Bluetooth Connection Is Essential Character for Fitness Band Classification, Says CBP
The classification for the Microsoft Band is based upon the device's ability to connect to a smartphone, ruled Customs and Border Protection, so the band gets duty-free treatment when imported from most countries. Its ability to connect to a user's…
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smartphone over Bluetooth is the essential character for classification purposes, the agency said Jan. 19 in a ruling it recently released. CBP previously made similar rulings on the Apple Watch and on a Samsung smartwatch. When connected to a smartphone, the Microsoft Band can display phone call information, news, weather, heart rate, pedometer measurements and other things, said CBP. When not paired, the wrist band lacks the ability to show much of that information, it said. Although the device allows "some basic sound reproducing functions," and other functions, "the Microsoft Band is primarily designed to display, manipulate, and store data via the use of various applications utilized by a Bluetooth-connected mobile telephone," said CBP. The band is made up of component articles and should be classified based on the component that provides for the essential character, CBP said. "Although each of the Microsoft Band’s component articles (e.g., the microphone, speaker, AMOLED display, heart rate monitor, accelerometer, and gyro sensor) enable important functionality in the operation of the Microsoft Band, it is the Bluetooth transceiver that is indispensable to the core, essential condition of the Microsoft Band, because the radio transceiver facilitates the display, manipulation, and storage of data between the Microsoft Band and paired external devices." Based on the role of each of the component articles "in relation to the use of the merchandise, CBP concluded the Band's essential character is imparted by the Bluetooth transceiver. The band is best classified as a radio transceiver in subheading 8517.62.00, which provides for, 'Other apparatus for transmission or reception of voice, images or other data, including apparatus for communication in a wired or wireless network (such as a local or wide area network): Machines for the reception, conversion and transmission or regeneration of voice, images or other data, including switching and routing apparatus,'” said CBP.