Newly Released CBP HQ Rulings for March 7
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated on March 7 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):
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H310474: Affirmation of NY N308564; Classification of Threaded Hollow Bars
| Ruling: NY N308564 ruling is affirmed. The 28Mn6 seamless threaded hollow bars are classified in subheading 7304.31.3000, HTSUSA, which provides for “Tubes, pipes and hollow profiles, seamless, of iron (other than cast iron) or steel: Other, of circular cross section, of iron or nonalloy steel: Cold-drawn or cold-rolled (cold-reduced): Hollow bars." Additionally, the 36Mn5 welded threaded hollow bars are classified in subheading 7306.50.5030, HTSUSA (Annotated), which provides for “Other tubes, pipes and hollow profiles (for example, open seamed or welded, riveted or similarly closed), of iron or steel: Other, welded, of circular cross section, of other alloy steel: Having a wall thickness of 1.65 mm or more: Other: Other, cold-drawn or cold-rolled (cold-reduced)." |
| Issue: whether the self-drilling hollow bars are classified under subheading 8207.50.8000, as tools for drilling other than rock drilling, or in subheading 8207.60.0061 as tools for boring or under 7304.31.3000 and 7306.50.5030 as pipes |
| Items: Two self-drilling hollow bars. (1) steel grade 28Mn6 and is a welded, hollow bar with an outside diameter of 51 mm and an inside diameter of 29.5 mm, manufactured from alloy steel. (2) Self-drilling hollow bar is described as steel grade 36Mn5 and is a seamless, hollow bar with an outside diameter of 51 mm and an inside diameter of 29.5 mm,manufactured from nonalloy steel. The thread on both bars is cold-rolled. |
| Reason: Unlike merchandise of heading 8207, HTSUS, which is unsuitable for use independently and is designed to be fitted into boring tools, the subject merchandise can be used alone and does not perform the actual function of drilling. The threaded hollow bars, which are hollow inside, are distinct commercial articles that are more specifically provided for in heading 7228, which provides for hollow drill bars. |
| Ruling Date: Feb. 28, 2022 |
H319826: Country of origin of cotton wadding; Classification; USMCA; Waste and scrap
| Ruling: (1) 5601.21.00 "Wadding of textile materials and articles thereof; textile fibers, not exceeding 5 mm in length (flock), textile dust and mill neps: Wadding of textile materials and articles thereof: Of cotton" (2) The country of origin of the cotton wadding for marking purposes is Canada. (3) The cotton wadding qualifies for USMCA preference. |
| Issues: (1) What is the proper tariff classification of the cotton wadding? (2) What is the country of origin of the cotton wadding for marking purposes? (3) Does the cotton wadding qualify for preferential tariff treatment under the USMCA? |
| Items: Cotton wadding recovered from used furniture. Workers dismantle the furniture and mattresses and remove the salvaged materials, collecting and sorting the materials as they go. The cotton wadding at issue is compressed into large bales for shipment to the United States, where it will be used by the buyer, Phoenix Fibers, in new products, such as building insulation or new institutional mattresses. |
| Reason: The cotton wadding obtained from the mattresses/furniture, is properly classified under heading 5601. The subject merchandise has therefore met the applicable tariff shift requirement. CBP has yet to issue a ruling addressing “waste and scrap” pursuant to the USMCA; however, CBP has numerous decisions interpreting the “waste and scrap” provisions of NAFTA. As the NAFTA provisions were essentially identical, CBP decisions interpreting those provisions are instructive in the interpretation of the “waste and scrap” provisions in the USMCA. |
| Ruling Date: Feb. 23, 2022 |
H316728: Request for Internal Advice; Classification of LED Surgical Lights
| Ruling: The lights are classified in 9018.90.60 as “Instruments and appliances used in medical, surgical, dental or veterinary sciences, including scintigraphic apparatus, other electro-medical apparatus and sight-testing instruments; parts and accessories thereof: Other instruments and appliances and parts and accessories thereof: Other: Electro-medical instruments and appliances and parts and accessories thereof: Electro-surgical instruments and appliances, other than extracorporeal shock wave lithotripters; all the foregoing and parts and accessories thereof.” |
| Issue: whether the LED surgical lights are classified in heading 9018, HTSUS, as instruments for the surgical sciences or in heading 9405, HTSUS, as lamps and lighting fittings. |
| Item: Two models of Maquet Power LED II Surgical Lights. These are lighting fixtures equipped with LED lamps, which can be mounted on the ceiling of an operating room or on a floor stand in the surgical site. The lights contain a full HD camera, a small light patch adjustment, a light patch positioning, an Automatic Illumination Management system, a Luminance Management Device, and a comfort light. The subject LED surgical lights are intended to be used to provide visible illumination of the surgical area and the patient. |
| Reason: Because the subject LED surgical lights are specialized and meet the specific criteria discussed in the Trumpf Medical Systems decision (see HQ H178917), they are not considered spotlights or lamps of heading 9405. |
| Ruling Date: Jan. 5, 2022 |
H303474: Request for Internal Advice; Appraisement; Men’s Suits; Related Parties
| Ruling: The merchandise should be appraised based upon the transaction value of the sale between the U.S. importer and its U.S. customers. |
| Issues: (1) Whether the transaction between the related foreign factory and the parent company may be used to determine the transaction value of the men’s suits. (2) If not, whether the transaction between the related parent company and U.S. importer or the transaction between the U.S. importer and final U.S. customers may be used. |
| Item: Men's suits made in an Italian factory owned by the Italian parent company, which also owns the U.S. importer. The factory is a “cut and make” manufacturer of men’s luxury suits, sport jackets, pants, woven shirts, and overcoats. The parent company pays the factory for the production and packaging of the clothes, shirts, and related products and accessories. The offices of the parent company’s personnel are located at the same street number as the factory’s production facility. The parent company is described as an agent and sales representative on the entry documents. The parent company sells the products either to the importer, which markets and distributes the goods to wholesalers and retailers in the U.S., or directly to the final U.S. customer. |
| Reason: The transactions between the related parties do not constitute bona fide sales. |
| Ruling Date: Jan. 4, 2022 |
H321189: Request for Internal Advice on Classification of an Air Fryer
| Ruling: The air fryer is classified under 8516.60.40, “Electric instantaneous or storage water heaters and immersion heaters; electric space heating apparatus and soil heating apparatus; electrothermic hairdressing apparatus (for example, hair dryers, hair curlers, curling tong heaters) and hand dryers; electric flatirons; other electrothermic appliances of a kind used for domestic purposes; electric heating resistors, other than those of heading 8545; parts thereof: Other ovens; cooking stoves, ranges, cooking plates, boiling rings, grillers and roasters: Cooking stoves, ranges, and ovens.” |
| Issue: whether the subject air fryer is classified as an oven under subheading 8516.60.40 or as another electrothermic appliance under subheading 8516.79.00 |
| Item: A countertop cooking device intended for household use. It contains heating elements and a high-speed fan, which circulates hot air within a cooking chamber. Food is placed in a basket inside the cooking chamber and is cooked in the circulating hot air. Unlike a traditional deep fryer, this air fryer does not submerge food in hot oil to achieve a crisp exterior. |
| Reason: The subject air fryer does not possess features substantially in excess of a convection oven. |
| Ruling Date: Nov. 9, 2021 |
H312118: Application for Further Review of Protest No. 3801-20-102544; Classification of Unfinished Engines
| Ruling: The protest is granted. The subject unfinished engines with hardened intake and exhaust fuel valve seatings are described by statistical reporting number 8407.90.9010 as gas (natural or LP) engines. |
| Issue: Whether the engines without fuel systems are classified as natural gas or liquid propane engines 8407.90.9010 or as other spark-ignition engines 8407.90.9080. |
| Item: Unfinished engines used primarily in forklifts. As imported, they are not fitted with a fuel system, but after importation they are fitted with a fuel system for one of the following fuels: liquid propane, gasoline, natural gas, or bi-fuel. All of the engines at issue are manufactured with hardened fuel valve seatings on the intake and exhaust valves. The hardened valve seatings are specially manufactured to withstand the higher fuel burning temperatures of burning liquid propane or natural gas. |
| Reason: The unfinished engines with hardened intake and exhaust fuel valve seatings have the essential character of a natural gas or liquid propane engine of statistical reporting number 8407.90.9010. Although the engines are not fitted with a fuel system, the hardened fuel valve seatings indicate that the engines are designed to run on liquid propane or natural gas. |
| Ruling Date: Oct. 18, 2021 |
H303275: Request for Internal Advice Request; Recycling of packaging materials in drawback claim under either 19 U.S.C. 1313(j) or 26 U.S.C. 5062(c).
| Ruling: Parallel’s customers can seek drawback of duties and excise taxes on alcoholic beverage importations even if the containers are salvaged and recycled by Parallel. To the extent that Parallel reclaims and/or recycles the merchandise, the value recovered must be deducted from the drawback claimed. |
| Issue: Whether in the context of duty drawback claims of distilled spirits, wine, and beer (pursuant to 19 U.S.C. § 1313(j) and 26 U.S.C. § 5062(c)), destruction in lieu of exportation is permitted when the imported merchandise is destroyed, but the containers within which the imported good is contained is salvaged and recycled. |
| Item: N/A |
| Reason: As of February 24, 2018, claimants may seek 1313(j) drawback when the merchandise has been destroyed in lieu of exportation, even if the claimant recycles some part of the imported merchandise so long as the claimant deducts the value of that recovered/recycled merchandise from the value of the imported merchandise that is destroyed for purposes of determining the amount of duties, taxes, and fees to be refunded as drawback. Because Parallel has limited its request to the destruction of distilled spirits, wine, and beer, subtracting the value of the recycled goods from the value of the imported goods (distilled spirits, wine, and beer) that are not subject to ad valorem tariffs, would not result in a reduction of drawback. 5062(c) allows for a full refund of internal revenue excise taxes paid on alcoholic beverages when such beverages are exported or destroyed provided that the other statutory requirements are met. |
| Ruling Date: Oct. 12, 2021 |