CLA-2-84:RR:NC:1:103 D80754
Mr. Joshua Bloomfield
Tower Group International
6730 Middlebelt Road
Romulus, MI 48174-2039
RE: The tariff classification of the Flexys robotic workstation
from England
Dear Mr. Bloomfield:
In your letter dated May 18, 1998 on behalf of Genomic
Solutions Inc. you requested a tariff classification ruling.
Additional information on this product was received from your
client on July 28, 1998.
The Flexys robotic workstation is used in molecular biology
laboratories to perform a wide range of colony picking, gridding,
and library manipulation operations. The unit is equipped with a
CCD-based image processing system, as well as a robotic arm which
holds a head containing numerous individual pins in a specified
pattern. In colony picking, the image processing system is used
to locate yeast and bacterial colonies in an agar solution by
color, shape, and size. The robotic arm moves the head over the
solution and a pneumatic system "fires" specific pins into those
areas where the colonies have been detected. When the pins are
withdrawn, some yeast or bacteria will adhere to the pins. The
arm then moves the head over a microtitre plate containing a
growth medium and again fires the appropriate pins, thus
transferring yeast or bacteria to the growth medium. In a
similar fashion, the Flexys utilizes 96 or 384 pins, fired as a
group, to spot pieces of DNA in a standard or user definable grid
pattern onto a nylon membrane. Like gridding, library
manipulation involves the copying of DNA to other plates by means
of the pins. The Flexys workstation is 1425 millimeters wide,
930 millimeters high, 790 millimeters deep, and weighs 130
kilograms. It can position the head with an accuracy of 0.1
millimeter.
The applicable subheading for the Flexys robotic workstation
will be 8479.50.0000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United
States (HTS), which provides for machines and mechanical
appliances having individual functions, not specified or included
elsewhere (in chapter 84): industrial robots, not elsewhere
specified or included. The rate of duty will be 2.7 percent ad
valorem.
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 Alan
Horowitz at 212-466-5494.
Sincerely,
Robert B. Swierupski
Director,
National Commodity
Specialist Division