OT:RR:CTF:EMAIN H311099 MD
Robert A. Shapiro
Thompson Coburn, LLP
1909 K Street Northwest, Suite 600
Washington, District of Columbia 20006
RE: Request to reconsider NY N294204; Tariff Classification of a Haptic Motor
Dear Mr. Shapiro:
This is in response to your request, dated May 1, 2020, for reconsideration of New York Ruling Letter (“NY”) N294204, issued to your client, Nidec Automotive Motor North Americas, LLC, on March 8, 2018. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) classified the haptic motor at issue in NY N294204 under subheading 8501.10.40, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”), which provides for “Electric motors and generators (excluding generator sets): Motors of an output not exceeding 37.5 W: Of under 18.65 W: Other: DC.”
FACTS:
NY N294204 described the subject merchandise as:
[A] 20mm DC motor, a counterweight, and a plastic enclosure. The subject motor is intended to be mounted to a vehicle seat to provide a vibrating warning signal to the driver during certain safety conditions. The motors are controlled by receiving a signal from the vehicle’s Memory Seat Module with the engine control unit.
In your request for reconsideration, you further describe the instant haptic motor as:
[A] plastic housing containing a small brush DC rotary motor with a power output of 3.6 watts. An eccentric disk, fitted to the protruding end of the motor shaft, generates radial vibrations which are transmitted to the seat in which the Haptic Motor is housed. The motor and eccentric disk are contained within the plastic housing such that the Haptic Motor appears as a solid plastic block. A connector unit terminated with a Yazaki YES Connector, as is required for its automotive application, extends from the housing. An edge clip is attached to the connector unit to assist in the mounting of the Haptic Motor to the driver’s seat.
In your request for reconsideration, you claim that the haptic motor should be classified in heading 8512, HTSUS, which provides for “Electrical lighting or signaling equipment (excluding articles of heading 8539), windshield wipers, defrosters and demisters, of a kind used for cycles or motor vehicles; parts thereof.” Alternatively, you suggest that the haptic motors could be classified in heading 8479, HTSUS, which provides for “Machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof.”
ISSUE:
Whether the instant haptic motor is properly classified under heading 8501, HTSUS, as an electric motor, or under heading 8512, HTSUS, as a part of electrical lighting or signaling apparatus of a kind used for motor vehicles.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Classification under the HTSUS is determined in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (“GRIs”) and, in the absence of special language or context which otherwise requires, by the Additional U.S. Rules of Interpretation (“ARIs”). 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 even 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:
8479 Machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof:
Other machines and mechanical appliances:
8479.89 Other:
8479.89.94 Other.
* * *
8501 Electric motors and generators (excluding generating sets):
8501.10 Motors of an output not exceeding 37.5 W:
Of under 18.65W:
8501.10.40 Other:
DC.
* * *
8512 Electrical lighting or signaling equipment (excluding articles of heading 8539), windshield wipers, defrosters and demisters, of a kind used for cycles or motor vehicles; parts thereof:
8512.90 Parts:
8512.90.20 Of signaling equipment.
Note 2 to Section XVI, HTSUS, provides in relevant part:
Subject to Note 1 to this Section, Note 1 to Chapter 84 and Note 1 to Chapter 85, parts of machines (not being parts of the articles of heading 84.84, 85.44, 85.45, 85.46 or 85.47) are to be classified according to the following rules:
Parts which are goods included in any of the headings of Chapter 84 or 85 (other than headings 84.09, 84.31, 84.48, 84.66, 84.73, 84.87, 85.03, 85.22, 85.29, 85.38 and 85.48) are in all cases to be classified in their respective headings;
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 84.79 or 85.43) are to be classified with the machines of that kind or in heading 84.09, 84.31, 84.48, 84.66, 84.73, 85.03, 85.22, 85.29 or 85.38 as appropriate. However, parts which are equally suitable for use principally with the goods of headings 85.17 and 85.25 to 85.28 are to be classified in heading 85.17….
Per Note 2 to Section XVI, supra, the threshold question before us is whether or not the subject merchandise is prima facie classifiable under heading 8501, HTSUS, as an electric motor. If so, then we need not address whether or not it falls under the scope of either heading 8479, HTSUS, or heading 8512, HTSUS.
The 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 ENs to heading 8479, HTSUS, state in pertinent part:
This heading is restricted to machinery having individual functions which:
Is not excluded from this Chapter by the operation of any Section or Chapter Note; and
Is not covered more specifically by a heading in any other Chapter of the Nomenclature; and
Cannot be classified in any other particular heading of this Chapter since:
No other heading covers it by reference to its method of functioning, description or type; and
No other heading covers it by reference to its use or industry in which it is employed; or
It could fall equally well into two (or more) other such headings (general purpose machine).
In relevant part, the ENs to heading 8501, HTSUS, state:
Electric motors are machines for transforming electrical energy into mechanical power. This power includes rotary motors and linear motors.
Rotary motors produce mechanical power in the form of a rotary motion. They are of many types and sizes according to whether they operate on DC or AC, and according to the use or purpose for which they are designed. The motor housing may be adapted to the circumstances in which the motor will operate (e.g. dust proof, drip proof or flame proof motors; non-rigid mountings for belt-driven motors, or for motors which will be subject to much vibration).
[…]
With the exception of starter motors for internal combustion engines (heading 85.11), the heading covers electric motors of all types from low power motors for use in instruments, clocks, time switches, sewing machines, toys, etc., up to large powerful motors for rolling mills, etc.
The pertinent ENs to heading 8512, HTSUS, state:
This heading covers electrical apparatus and appliances specialized for use on cycles or motor vehicles for lighting or signaling purposes.
[…]
Subject to the general provisions regarding the classification of parts (see the General Explanatory Note to Section XVI), parts of the goods of this heading are also classified here.
You contend that heading 8501, HTSUS, requires that the electric motor in question “convert electricity into a motive force.” You put forth that “[m]otors are commonly defined as: any of various power units that develop energy or impart motion[,] such as (c) a rotating machine that transforms electrical energy into mechanical energy.” Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Motor, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/motor. Additionally, you posit that the Court of International Trade (“CIT”) has recognized that “the ability to create motive force is central to the definition of a motor.” Specifically, you rely on Nidec Corp. v. United States (Nidec), where the court summarized that “the spindle [at issue] can be equated with a pulley, gear, or flexible shaft in that it transmits the mechanical energy created by the rotor and the stator to the merchandise’s intended load – the discs.” 18 Ct. Int’l Trade 821, 829 (U.S. 1994), aff’d 68 F.3d 1333, 1337 (Fed. Cir. 1995). In applying the above principles to the instant matter, you state that the eccentric disk counterweight, which is moved by the small brush DC rotary motor and its attached shaft, does not “assist the motor in creating a motive force.” As a result, you conclude that the haptic motor is precluded from classification within heading 8501, HTSUS. Instead, you contend that the haptic motor is properly classified under heading 8512, HTSUS. We disagree.
You describe the subject haptic motor in your reconsideration request as “a plastic housing containing a small brush DC rotary motor with a power output of 3.6 watts. An eccentric disk, fitted to the protruding end of the motor shaft, generates radial vibrations which are transmitted to the seat in which the Haptic Motor is housed.” Simply put, the haptic motor operates when electricity powers the small brush DC rotary motor, which drives its motor shaft and spins the fitted eccentric disk. The rotation of this eccentric disk counterweight “mak[es] the Haptic Motor vibrate” and “create[s] tactile sensations.”
CBP has classified a number of different products destined for use in automobiles under heading 8501, HTSUS, in a long line of Headquarters (“HQ”) Ruling Letters. See generally HQ H278989, dated April 10, 2020; HQ H251140, dated May 12, 2017; HQ 967236, dated October 15, 2004; HQ 964843, dated January 30, 2002; and HQ 962502, dated August 12, 1999. For instance, in HQ H278989 and HQ 964843, CBP classified drive wiper assemblies consisting of electric motors, mounting brackets/supports, and wiper linkage mechanisms under heading 8501, HTSUS. Similarly, in HQ 967236 and HQ 962502, electric motors used to operate mirror positioning systems were also classified in heading 8501, HTSUS. Lastly, in HQ H251140, CBP classified a stepper motor used to operate a speedometer within heading 8501, HTSUS. While the aforementioned subject merchandise varied in purpose, they share a crucial commonality – all consist of electric motors which power a device through motion, including a motor shaft, which ultimately results in the mechanical power allowing for the operation of the device on the automobile.
In Nidec, the CIT discussed the classification of a disc drive precision spindle, which it ultimately classified within heading 8501, HTSUS. The court stated that “the spindle can be equated with a pulley, gear, or flexible shaft in that it transmits mechanical energy created by the rotor and the stator to the merchandise’s intended load – the discs.” Here, the haptic motor transmits mechanical energy from its electric motor to its intended load – the eccentric disc counterweight. While this intended load here is self-contained, rather than external, the transmission of mechanical energy to the eccentric disc counterweight is crucial to the device’s ultimate purpose. Whereas in Nidec, the purpose of the transmission of mechanical energy was to spin the compact disc in such a way as to function in computing, here, the purpose of the transmission of mechanical energy is to spin the eccentric disc counterweight which in turn creates vibration. The result of the subject merchandise’s operation is indeed “mechanical energy” per the above-cited dictionary definition and “motive force” under Nidec.
Likewise, the EN to heading 8501, HTSUS, states that “[e]lectric motors are machines for transforming electrical energy into mechanical power.” This power “includes rotary motors,” which are in turn defined as “produc[ing] mechanical power in the form of a rotary motion.” These rotary motors may also “operate on DC or AC, and according to the use or purpose for which they are designed,” including instances where [t]he motor housing may be adapted to the circumstances in which the motor will operate.”
Here, the haptic motor consists of a small brush DC rotary motor with a power output of 3.6 watts. This power output drives its motor shaft in a rotary motion. In turn, the fitted eccentric disk counterweight moves in an identical rotary motion. In sum, the haptic motor at-issue transforms input electrical energy into the rotation of the eccentric disk counterweight. As a motor which transforms electric energy into mechanical power, the haptic motor precisely meets the definition of an “[e]lectric motor” within the ENs to heading 8501, HTSUS, ultimately supporting classification therein.
Based on the forgoing, we find that the haptic motor is properly classified under heading 8501, HTSUS, as “Electric motors and generators (excluding generating sets)” per Note 2(a) to Section XVI. Classification of the haptic motor therein obviates the need to examine whether the merchandise is classifiable under heading 8512, HTSUS, per Note 2(b) to Section XVI. Furthermore, as the haptic motor is properly classified by a heading 8501, HTSUS, classification within proposed heading 8479, HTSUS is also precluded.
HOLDING:
By application of GRIs 1 (Note 2(a) to Section XVI) and 6, HTSUS, the subject haptic motor is properly classified under heading 8501, HTSUS, and specifically under subheading 8501.10.40, HTSUS, which provides for “Electric motors and generators (excluding generator sets): Motors of an output not exceeding 37.5 W: Of under 18.65 W: Other: DC.” The general, column one, rate of duty was 4.4 percent ad valorem.
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 at www.usitc.gov/tata/hts.
EFFECT ON OTHER RULINGS:
NY N294204, dated March 8, 2018, is hereby AFFRIMED.
Sincerely,
Craig T. Clark, Director
Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division