CLA-2-90:OT:RR:NC:N1:405
Cindi Kavanaugh
Mohawk Global Trade Advisors
4455 Genesee Street, Suite 521
Buffalo, NY 14225
RE: The tariff classification of a Fracture Reduction Simulation Course Kit from China
Dear Ms. Kavanaugh:
In your letter dated April 27, on behalf of The Apprentice Corporation, you requested a tariff classification ruling. A sample was provided.
The products at issue in your submission are identified as the Future Doctors Academy’s Fracture Reduction Simulation Course and Kit and the Fracture Reduction Refill Kit. The Fracture Reduction Simulation Course and Kit, per its retail packaging, is described as a “hands-on basic surgical skills and educational orthopedic simulation course with kit.” The kit contains 31 types of items that are intended for use in training an individual how to surgically treat a fractured bone. The components of the kit include instruments such as catspaw retractors, forceps, a surgical drill unit with drill bits, curved scissors, as well as materials normally used in a surgical procedure such as suture materials, transosseus plates, bone screws, surgical gloves, caps, and visors, etc. The kit also includes a fracture simulation arm, a cylindrical article designed to resemble a human limb that, when cut into, reveals a fractured long bone shaft. The Fracture Reduction Refill Kit does not include any of the surgical instruments contained in the larger Fracture Reduction Simulation Kit (the forceps, scissors, drill unit, etc.), but does contain all of the kit’s materials used in a surgical procedure (such as the sutures, gloves, plates and bone screws, etc.). The fracture simulation arm is included in both the Fracture Reduction Simulation Kit and the Fracture Reduction Refill Kit.
Based on the information provided with your submission, the purpose of the Fracture Reduction Simulation Kit is to provide hands-on training to individuals potentially interested in pursuing a career in medicine. You indicate that kits of this type would be used in venues such as “medical camps,” wherein students can obtain training and information about common medical procedures. The Fracture Reduction Simulation Kit will enable a student to replicate a surgical procedure by using the kit’s tools to cut into the simulation arm, repair the fractured bone shaft with the bone screws and transosseus plate, and close the simulated wound using the sutures. While some of the items contained within the kit might conceivably be usable in the actual treatment of a patient, the kit is neither packaged nor marketed in a manner that would make such use likely. In this respect the kit is similar to the Venipuncture Course and Training Kit covered by New York Ruling Letter N243533, dated July 23, 2013 (also imported by the Apprentice Corporation).
The Fracture Reduction Simulation Kit and the Fracture Reduction Refill Kit would both be considered sets for tariff purposes. Within these two sets it is the fracture simulation arm that is, at a minimum, described by the last heading (i.e., heading 9023) that equally merits consideration in providing the kits’ essential character in accordance with General Rule of Interpretation 3(c).
The applicable subheading for the Fracture Reduction Simulation Kit and the Fracture Reduction Refill Kit will be 9023.00.0000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for Instruments, apparatus and models, designed for demonstrational purposes (for example, in education or exhibitions), unsuitable for other uses, and parts and accessories thereof. 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 https://hts.usitc.gov/current.
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 Evan Conceicao at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Steven A. Mack
Director
National Commodity Specialist Division