smaller apertures encircling the main aperture at even intervals. See id.; see also CCTF Corp., Forged Steel Flanges 4 (2015) [hereinafter Forged Steel Flanges], available at http://www.cctf.com/catalogues/flanges_catalog_dec_2015.pdf (summarizing types of flanges covered by AMSE/ANSI B16.5).
Two of these flange types, “lap joint” flanges and “slip-on” flanges, are situated around the outer circumference of the pipe segments to be conjoined. See Forged Steel Flanges, supra, at 3. To that extent, both seal the connection between the two pipe lengths without coming into contact with the fluid transmitted through the aperture. In particular, lap joint flanges are placed around short, lipped bores, which are in turn butt-welded to pipe ends. Id. These bores are referred to as “stub ends,” which, again, are specifically identified in EN 73.07 as pipe fittings of heading 7307, HTSUS. Id. When two counter-facing flange/stub end combinations are conjoined, and the stub ends are aligned to form the inner aperture through which fluid flows, the flanges are then bolted together to seal the connection between the pipe lengths. See id.; see also W.M. Huitt, Eng’g Practice: Piping Design, Part 2 – Flanges 57 (2007), available at http://www.wmhuittco.com/images/Article_2_Piping_Design_Part_2_Flanges.pdf. Given the myriad indicia in EN 73.07, the subheading breakouts under heading 7307, and AMSE/ANSI B16.5, it is our position that products used in this manner, and which meet the above-stated physical description of flanges, are pipe fittings of heading 7307. See HQ 559871, dated February 18, 1997 (accepting claimed classification of slip-on and lap joint flanges in heading 7307, HTSUS, for purposes of determining the flanges’ country of origin).
Here, the bolt rings at issue are disc-shaped articles with a center aperture and smaller encircling apertures set at uniform intervals along the article’s rim. As such, they take the form of industry-recognized flanges as detailed in AMSE/ANSI B16.5. Product descriptions in both NY N077237 and your reconsideration request indicate that the bolt rings are designed to slip onto the outer circumference of lipped apertures of HDPE referred to as “flange adapters,” and that once so placed, they are bolted to counter-facing flanges on adjacent pipe segments. In other words, they are identical in form and function to the lap joint flanges described above. In fact, according to product literature included with your reconsideration request, as well as an inscription found in the inner recesses of the samples, the bolt rings even adhere to the dimensional standards set forth in the above-referenced AMSE/ANSI B16.5. Moreover, our research indicates that in HDPE pipe end assemblies of the specific type in which the instant bolt rings are used, these rings are actually referred to as lap joint flanges and the HDPE flange adapters as stub ends. See Plastic Pipe Inst., Bolt Torque for Polyethylene Flanged Joints 5 (2011), available at https://plasticpipe.org/pdf/tn-38_bolt_torque_?flanged_?joints.pdf. In all but product name, therefore, the instant bolt rings are flanges of heading 7307, HTSUS.
In your reconsideration request, you present several arguments opposing this classification. You contend that it is the heat-sealing of the HDPE adapters, rather than the bolting of the rings, which forms the sole “end-to-end connection with the bore”; that the bolt rings instead function merely as “clamps” or “restraining devices” excluded from heading 7307; that the bolt rings do not form an “integral part of the bore,” as is purportedly required by EN 73.07, or comply with the connection methods listed in the EN; that the bolt rings could not be considered “complete” fittings because they cannot perform their intended function absent the HDPE adapters, which are not included at entry; that the classification of the bolt rings in heading 7307 conflicts with prior CBP rulings pertaining to similar merchandise; and that this classification also conflicts with a ruling, issued September 20, 2016 by Department of Commerce, that the subject bolt rings fall outside the scope of an antidumping duty order on certain pipe fittings (“Commerce scope ruling”).
We disagree with these arguments. As stated above, the bolt rings are physically and functionally identical to lap joint flanges, which are pipe fittings of heading 7307. It is immaterial that the particular stub ends with which the bolt rings are used happen to be heat-sealed prior to the bolting of the rings. It is also of no consequence whether the bolt rings can additionally be characterized as “clamps” (which, per EN 73.07, are included in the heading regardless). The fact remains that the bolt rings are, in form and function alike, flanges classifiable in heading 7307. If the pipe-to-pipe connections formed by the bolting of flanges generally, and lap joint flanges in particular, are sufficient for purposes of the heading, then this is also the case for bolt rings used in exactly the same manner. To this extent, the characterization of bolt rings in NY N077237 as articles which “provide a tighter seal but do not make a connection between the pipes” is incorrect.*
Moreover, there is nothing to suggest that the bolt rings must form part of the bore to warrant treatment as a pipe fitting of heading 7307, HTSUS. Contrary to your contention, EN 73.07 does not establish integration into the bore as a universal criterion for pipe fittings; rather, it merely states that certain articles which both are used to install pipes and tubes and are not an integral part of the bore are excluded from the heading. As stated above, at least two of the flange types recognized in industry as “pipe flanges” are placed along the outer circumference of the aperture, to the effect that they do not form part of the bore or come into contact with the fluid flowing through the bore. See also HQ 965939, dated July 16, 2003 (classifying pipe fitting nuts in heading 7307 where they had previously been described, in HQ 965584, dated September 24, 2002, as “never touch[ing] the substance that passes through the pipes”).
For similar reasons, we are not convinced that the bolt rings fall outside the scope of heading 7307, HTSUS, simply because they are used in combination with HDPE adapters to form a connection between separate pipes. Again, as articles specifically identified as products of heading 7307, HTSUS, the bolt rings are in and of themselves constitutive of “complete” pipe fittings. Hence, the statement in NY N270588, dated November 24, 2015, that “classification as tube or pipe fittings requires that the complete fitting be imported,” is inapplicable here. Moreover, upon review of NY N270588, find that the ruling is incorrect and accordingly intend to revoke it.
Lastly, our determination is not precluded by the Commerce scope ruling or any of the prior CBP rulings cited in your reconsideration request. As to the former, it is well-established that scope rulings issued by the Department of Commerce are not binding on CBP for purposes of classification under the HTSUS. See HQ 966728, dated June 29, 2004 (citing court precedent in stating that “CBP has been designated to administer the HTSUS” and that “the classification of imported merchandise is a matter properly determined by this agency”). As to the latter, the CBP rulings cited in your request all involve distinguishable merchandise or are otherwise inapplicable. The sleeves and “end rings” at issue in NY K86336, dated June 14, 2004, and NY N097562, dated April 1, 2010, are designed for use internally within larger coupling assemblies which in turn function as joints for pipe ends. Unlike the bolt rings, neither is used to directly bolt separate pipe ends together. Moreover, HQ 967490, supra, involved small ferrules that do not remotely resemble the bolt rings in form or function. Lastly, irrespective of whether the glands in NY N118077, dated August 18, 2010, are comparable to the bolt rings, the glands’ classification was not at issue in that case; nor was it material to the determination of the glands’ country of origin, which was at issue there. As such, CBP’s passing mention that the glands are products of heading 7325 is not actually dispositive as to their classification.
Accordingly, we remain of the position that the bolt rings are classified as “pipe fittings” in heading 7307, HTSUS, and for all the aforementioned reasons, we hereby affirm NY N077237. As determined in that ruling, the ductile iron bolt rings are specifically classified in subheading 7307.19.3085, HTSUSA (Annotated), which provides for: “Tube or pipe fittings of iron or steel: Cast fittings: Other: Ductile fittings: Other.” The stainless steel bolt rings are specifically classified in subheading 7307.19.9080, HTSUSA, which provides for: “Tube or pipe fittings of iron or steel: Cast fittings: Other: Other: Other: Other: Other.” HQ H303868 is hereby MODIFIED 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,
Craig T. Clark, Director
Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division