CBP Rules Importer Can't File Single Entry for Machine Halves Out of Convenience
Convenience isn't enough of a reason for CBP to allow for a single entry for two halves of a machine arriving on separate carriers, the agency said in a March 22 ruling (HQ H234076). Sidel Canada asked CBP to rule whether the two pieces of a Combi machine, a beverage bottling machine, are eligible to be entered in a single entry. Sidel Canada would like to ship the two halves from different parts of Europe, rather than deal with the logistical and regulatory burdens of assembling the parts within Europe before shipping.
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The Combi machine is a stainless steel, integrated blow molding, filling and capping machine that fills the finished bottles it molds from plastic bottle blanks with a beverage or other liquid, and then caps the bottles. Half of the Combi machine is manufactured in France and half of the machine is manufactured in Italy. Because of the size and transportation restrictions on the Combi machine, Sidel would like to ship each half from its place of manufacture, said CBP. The two shipments will arrive at the Port of New York within ten days of each other.
The machine isn't eligible as a single entry because it can be shipped assembled to the U.S., said CBP. Single entries for separately arriving parts are allowed when the different shipments are due to the size or nature of the merchandise or an inability for a carrier to include the merchandise in a single shipment, said CBP. Under 19 CFR 141.58(b), an unassembled product that is imported on more than one carrier is eligible as a single entry if it “cannot, due to its size or nature, be shipped on a single conveyance.” But, the Combi machine is currently being imported aboard a single carrier and "while it may not be convenient to ship the entire Combi machine on one carrier, it is not impossible," said CBP.
Additionally, CBP regulations don't allow components shipped from separate ports at different times to be allowed as a single entry, said the ruling. CBP made that clear in its 2006 final rule that added 19 CFR 141.58 to the regulations, said CBP. The agency "specifically contemplated Sidel’s situation and expressly rejected it when promulgating this regulation." CBP also declined to provide entry procedures for the Combi machine if they can't be entered under a single entry because the agency doesn't have enough information on the specific entries, said CBP.