OT:RR:CTF:CPMMA H338099 SC
TARIFF NO: 9504.90.90
Mr. Robert D. Stang
Husch Blackwell
1801 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Suite 1000
Washington, D.C. 20006
RE: Classification of Certain Shuffleboard Tables
Dear Mr. Stang:
This is in response to your request, dated March 18, 2024, on behalf of your client, Global Merchants, Inc., for a binding ruling concerning the tariff classification of certain shuffleboard tables under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). You claim classification under subheading 9504.90.60, HTSUS, which provides for “[c]hess, checkers, parchisi, backgammon, darts and other games played on boards of a special design, all the foregoing games and parts there of (including their boards); mah-jong and dominoes; any of the foregoing games in combination with each other, or with other games, packaged together as a unit in immediate containers of a type used in retail sales; poker chips and dice.” CBP disagrees with that contention and concludes that the subject shuffleboard tables are properly classified under subheading 9504.90.90, HTSUS, which provides for “[v]ideo game consoles and machines, articles for arcade, table or parlor games, including pinball machines, bagatelle, billiards and special tables for casino games; automatic bowling alley equipment; parts and accessories thereof: Other: Other: Other.”
In making this decision, we considered your arguments presented during a virtual conference on September 3, 2024, and the supplemental information submitted on September 12, 2024.
FACTS:
The products are designed and marketed for playing shuffleboard, which is a game in which players on opposing teams slide metal pucks lengthwise on the shuffleboard tabletop. Scoring is based on where the puck ultimately lands on the tabletop space (i.e., sections 1, 2 or 3), and whether the puck hangs off or falls off the edge of the table.
The shuffleboard tables contain the following components: A two-piece cradle constructed of solid wood that supports the shuffleboard playing surface, and the shuffleboard tabletop. The wooden cradle rests on trestle-style legs and stretcher beam. The wooden cradle is equipped with metal brackets, referred to as climate adjusters. The climate adjusters are mounted to the table underneath the playing surface and are used to apply pressure across the width of the tabletop with a slightly concave shape. This design is to inhibit the pucks that slide along the table from slipping off the tabletop.
The shuffleboard tabletop playing surface is made from vertically oriented, solid wood strips, which are edged, glued, planed and printed with scoring markings and covered with a polymer to create a solid, smooth surface that enables the shuffleboard pucks to smoothly glide along the length of the shuffleboard table. The shuffleboard tables are 20” wide and 3” high with varying lengths (approximately 131” to 181”) depending on the table.
The shuffleboard tables will be imported with two sets of metal pucks, one red and one blue. The tables are also imported with speed wax, which is applied to the shuffleboard tabletop in order to reduce the pucks’ friction as they slide along the playing surface.
ISSUE:
Whether the subject shuffleboard tables are classified under subheading 9504.90.60, HTSUS, as other games played on boards of a special design; or subheading 9504.90.90, HTSUS, as other games.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Classification of goods under the HTSUS is governed by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRIs). 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 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, with the understanding that only subheadings at the same level are comparable.
The 2024 HTSUS subheadings under consideration are the following:
9504 Video game consoles and machines, table or parlor games, including pinball machines, billiards, special tables for casino games and automatic bowling equipment, amusement machines operated by coins, banknotes, bank cards, tokens or by any means of payment:
9504.90 Other:
Other:
9504.90.60 Chess, checkers, parchisi, backgammon, darts and other games played on boards of a special design, all the foregoing games and parts there of (including their boards); mah-jong and dominoes; any of the foregoing games in combination with each other, or with other games, packaged together as a unit in immediate containers of a type used in retail sales; poker chips and dice
9504.90.90 Other
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The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (ENs) constitute the official interpretation of the Harmonized System at the international level. See 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (Aug. 23, 1989). 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 id.
EN 95.04 states, in pertinent part, as follows:
This heading includes:
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(3) Tables of the furniture type specially constructed for games (e.g., tables with a draught-board top).
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(5) Table football or similar games.
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(10) Dartboard and darts.
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(12) Boards and pieces (chessmen, draughtsmen, etc.) for games of chess, draughts, dominoes, mah-jong, halma, ludo, snakes and ladders, etc.
* * * * *
Heading 9504, HTSUS, provides for “[v]ideo game consoles and machines, table or parlor games, including pinball machines, billiards, special tables for casino games and automatic bowling equipment, amusement machines operated by coins, banknotes, bank cards, tokens or by any other means of payment.” There is no dispute that the subject merchandise is classified in heading 9504, HTSUS, and in subheading 9504.90, HTSUS, under GRI 1. As such, this analysis moves, per GRI 6, to an examination of the eight-digit subheadings.
The issue here is whether the subject shuffleboard table falls under subheading 9504.90.60, HTSUS, which provides for “other games played on boards of a special design,” or under subheading 9504.90.90, HTSUS, which covers games that are not specifically described in the other subheadings of heading 9504, HTSUS. You assert that the subject shuffleboard tables are correctly classified under subheading 9504.90.60, HTSUS. We disagree.
You contend that the phrase “played on boards of a special design” supports the classification of the subject shuffleboard tables under subheading 9504.90.60, HTSUS. This phrase is not defined in the tariff schedule. The ENs to heading 9504, HTSUS, enumerate the following items as being classified under this heading: “[t]ables of the furniture type specially constructed for games (e.g., tables with a draught-board top),” “[t]able football or similar games,” “[d]artboards and darts,” and “[b]oards and pieces (chessmen, draughtsmen, etc.) for games of chess, draughts, dominoes, mah-jong, halma, ludo, snakes and ladders, etc.” The ENs distinguish between board and table games, along with their various pieces or parts, but do not provide guidance regarding in which specific subheading of heading 9504, HTSUS, such items should be classified. Subheading 9504.90.60, HTSUS, is an eo nomine provision, as it provides for specific commodities by name. “Shuffleboard tables” are not listed in subheading 9504.90.60, HTSUS; the subheading only specifically includes chess, checkers, parchisi, backgammon, and darts. The list of specific examples followed by the reference to “other games” sharing the characteristic of being played on boards with a special design indicate that subheading 9504.90.60, HTSUS, is an ejusdem generis provision. The phrase “ejusdem generis” means that “the imported merchandise possesses the essential characteristics or purposes that unite the articles enumerated eo nomine in order to be classified under the general terms.” Nissho-Iwai American Corp. v. United States, 10 Ct. Int’l Trade 154, 156 (1986). CBP, therefore, employs the doctrine of ejusdem generis to determine whether an item falls within the scope of subheading 9504.90.60, HTSUS. In other words, for the instant shuffleboard table to be classified in subheading 9504.90.60, HTSUS, it must be deemed sufficiently similar to the exemplars listed in the subheading. We do not believe that shuffleboard tables are sufficiently similar to the exemplars listed in subheading 9504.90.60, HTSUS to be classified therein.
The exemplars mentioned in the ENs to heading 9504, HTSUS, are, in general, easily portable, are often sold together (i.e., chess and checkers), and are sold in individual units to consumers directly. Shuffleboard tables, however, are not easily portable. Shuffleboard tables, given the size and the manner in which they are sold, are more akin to merchandise that CBP has classified in subheading 9504.90.90, HTSUS. See e.g., NY N315794, dated Nov. 20, 2020 (Foosball Table); NY 806278, dated Jan. 30, 1995 (3-in-1 and 6-in-1 game tables); and NY N315795, dated Nov. 20, 2020 (shuffleboard table). Thus, the shuffleboard table under consideration does not fall within the construct of board games or games “played on boards of a special design,” as set forth in the examples in subheading 9504.90.60, HTSUS, above.
In your supplemental submission, you seek to define the phrase “played on boards of a special design” by considering the factor that the named articles in subheading 9504.90.60, HTSUS, are games played on a board of special design essential to scoring and/or strategy. The relevance of this factor is neither supported by the terms of the subheading nor the ENs. Merriam-Webster defines a draught board as a checkerboard, and a checkerboard “is a board used in various games (such as checkers) with usually 64 squares in alternating colors,” or “something that has a pattern or arrangement like a checkerboard.” Draughtboard, MERRIAM-WEBSTER.COM, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/draughtboard (last visited Oct. 8, 2024). A draught board speaks to the pattern or design of the board, not the scoring and/or game strategy. CBP concludes that the shuffleboard table is not a game “played on [a] board[] of special design.”
This conclusion is consistent with CBP’s practice to classify shuffleboard tables and other similar game tables, which are not provided for in subheading 9504.90.60, HTSUS, under subheading 9504.90.90, HTSUS. In New York Ruling Letter (NY) N315795, dated Nov. 20, 2020, CBP classified a substantially similar shuffleboard table, which was made from solid wood, medium density fiberboard (MDF), and wood veneer, and imported with metal pucks, under subheading 9504.90.90, HTSUS. Similarly, in NY N315794, dated Nov. 20, 2020, and NY 806278, dated Jan. 30, 1995, CBP classified various types of game tables under subheading 9504.90.90, HTSUS. For example, the product at issue in NY N315794 was a Foosball table, which is a game played on a free-standing table made from solid wood, MDF, and wood veneer, where players use figures on steel rods to kick a small ball into the opponent’s goal. The merchandise described in NY 806278, dated Jan. 30, 1995, was indoor game tables of various models, upon which different playing surfaces and components can be placed, such as table tennis and hockey, pool, foosball, and both arcade and floor basketball. Accordingly, we find that the subject shuffleboard tables are properly classified under subheading 9504.90.90, HTSUS.
You contend that the classification of the shuffleboard table in subheading 9504.90.60, HTSUS, is supported by the following CBP rulings. In NY N307804, dated Dec. 18, 2019, the product at issue was a five-piece game table with a chess/checker tabletop. Also, in NY J84243, dated May 1, 2003, the merchandise at issue was a table with a wooden top, a metal frame and metal legs that has a chessboard silk-screened on the wooden top. Finally, in NY 814976, dated Sept. 28, 1995, the product at issue was a dart board cabinet set. This office disagrees that the aforementioned rulings are instructive in how to classify the shuffleboard table. The above-mentioned rulings all contain the eo nomine goods, as chess, checkers and dart games are all expressly included in the terms of subheading 9504.90.60, HTSUS. See Well Luck Co. v. United States, 887 F.3d 1106, 1111 n.4 (Fed. Cir. 2018) (“[a]n eo nomine classification provision is one which describes a commodity by a specific name” (first quoting Clarendon Mktg., Inc. v. United States, 144 F.3d 1464, 1467 (Fed. Cir. 1998))); (“[a]bsent limitation or contrary legislative intent, an eo nomine provision includes all forms of the named article, even improved forms” (and then quoting CamelBak Prods., LLC v. United States, 649 F.3d 1361, 1364-65 (Fed. Cir. 2011))). In NY N307804 and NY J84243, the tables were constructed with draught board tops that are built into the top surface, which are commonly used for chess and checkers, and in NY 814976, the merchandise at issue consisted of a dart board cabinet set. The merchandise in the aforementioned rulings are all improved forms of the merchandise expressly mentioned in subheading 9504.90.60, HTSUS. The aforementioned merchandise is distinguishable from shuffleboard tables because they are tables of furniture that are eo nomine goods classified in this subheading and exemplified in the ENs – the shuffleboard table is not.
Based on the foregoing analysis, under GRI 1 the correct classification for the subject shuffleboard table is subheading 9504.90.90, HTSUS. This conclusion is consistent with prior CBP rulings classifying shuffleboard tables under subheading 9504.90.90, HTSUS.
HOLDING:
By application of GRIs 1 and 6, the certain shuffleboard tables are classified in heading 9504, HTSUS, and specifically in subheading 9504.90.90, HTSUS, which provides for “[v]ideo game consoles and machines, tables or parlor games, including pinball machines, special tables for casino games and automatic bowling equipment, amusement machines operated by coins, banknotes, bank cards, tokens or by any other means of payment: Other: Other: Other.” The 2024 column one general rate of duty is free.
Pursuant to U.S. Note 20 to Subchapter III, Chapter 99, HTSUS, products of China classified under subheading 9504.90.90, HTSUS, unless specifically excluded, are subject to an additional 7.5 percent ad valorem rate of duty. At the time of importation, you must report the Chapter 99 subheading, i.e., 9903.88.15, in addition to subheading 9504.90.90, HTSUS, listed above.
The HTSUS is subject to periodic amendment, so you should exercise reasonable care in monitoring the status of goods covered by the Note cited above and the applicable Chapter 99 subheading. For background information regarding the trade remedy initiated pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, including information on exclusions and their effective dates, you may refer to the relevant parts of the USTR and CBP websites, which are available at https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/enforcement/section-301-investigations/tariff-actions and https://www.cbp.gov/trade/remedies/301-certain-products-china, respectively.
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/current.
Sincerely,
Andrew M. Langreich, Chief
Chemicals, Petroleum, Metals and
Miscellaneous Articles Branch