CLA-2-94:OT:RR:NC:N4:433
David Munger
Sourcing Project Manager
Ergotron, Inc.
1181 Trapp Road
St. Paul, MN 55121
RE: The tariff classification of a desktop assembled in the United States and a base metal platform from China.
Dear Mr. Munger:
In your letter dated December 11, 2015, you requested a tariff classification ruling. Within your ruling request, two photos and a schematic were provided. No material breakdown was provided by percentage of composition, weight or cost. Nevertheless, by means of additional information (illustrative literature) found on the internet for the merchandise concerned, this office will make an essential character determination.
Based on the two photos and internet research conducted on the website of “ergotron.com,” the merchandise concerned appears to be part number 33-397-085, “Workfit-T, Sit-Stand Desktop Workstation.” The Workfit-T, Sit-Stand Desktop Workstation is a “workstation desktop” that has a surface area capable of adding an accessory monitor mount kit, thereby accommodating one or two monitors. The structural composition of the workstation desktop consists of a laminated particleboard desk-top surface and keyboard tray, and a base metal platform with support members. This workstation desktop can be used in a sitting or standing position, simply by releasing the hand-brake levers on either side of the unit to position the surface higher or lower. It is stated that the Workfit station is meant to promote a healthy workstation giving the user the option to sit or stand and can be used in offices, households, schools, etc.
Features include: (1) Footprint = 35-inches by 25-inches, (2) Fits on desk surfaces 24-inches deep or larger, (3) Keyboard-tray dimensions = 25-inches by 9-inches, (4) Keyboard moves in tandem with the work-surface, (5) Display(s) can be placed directly on the work-surface, (6) up to 15-inches of vertical adjustment, and (7) product weight of 49 pounds.
We note that the schematic is color annotated, indicating that the particleboard desktop surface and keyboard tray are made in the United States, and the base metal platform is made in China.
It is your position that the Workfit-T, Sit-Stand Desktop Workstation is properly classified in subheading 9403.20.0030 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), the provision for “Other furniture and parts thereof: Furniture of Metal: Other: Other.” We disagree with the proposed classification for the merchandise concerned. Legal Note 2, Legal Note 2 (a) and Legal Note 2 (b) to Chapter 94 of the HTSUS provides that for goods to be classified as “furniture” they must be either floor or ground standing, or meeting one of the exceptions to being floor or ground standing as listed within Legal Note 2 (a) and Legal Note 2 (b), HTSUS. With emphasis placed, per Legal Note 2, the restrictions on “furniture” being floor or ground standing do not apply to {parts} of furniture. Consequently, as the Workfit-T, Sit-Stand Desktop Workstation is not floor or ground standing and not one of the exceptions listed in Legal Note 2 (a) or 2 (b), the merchandise concerned cannot be classified as an article of metal furniture.
In Bauerhin Technologies Limited v. United States, 19 CIT 1441, 914 F. Supp. 554 (1995), aff’d 110 F.3d 774 (Fed. Cir. 1997), the court pointed out that there are two distinct lines of cases, also known as tests, for defining the word “part” in the tariff. Starting with U.S. v. Willoughby Camera Stores, Inc., 21 CCPA 322, 324, (1933) T.D. 46075 (1933), cert. denied, 292 U.S. 640 (1934), this line of cases holds that a part of an article is something necessary to the completion of that article without which the article to which it is to be joined could not function as such article; restated: is the object an integral, constituent, or component part, without which the article itself could not function, nor operate. Another line of cases evolved from United States v. Antonio Pompeo, 43 CCPA 9, C.D. 1669 (1955), which held that a device may be a part of an article even though its use is optional and the article will function without it, if the device is dedicated solely for use upon the article, and, once installed, the article will not operate properly without it; restated: is the device being that of a part dedicated irrevocably upon such an article.
Plainly, the Workfit-T, Sit-Stand Desktop Workstation “not” an integral, constituent, or component part of a workstation, desk, cabinet and/or table, as all of the listed articles of furniture will operate independently of the merchandise concerned; it therefore fails the U.S. v. Willoughby Camera Stores, Inc. test for being classified as a part of such articles. However, we are of the persuasion that the Workfit-T, Sit-Stand Desktop Workstation satisfies the United States v. Antonio Pompeo test for parts, in that the workstation desktop is dedicated irrevocably to working surfaces being that of articles of furniture, thereby expanding the use of one’s workstation through the process of creating a zone within one’s workstation for standing. See New York ruling N270868.
When interpreting and implementing the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), the Explanatory Notes (ENs) of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System may be utilized. The ENs, while neither legally binding nor dispositive, provide a guiding commentary on the scope of each heading, and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of the HTSUS. CBP believes the ENs should always be consulted. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989).
The Workfit-T, Sit-Stand Desktop Workstation is composed of different components (particleboard and base metal platform) and is considered a composite good. The ENs to the HTSUS, at GRI 3 (b) (VIII), state that “the factor which determines essential character will vary between different kinds of goods. It may for example, be determined by the nature of the materials or components, its bulk, quantity, weight or value, or by the role of a constituent material in relation to the use of the goods.” When the essential character of a composite good can be determined, the whole product is classified as if it consisted only of the material or component that imparts the essential character to the composite good.
We recognize that the primary purpose of any desk, workstation or table is fulfilled by its top surface, where work activities can be conducted upon and/or objects can placed upon for both domestic and business uses. After careful review of the illustrative literature, we find that the desktop surface does not impart the essential character to the merchandise concerned, in that all of the articles of furniture as listed above have their own surface for work activities to be conducted upon and/or objects to be placed upon. For the merchandise concerned, the primary function must be viewed in terms of what aspect accomplishes the work to be performed while standing, and viewed in that context, it is the base metal platform that elevates the desktop up to 15-inches above the surface of the desk, workstation or table, enabling the work to be conducted in a vertical position. As such, the base metal platform imparts the essential character to the Workfit-T, Sit-Stand Desktop Workstation.
The applicable subheading for the Workfit-T, Sit-Stand Desktop Workstation, when assembled in the United States, will be 9403.90, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for “Other furniture and parts thereof: Parts.”
The applicable subheading for the Workfit-T, Sit-Stand Desktop Workstation, base metal platform from China, will be 9403.90.8041, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for “Other furniture and parts thereof: Parts: Other: Other: Other: Of metal: Other.” The rate of duty will be 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 on World Wide Web at http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/.
We find that 19 Customs Federal Regulations (19 CFR), Part 102 – Rules of Origin is inapplicable to the assembled Workfit-T, Sit-Stand Desktop Workstation, because the provisions of Part 102 only apply to imported goods – see § 102.0 Scope and § 102.11 General rules. Further see 19 CFR, § 181.91, Advanced Ruling Procedures, in which only importers in the United States and exporters and producers located in Canada or Mexico may request and obtain an advanced ruling on a NAFTA transaction.
For a NAFTA ruling on marking and preferential tariff treatment on the Workfit-T, Sit-Stand Desktop Workstation exported from the United States into Canada or Mexico, please solicit those NAFTA parties to which the merchandise concerned will be imported to.
At this time, we are unable to make a country of origin determination based on 19 CFR, Part 134 – Country of Origin Marking, as we need a step-by-step process description of the assembling of the base metal platform to the desktop surface and keyboard tray, for purposes of determining if a substantial transformation has occurred rendering the merchandise concerned a product of the United States. Also include, a bill of materials for the base metal platform of Chinese origin and a bill of materials for the desktop surface and keyboard of United States origin.
This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177).
A copy of the ruling or the control number indicated above should be provided with the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If you have any questions regarding the ruling, contact National Import Specialist Neil H. Levy at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Gwenn Klein Kirschner
Director
National Commodity Specialist Division