CLA-2-92:OT:RR:NC:N4:424
Barb McKee
Executive Office Manager
Rodgers Instruments US LLC
21333 NW Jacobson Road Building 7, Suite D-200
Hillsboro, OR 97124
RE: The tariff classification of an organ cabinet, pedalboard, and bench from Germany and The Netherlands.
Dear Ms. McKee:
In your letter submitted January 30, 2019, you requested a tariff classification ruling.
A description of the Rodgers Instruments wooden organ cabinet, pedalboard, and bench was submitted with your inquiry. After importation into the United States, an electronic organ is installed into the cabinet, which is also considered a hull, along with final assembly of the pedalboard. The wooden bench imported with the organ cabinet and pedalboard incorporates storage primarily for sheet music.
Consideration was given to heading 9403, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for furniture, as you proposed for the organ hull, pedalboard, and bench. However, the organ hull and pedalboard are not considered articles classifiable in heading 9403, HTSUS.
The Explanatory Notes (ENs) to the HTSUS, constitute the official interpretation of the tariff at the international level. For the purposes of Chapter 94, the term “furniture" means: Any "movable" articles (not included under other more specific headings of the Nomenclature), which have the essential characteristic that they are constructed for placing on the floor or ground, and which are used, mainly with a utilitarian purpose, to equip private dwellings, hotels, theatres, cinemas, offices, churches, schools, cafés, restaurants, laboratories, hospitals, dentists, surgeries, etc. …(It should be noted that, for the purposes of this Chapter, articles are considered to be " movable " furniture even if they are designed for bolting, etc., to the floor, e.g., chairs for use on ships).
This office finds the unassembled wood organ hull components are dedicated parts to an incomplete organ which are cut, shaped, and fitted to specific size and dimensions for later assembly and incorporation of electronic subassemblies into a finished article. The component parts are not articles of furniture.
The organ hull and pedalboard are more specifically provided for in Chapter 92, HTSUS. Heading 9209 of the HTSUS reads as follows: “Parts (for example, mechanisms for musical boxes) and accessories (for example, cards, discs and rolls for mechanical instruments) of musical instruments; metronomes, tuning forks and pitch pipes of all kinds.” EN (D)(1) explains “other parts and accessories” to mean: “Parts of pianos, organs, harmoniums or similar instruments, such as: Complete keyboards (i.e., a complete set of keys mounted on a frame); piano mechanisms (i.e., key actions with associated hammers including sound dampers); cases for pianos or harmoniums; sound boards; wooden or cast iron frames; pedal mechanisms and pedals; wrest pins; metal tongues (or reeds) for harmoniums; separate keys for keyboards; hammers, dampers, shafts and forks for hammers, etc.; organ pipes, wind chests, bellows and other component parts (including cases) of organs.”
In the opinion of this office, the organ cabinet/hull and pedalboard fall within the construct of EN 9209, HTSUS.
The wooden bench is more specifically provided for in heading 9401, HTSUS. The ENs for 9401, HTSUS under the category of seats state: Subject to the exclusions mentioned below, this heading covers all seats (including those for vehicles, provided that they comply with the conditions prescribed in Note 2 to this Chapter), for example:
Lounge chairs, arm chairs, folding chairs, deck chairs, infants’ high chairs and children’s seats designed to be hung on the back of other seats (including vehicle seats), grandfather chairs, benches, couches (including those with electrical heating), settees, sofas, ottomans and the like, stools (such as piano stools, draughtsmen’s stools, typists’ stools, and dual purpose stool steps), seats which incorporate a sound system and are suitable for use with video game consoles and machines, television or satellite receivers, as well as with DVD, music CD, MP3 or video cassette players.
The wooden bench falls within the construct of EN 9401, HTSUS and headquarters ruling H132496 dated July 11, 2014.
The applicable subheading for the organ cabinet and pedalboard, will be 9209.94.8000, (HTSUS), which provides for “Parts…and accessories…of musical instruments…: Other: Parts and accessories for the musical instruments of heading 9207: Other.” The general rate of duty will be 2.7 percent ad valorem.
The applicable subheading for the organ bench, will be 9401.69.8011, HTSUS, which provides for “Seats (other than those of heading 9402), whether or not convertible into beds, and parts thereof: Other seats, with wooden frames: Other: Other: Other: Other household.” 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 Roseanne Murphy at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Steven A. Mack
Director
National Commodity Specialist Division