CA-2-84:S:N:N:110 802000
Ms. Lisa L. Cortes MS 6-69
AST Research Incorporated
16215 Alton Parkway
Irvine, CA 92718
RE: The tariff classification of motherboards without BIOS ROM Chip from Hong Kong, Taiwan, People's Republic of China and Ireland.
Dear Ms. Cortes:
In your letter dated September 13, 1994, you requested a tariff classification ruling.
The merchandise under consideration involves motherboards which are imported without the BIOS ROM Chip. Upon importation and subsequent adding of the ROM BIOS chip the boards will be a full functioning motherboard used in two of AST's Desktop lines.
Headquarter's Ruling 951443 defines the BIOS ROM as "the part of an operating system that contains the machine instruction necessary to activate the peripheral devices. The ROM indicates that it is permanently stored in a read only memory chip". This Headquarter's Ruling also stressed that the BIOS ROM is essential to the operation of the motherboard. A motherboard that lacks the BIOS ROM chip would not be functional, and therefore would not meet the definition of an automatic data processing machine as indicated in Legal Note 5 (A) of Chapter 84 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedules.
The applicable subheading for the motherboards imported without the BIOS ROM Chip will be 8473.30.1000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for other parts and accessories of the machines of heading 8471; printed circuit assemblies, other than for power supplies for automatic data processing machines. The rate of duty will be free.
This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Section 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177).
A copy of this ruling letter should be attached to the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If the documents have been filed without a copy, this ruling should be brought to the attention of the Customs officer handling the transaction.
Sincerely,
Jean F. Maguire
Area Director
New York Seaport