CLA-2 CO:R:C:M 954551 MMC

Mr. Kenneth Hurtig, President
J.L. Bruvik, USA Inc.
S3831 Highway 12
Baraboo, WI 53913

RE: Pig dry feeder; EN 84.36; HQRLs 038707, 049588

Dear Mr. Hurtig:

This is in response to your letter of June 29, 1993, regarding the classification of the Maxi Mat pig dry feeder under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Literature depicting the article was submitted for our examination.

FACTS:

The subject article is a pig dry feeder named "Maxi Mat" which supplies feed to pigs in a barn setting. It consists of a stainless steel support frame, metal trough, hollow tube, and a feed measuring device. The foodstuffs are eaten out of the trough. The feeder is suitable for use with whey or home mixed rations and can feed as many as fifty pigs depending upon their size and weight. Its design is such that it fits on most on- farm feed conveying and watering systems.

ISSUE:

Is the Maxi Mat pig dry feeder classifiable as agricultural machinery?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Classification of merchandise under the HTSUS is in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's), taken in order. GRI 1, HTSUS, states in part that for legal purposes, classification shall be determined according to the terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes. Chapter 84, HTSUS, provides in pertinent part for machinery and mechanical appliances. Note 5 to Section XVI, HTSUS, states that for the purposes of these notes, the expression "machine" means any machine, machinery, plant, equipment, apparatus or appliance cited in the headings of chapter 84 or 85.

Heading 8436, HTSUS, provides for other agricultural, horticultural, forestry, poultry-keeping or bee-keeping machinery, including germination plant fitted with mechanical or thermal equipment; poultry incubators and brooders; parts thereof. In understanding the language of the HTSUS, the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes may be consulted. The Explanatory Notes (EN), although not dispositive, are to be used to determine the proper interpretation of the HTSUS. 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128, (August 23, 1989).

EN 84.36, pgs. 1216-1217, states in pertinent part that: [t]he heading covers machinery,....which is of the type used on farms...[t]hese include...[a]utomatic watering-troughs for cattle, horses, pigs, etc., those consisting of a metal basin fitted with a hinged plate which, when depressed by the animal's muzzle, permits an inflow of water. While the present article is not used as a watering trough, we are of the opinion that it is machinery used on a farm and operates using the same principles as the water troughs. It simply supplies dry feed instead of water.

This opinion is consistent with past treatment of pig and livestock dry feeders. HQRLs 038707 dated March 27, 1975, and 049588, dated April 21, 1977, both held that dry feeders were classifiable as agricultural implements in item 666.00 of the Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS). Item 666.00, TSUS, was the precursor to heading 8436, HTSUS. Congress has decided that prior rulings should be considered instructive in interpreting the HTSUS, particularly where the nomenclature previously interpreted in those decisions remains unchanged and no dissimilar interpretation is required by the text of the HTSUS. H. Rep. No. 100-576, 100th Cong., 2d Sess. 548 (1988) at 550.

Because of its similarity to an automatic watering trough, and prior rulings holding similar merchandise classifiable as agricultural implements, we find that the Maxi Mat pig dry feeder is classifiable in subheading 8436.80.00, HTSUS.

HOLDING:

The Maxi Mat pig dry feeders are classifiable in subheading 8436.80.00, HTSUS as [o]ther agricultural, horticultural, forestry, poultry-keeping and bee-keeping machinery, including germination plant fitted with mechanical or thermal equipment; poultry incubators and brooders; thereof: [o]ther machinery: [o]ther: [b]arn and barnyard machines. Under column one of the HTSUS, articles classifiable under this provision are free of duty.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings