CLA-2-84:OT:RR:NC:1:104
Mr. Karl Krueger
DHL Global Forwarding
2660 20th Street
Port Huron, MI 48060
RE: The tariff classification of Components of a Spray Impregnation/Bonding Line from Germany
Dear Mr. Krueger:
In your letter dated October 21, 2008, on behalf of the importer, Americo, you requested a tariff classification ruling.
The merchandise, which you refer to as a “machine”, is a line of three separate machines: a spray booth, a curing oven and a winder. These machines are a portion of a larger spray impregnation/bonding line for the manufacture of nonwovens. Submitted drawings show that the three units, while interconnected, are not incorporated one in the other, mounted one on the other, mounted on a common base/frame or in a common housing.
Initially, fibers are loaded into a feeder system, blended and formed into a nonwoven web. This web is then subjected to a tacking bar with thousands of barbed needles, resulting in a felt material. The web is moved by conveyor to the spray cabin. A latex coating spray is applied via a system of traverse transporting spray guns. Once the web is sprayed, it is moved to a gas-operated curing oven. The curing oven speeds up the curing. After the curing, the web is flipped so that the reverse side can be sprayed and sent through the curing oven to cure the other side. At the end the fabric is taken up by the winder section. As stated in your letter, your request covers only the spray booth, curing oven and the winder.
In your supplemental email message to this office dated November 5, 2008, you requested that the ruling address the tariff classification of the three units under the following scenarios:
Spray booth, curing oven and winder all shipped in the same shipment and entered together.
Each unit (spray booth, curing oven, and winder) shipped separately and
Spray booth and the winder shipped together on one shipment; curing oven is shipped separately.
The imported machines are not a functional unit for purposes of Legal Note 4 to Section XVI, because they do not contribute to a single function that is clearly defined in Chapter 84 or 85. The three machines are not designed to perform a single task, but rather are separate machines which all perform different functions in the making of the material.
The applicable subheading for the spray cabin will be 8424.89.0000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for Mechanical appliances for… spraying, liquids…: other appliances: other. The rate of duty will be 1.8 percent ad valorem.
The applicable subheading for the curing oven will be 8417.80.0000, HTSUS, which provides for Industrial or laboratory furnaces and ovens, including incinerators, nonelectric, and parts thereof: Other, except parts. The rate of duty will be 3.9 percent ad valorem.
The applicable subheading for the winder will be 8451.50.0000, HTSUS, which provides for Machinery (other than machines of heading 8450) for washing, cleaning, wringing, drying, ironing, pressing (including fusing presses), bleaching, dyeing, dressing, finishing, coating, or impregnating textile yarns, fabrics or made up textile articles and machines for applying the paste to the base fabric or other support used in the manufacture of floor coverings such as linoleum; machines for reeling, unreeling, folding, cutting or pinking textile fabrics; parts thereof: Machines for reeling, unreeling folding, cutting or pinking textile fabrics. 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/.
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 Patricia O’Donnell at (646) 733-3011.
Sincerely,
Robert B. Swierupski
Director
National Commodity Specialist Division