OT:RR:CTF:CPMMA H332598 NAH
TARIFF NO: 7318.15.5056
Ms. Angie Courteau
La-Z-Boy Casegoods, Inc.
240 Pleasant Hill Rd.
Hudson, NC 28638
RE: Modification of NY N331989; tariff classification of steel assembly hardware sets from Vietnam
Dear Ms. Courteau:
This letter is in reference to New York Ruling Letter (NY) N331989, issued to you on April 26, 2023, concerning the tariff classification of steel assembly hardware sets from Vietnam. In a letter dated May 24, 2023, you requested partial reconsideration of NY N331989. In NY N331989, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) classified five different steel assembly hardware sets, identified respectively as item RP76-065-007, RP090-1140-007, RP95-300-001, RP860-744-001, and RP863-910-005, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Items RP76-065-007 and RP090-1140-007 were classified under subheading 7318.15.8045, HTSUSA (Annotated), which provides for “Screws, bolts, nuts, coach screws, screw hooks, rivets, cotters, cotter pins, washers (including spring washers) and similar articles, of iron or steel: Threaded articles: Other screws and bolts, whether or not with their nuts or washers: Other: Having shanks or threads with a diameter of 6 mm or more: Other: Socket screws: Other.” Items RP95-300-001, RP860-744-001, and RP863-910-005 were classified under subheading 7318.16.0085, HTSUSA, as “Screws, bolts, nuts, coach screws, screw hooks, rivets, cotters, cotter pins, washers (including spring washers) and similar articles, of iron or steel: Threaded articles: Nuts, Other: Other.” We have reviewed NY N331989 and determined that the ruling is partially in error with respect to the tariff classification of items RP95-300-001 and RP860-744-001. Accordingly, for the reasons set forth below, CBP is modifying NY N331989.
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 proposing to modify NY N331989 was published on September 11, 2024, in Volume 58, Number 36, of the Customs Bulletin. No comments were received in response to that notice.
FACTS:
Items RP95-300-001 and RP860-744-001 were described in NY N331989 as follows:
The third set under consideration is identified as item RP95-300-001. It includes eight 5/16” x 88 mm threaded rods with slotted heads, eight 5/16” curved slotted washers, and one 12 mm combination open-end and box wrench. After examination of the photographs of the eight 5/16” curved slotted washers, it is determined that they are a type of wedge nut. Each has a freely rotating nut attached to a flat piece of metal angled at both ends which allows it to anchor in place. You state this hardware set is used for assembling the side rails to the headboard and footboard of a sleigh bed item number 95-150.
The fourth set under consideration is identified as item RP860-744-001. It includes twelve 5/16” flat washers, twelve 5/16” lock washers, twelve 5/16” x 38 mm bolts which have socket heads, one 4 mm Allen wrench, four 5/16” x 88 mm threaded rods which have slotted heads, four 5/16” curved slotted washers, and one 12 mm combination open-end and box wrench. After examination of the photographs of the four 5/16” curved slotted washers, it is determined that they are a type of wedge nut. Each has a freely rotating nut attached to a flat piece of metal angled at both ends which allows it to anchor in place. You state this hardware set is used for assembling finished trestle tables, item numbers 860-744 and 860-745.
ISSUE:
Whether the specific steel assembly hardware sets from Vietnam, designated as items RP95-300-001 and RP860-744-001, are classified under subheading 7318.15.5056, HTSUSA, which provides for, “Screws, bolts, nuts, coach screws, screw hooks, rivets, cotters, cotter pins, washers (including spring washers) and similar articles, of iron or steel: Threaded articles: Other screws and bolts, whether or not with their nuts or washers: Studs; Other: Continuously threaded rod: Other,” or under subheading 7318.16.0085, HTSUSA, as “Screws, bolts, nuts, coach screws, screw hooks, rivets, cotters, cotter pins, washers (including spring washers) and similar articles, of iron or steel: Threaded articles: Nuts: Other: Other.”
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Classification of goods under the HTSUS is governed by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI). GRI 1 provides that classification shall be determined according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative section or chapter notes. In the event the goods cannot be classified solely based on GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRIs 2 through 6 may then be applied in order.
GRI 3 provides, in pertinent part, that when goods are prima facie classifiable under two or more headings, classification shall be effected by the following:
(a) [t]he heading which provides the most specific heading shall be preferred to headings providing a more general description. However, … when two or more headings each refer to part only of the items in a set, those headings are to be regarded as equally specific, even if one of them gives a more complete or precise description of the goods. (b) … goods put up in sets for retail sale, which cannot be classified by reference to 3(a), shall be classified as if they consisted of the material or component which gives them their essential character … (c) [w]hen goods cannot be classified by reference to 3(a) or 3(b), they shall be classified under the heading which occurs last in numerical order among those which equally merit consideration.
GRI 6 provides that for legal purposes, classification of goods in the subheadings of a heading shall be determined according to the terms of those subheadings and any related subheading notes and, mutatis mutandis, to the above rules, on the understanding that only subheadings at the same level are comparable.
* * * * * *
The 2024 HTSUS subheadings under consideration are the following:
7318 Screws, bolts, nuts, coach screws, screw hooks, rivets, cotters, cotter pins, washers (including spring washers) and similar articles, of iron or steel:
Threaded articles:
7318.15 Other screws and bolts, whether or not with their nuts or washers:
7318.15.50 Studs:
Other:
Continuously threaded rod:
7318.15.5056 Other.
* * *
7318 Screws, bolts, nuts, coach screws, screw hooks, rivets, cotters, cotter pins, washers (including spring washers) and similar articles, of iron or steel:
Threaded articles:
7318.16.00 Nuts:
Other:
7318.16.0085 Other.
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).
EN VII to GRI 3(b) states that:
The factor which determines essential character will vary as between different kinds of goods. It may, for example, be determined by the nature of the material or component, its bulk, quantity, weight or value, or by the role of a constituent material in relation to the use of the goods.
EN 73.18 states, in pertinent part, as follows:
Bolts and nuts (including bolt ends), screw studs and other screws for metal, whether or not threaded or tapped, screws for wood and coach?screws are threaded (in the finished state) and are used to assemble or fasten goods so that they can readily be disassembled without damage.
Bolts and screws for metal are cylindrical in shape, with a close and only slightly inclined thread; they are rarely pointed, and may have slotted heads or heads adapted for tightening with a spanner or they may be recessed. A bolt is designed to engage in a nut, whereas screws for metal are more usually screwed into a hole tapped in the material to be fastened and are therefore generally threaded throughout their length whereas bolts usually have a part of the shank unthreaded.
The heading includes all types of fastening bolts and metal screws regardless of shape and use, including U-bolts, bolt ends (i.e., cylindrical rods threaded at one end), screw studs (i.e., short rods threaded at both ends), and screw studding (i.e., rods threaded throughout).
Nuts are metal pieces designed to hold the corresponding bolts in place. They are usually tapped throughout but are sometimes blind. The heading includes wing nuts, butterfly nuts, etc. Lock nuts (usually thinner and castellated) are sometimes used with bolts.
***
Washers are usually small, thin discs with a hole in the centre; they are placed between the nut and one of the parts to be fixed to protect the latter. They may be plain, cut, split (e.g., Grower’s spring washers), curved, cone shaped, etc.
* * * * *
As a preliminary matter, there is no dispute concerning the appropriate classification of items RP95-300-001 and RP860-744-001 under heading 7318, HTSUS. As such GRI 6 directs the GRI analysis be repeated in each subsequent subheading.
In NY N331989, CBP determined items RP95-300-001 and RP860-744-001 were sets for the purposes of tariff classification and required a GRI 3(b) analysis to properly determine the appropriate subheading classifications. In NY N331989, in both sets, the “5/16” curved slotted washers were determined to provide the essential function and impart the essential character to items RP95-300-001 and RP860-744-001 because the curved slotted washers predominated by value. Furthermore, the curved slotted washers were determined to encompass the essential function and character of a “nut,” and therefore, pursuant to GRI 3(b) and EN VII to GRI 3(b), items RP95-300-001 and RP860-744-001 were classified in subheading 7318.16, HTSUS, as “Screws, bolts, nuts, coach screws, screw hooks, rivets, cotters, cotter pins, washers (including spring washers) and similar articles, of iron or steel: Threaded articles: Nuts.” In your May 24, 2023, reconsideration request, you note that the number of threaded rods is equal to the number of curved slotted washers in items RP95-300-001 and RP860-744-001. You argue that the curved slotted washers cannot be viewed separately from the threaded rods present when determining which component imparts the essential character of items RP95-300-001 and RP860-744-001. CBP partially agrees. The correct classification of items RP95-300-001 and RP860-744-001 is determined by GRI 3(b) and GRI 3(c).
In Structural Industries, Inc. v. United States, 360 F. Supp. 2d 1330, 1336 (Ct. Int’l Trade, 2005), the Court of International Trade (CIT) noted that the essential character of an article is “that which is indispensable to the structure, core or condition of the article, i.e., what it is.” The CIT further explained that the essential character of an item is imparted by the item or component which is indispensable to carrying out the item’s primary objective. Id at 1338. Similarly, the decision in Better Home Plastics Corp. v. United States, 20 CIT 221; 916 F. Supp. 1265 (Ct. Int’l Trade, 1996), found that the essential character is not necessarily the component which creates the item’s “retail lure.” In Better Home, a textile shower curtain which provided the desirable decorative characteristics and thus created the retail lure for the shower curtain set was not the item which imparted the essential character. Id. at 1267-1269. Instead, the CIT determined that it was the inner plastic liner which imparted the essential character. The CIT reasoned that it was the inner plastic liner that was indispensable to prevent water from escaping from the shower. Id. at 1269.
CBP continues to find the steel assembly hardware sets from Vietnam, designated as items RP95-300-001 and RP860-744-001, are composed of unique items, such as screws, washers, curved slotted washers, box wrenches, etc., packaged together to assemble a specific and separate product - but the sets are not designed for general use in other products or, even other substantially similar products. Both sets contain the curved slotted washers, threaded rods, and a wrench.
Washers are defined in the EN 73.18 (E) as “small, thin discs with a hole in the center; they are placed between the nut and one of the parts to be fixed to protect that latter.” Nuts are defined in the EN 73.18 (A) as “metal pieces designed to hold the corresponding bolts in place. They are usually tapped throughout but are sometimes blind.” Here the curved slotted washers are placed in a specifically shaped hole in the relevant furniture where it is held in place so that the steel threaded rod, contained in the set, can be fastened into the nut component. The wrench is used to tighten the curved slotted washer to the threaded rod. As such, CBP continues to find that the curved slotted washers function as nuts even though the item contains features not generally found on traditional nuts. See HQ H195840, dated August 18, 2015 (affirming the subheading 7318.16, HTSUS, as an eo nomine provision per the guidance of Carl Zeiss, Inc. v. United States, 195 F.3d 1375, 1379 (Fed. Cir. 1999) and affirming the definition of ‘nut’ as “a type of fastener which is internally threaded and often but not always used opposite a mating bolt which fastens the materials together”).
The definition of fasteners and the myriad forms included in that definition are described in EN 73.18. Here the threaded rods appearing in items RP95-300-001 and RP860-744-001 are threaded across their entire length and intended to have one end anchored or fixed in place, within a component of furniture, to provide a projection to which another component of furniture may be attached and secured by the curved slotted washer/nut. Additionally, the “bolts” also appearing in item RP860-744-001 are fasteners because the “bolts” secure a component of furniture to another component of furniture via preformed holes.
The overarching purpose of items RP95-300-001 and RP860-744-001 is to fasten components of furniture together. As such, the fasteners (the threaded rods and “bolts”) impart the essential character to both sets because the fasteners are indispensable to carrying out the items’ primary objective. The furniture components may contain slots specifically designed to accommodate the unique shape of the curved slotted washers but the curved slotted washer is not designed to be used in any other way but to ensure specific objects are fastened by the accompanying threaded rods. On the other hand, the threaded rods can still fasten the furniture components together without the curved slotted washers securing them in place. The fastening role of the item sets is even more apparent when considering the components designed to work with the “bolts” in item RP860-744-001, flat washers, lock washers, and an Allen key. Each component in the item sets is included to allow or enhance the function of the fasteners. Therefore, the conclusion of the GRI 3(b) analysis is that the fasteners, not the curved slotted washers, impart the essential character of items RP95-300-001 and RP860-744-001. The correct classification of the items is under subheading 7318.15, HTSUS, “Screws, bolts, nuts, coach screws, screw hooks, rivets, cotters, cotter pins, washers (including spring washers) and similar articles, of iron or steel: Threaded articles: Other screws and bolts, whether or not with their nuts or washers.” See also HQ H268650, dated September 18, 2019; HQ 955744, dated May 20, 1994; HQ 951870, dated January 29, 1993; these rulings reflect CBP’s consistent determination that the fastener component imparts the essential character to sets designed to join two separate objects.
GRI 6 requires further consideration of the subheadings under 7318.15, HTSUS. EN 73.18 describes screw studs as “short rods threaded at both ends” and screw studding as “rods threaded throughout.” Therefore, the threaded rods imparting the essential character of item RP95-300-001 are correctly classified under 7318.15.5056, HTSUSA, which provides for, “Screws, bolts, nuts, coach screws, screw hooks, rivets, cotters, cotter pins, washers (including spring washers) and similar articles, of iron or steel: Threaded articles: Other screws and bolts, whether or not with their nuts or washers: Studs; Other: Continuously threaded rod: Other.” However, item RP860-744-001 contains “bolt” fasteners, which do not meet the definition of “studs,” in addition to the threaded rod fasteners.
In item RP860-744-001 both fastener sets (flat washers, lock washers, bolts, and an Allen key (the bolt fastening) and the threaded rods, curved slotted washers, and combination wrench (the stud fastening)) perform the same fastening function but between different components of the same furniture. As such, both fastening sets are equally essential to item RP860-744-001 and CBP must look to GRI 3(c) to determine the correct classification under subheading 7318.15, HTSUS. See HQ H268650, dated September 18, 2019 (relying on a GRI 3(c) analysis where a wood fence post bracket made of steel with corresponding locknut and plastic bobbin, each of which, if imported separately, would be classifiable under different tariff headings, carry equally essential roles to the aggregate composite good.) GRI 3(c) requires “[w]hen goods cannot be classified by reference to 3(a) or 3(b), they shall be classified under the heading which occurs last in numerical order among those which equally merit consideration.” The applicable subheadings are 7318.15.20, HTSUS, “Bolts and bolts and their nuts or washers entered or exported in the same shipment”; 7318.15.40, HTSUS, “Machine screws 9.5 mm or more in length and 3.2 mm or more in diameter (not including cap screws)”; and 7318.15.50, HTSUS, “Studs.” As such, GRI 3(c) requires classification under 7318.15.50, HTSUS, “Studs.” The correct classification of item RP860-744-001 is also 7318.15.5056, HTSUSA, which provides for, “Screws, bolts, nuts, coach screws, screw hooks, rivets, cotters, cotter pins, washers (including spring washers) and similar articles, of iron or steel: Threaded articles: Other screws and bolts, whether or not with their nuts or washers: Studs; Other: Continuously threaded rod: Other.”
HOLDING:
By application of GRIs 1, 3(b), 3(c), and 6, the specific steel assembly hardware sets from Vietnam, designated as items RP95-300-001 and RP860-744-001, are classified in heading 7318, HTSUS, and specifically in subheading 7318.15.5056, HTSUSA, which provides for, “Screws, bolts, nuts, coach screws, screw hooks, rivets, cotters, cotter pins, washers (including spring washers) and similar articles, of iron or steel: Threaded articles: Other screws and bolts, whether or not with their nuts or washers: Studs; Other: Continuously threaded rod: Other.” The 2024 column one general rate of duty is free.
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 at https://hts.usitc.gov/.
EFFECT ON OTHER RULINGS:
N331989, dated April 26, 2023, is hereby MODIFIED.
In accordance with 19 U.S.C. § 1625(c), this ruling will become effective 60 days after its publication in the Customs Bulletin.
Sincerely,
Yuliya A. Gulis, Director
Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division