CLA 2 RR:CR:GC:962203 AML
Charles Kent Elkaim
Central Pacific Industries/Guntec USA
P.O. Box 12731
Scottsdale, Arizona 85267-2731
RE: Reconsideration of New York Ruling Letter (NY) C88325; mounts for telescopic rifle sights; part or accessory of part or accessory; ; Note 2, Chapter 90; Note 4, Chapter 90; Note 1(d), Chapter 90; HQ 959098
Dear Mr. Elkaim:
In a letter to the National Commodity Specialist Division, New York, dated July 9, 1998, you request reconsideration of New York Ruling Letter (NY) C88325, issued on June 23, 1998, which determined that rifle scope mounts and rings were classified under subheading 9013.90.20, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), as parts or accessories of telescopic sights for rifles. Your request has been forwarded to this office for reply. Samples were submitted for our review.
FACTS:
You describe the products as “rifle mounts that become permanent part[s] of the rifle assembly, and have various applications, including use as a base to mount rings for scopes, also as a spent cartridge deflector, and/or a handle used to carry the firearm, and as a cover for the top half receiver of the rifle.” The samples consist of machined metal (steel) with a black coating. Each sample has notches and/or slots of the kind used to mount scopes or telescopic sights. Several models were packaged with screws and/or rings for mounting.
ISSUE:
Whether the mounts are classifiable as parts or accessories of telescopic sights for rifles under subheading 9013.90.20, HTSUS, or as parts and accessories of muzzle loading shotguns and rifles under subheading 9305.29.05, HTSUS?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
The classification of merchandise under the HTSUS is governed by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's). GRI 1, HTSUS, provides, in part, that “for legal purposes, classification shall be determined according to terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes[.]” Under GRI 3(a), when “goods are, prima facie, classifiable under two or more headings . . . [t]he heading which provides the most specific description shall be preferred to headings providing a more general description.”
The HTSUS subheadings under consideration are as follows:
9013 Liquid crystal devices not constituting articles provided for more specifically in other headings; lasers, other than laser diodes; other optical appliances and instruments, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts and accessories thereof
9013.90 Parts and accessories:
9013.90.20 Of telescopic sights for rifles
* * *
9305 Parts and accessories of articles of headings 9301 to 9304:
Of shotguns or rifles of heading 9303:
9305.20 Other:
9305.29.05 Of muzzle loading shotguns or rifles.
Note 2, Chapter 90, HTSUS (1998), provides in part:
Subject to Note 1 above, parts or accessories for machines, apparatus, instruments or articles of this chapter are to be classified according to the following rules:
(a) Parts and accessories which are goods included in any of the headings of this chapter or of chapter 84, 85 or 91 (other than heading 8485, 8548 or 9033) are in all cases to be classified in their respective headings;
(b) Other parts and accessories, if suitable for use solely or principally with a particular kind of machine, instrument or apparatus, or with a number of machines, instruments or apparatus of the same heading (including a machine, instrument or apparatus of heading 9010, 9013 or 9031), are to be classified with the machines, instruments or apparatus of that kind[.]
Note 4, Chapter 90, HTSUS (1998) provides in pertinent part:
Heading 9005 does not apply to telescopic sights for fitting to arms . . . such telescopic sights and telescopes are to be classified in heading 9013.
Note 1 (d), Chapter 93, HTSUS (1998), provides:
1. This Chapter does not cover:
* * *
(d) Telescopic sights and other optical devices suitable for use with arms, unless mounted on a firearm or presented with the firearm on which they are designed to be mounted (Chapter 90).
As the subject articles are the mounts upon which optical devices for weapons will be secured, they are either parts or accessories of the optical devices or of the weapons. “Where a particular part of an article is provided for specially, a part of that particular part is more specifically provided for as part of the part than as part of the whole.” Sturm, Ruth; Customs Law & Administration, 3rd Edition, section 54.9, p. 57 (citing C.F. Liebert v. United States, 60 Cust. Ct. 677, C.D. 3499, 287 F. Supp. 1008 (1968); Foster Wheeler Corp. v. United States, 61 Cust. Ct. 166, C.D. 3556, 290 F. Supp. 375 (1968); and Korody-Colyer Corp. v. United States, 66 Cust. Ct. 337, C.D. 4212 (1971)). Therefore, either pursuant to the above-cited chapter notes or GRI 3(a), the mounts are classifiable in heading 9013, HTSUS.
The argument that the devices serve a purpose in addition or alternatively to securing a telescopic scope to a rifle is unpersuasive. But for the desire to affix a telescopic scope to the rifle, one would not affix the device to the weapon. The principal purpose of the mountings is to secure a scope to a rifle. The mountings will be so classified.
This ruling comports with the previous determination of this office in Headquarters Ruling Letter (HQ) 959098, dated July 30, 1996, which classified telescopic sight mounts as parts and accessories of telescopic sights for rifles under subheading 9013.90.20, HTSUS.
HOLDING:
The mounts are classifiable under subheading 9013.90.20, HTSUS, as parts and accessories of telescopic sights for rifles. The column 1, general rate of duty is 16.8%, ad valorem.
EFFECT ON OTHER RULINGS:
NY C88325 is hereby affirmed.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division