HQ H195840
August 18 2015
CLA-2 OT: RR: CTF: TCM: H195840 ERB
Ms. Monica Cantu
UPS Trade Management Services, Inc.
12380 Morris Road
Alpharetta, GA 30005
Mr. Bruce Thelen
Dickinson Wright PLLC
500 Woodward Avenue, Suite 4000
Detroit, MI 48226-3425
RE: Modification of NY H88897; Modification of NY M82161; Tariff classification of steel blind rivet nuts
Dear Mr. Thelen and Ms. Cantu:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued New York Ruling (NY) H88897 on March 5, 2002 to Bollhoff Rivnut Inc. (Bollhoff). NY H88897 pertains to the tariff classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), of three models of blind rivet nuts and blind rivet studs. CBP issued NY M82161 on April 19, 2006 to UPS Trade Management Services, Inc. on behalf of its client, Sherex Fastening Solutions, LLC (Sherex). NY M82161 also regarded the tariff classification of a steel blind rivet nut from Sherex’s CAL series. We have since reviewed NY H88897 and NY M82161 and find them to be in error with respect to the classification of the steel blind rivet nuts, which are described in detail herein. The remainder of NY H88897 regarding steel blind rivet studs, and NY M82161, regarding the threaded brass inserts, remains intact.
Pursuant to Section 615(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1625(c)), as amended by Section 623 of Title VI (Customs Modernization) of the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (Pub. L. 103-182, 107 Stat. 2057), CBP is modifying NY H88897, and revoking any treatment previously accorded by it to substantially identical transactions. Notice of the proposed revocation was published on May 27, 2015, in Volume 49, Number 21 of the Customs Bulletin. No comments were received in response to the proposed notice.
FACTS:
In NY H88897, dated March 5, 2002, CBP stated the following:
You have described your items as blind rivet nuts and blind rivet studs. The nuts will be made of steel and aluminum. … The diameters of these fasteners come in various metric sizes (mm). You state that all these items are threaded and intended for fastening and securing sheet metal and plastic materials.
The applicable subheading for the steel blind rivet nuts will be 7318.19.0000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for screws, bolts, nuts, coach screws, screw hooks, rivets, cotters, cotter pins, washers (including spring washers) and similar articles, of iron or steel: threaded articles: other. The duty rate will be 5.7% ad valorem.
On November 22, 2011, Bollhoff submitted to this office a request for reconsideration and modification of NY H88897, stating that the steel blind rivet nuts should be classified in subheading 7318.16.00, HTSUS, which provides for “Screws, bolts, nuts, coach screws, screw hooks, rivets, cotters, cotter pins, washers (including spring washers) and similar articles, of iron or steel: threaded articles: nuts.” On November 19, 2012, Bollhoff provided a supplement to its request for reconsideration and modification of NY H88897. The supplement included seven exhibits of industry standards, as well as a letter from the Industrial Fasteners Institute (Exhibit 1, dated November 2, 2012, authored by Joe Greenslade, Director of Engineering Technology). This information was factored into the analysis herein.
In NY M82161, dated April 19, 2006, CBP stated the following:
The merchandise pictured here is described as follows:
[b]lind rivet nuts (CAL series)
steel and stainless steel
sizes range from 6/31” to 3/8” – 16 and M4 to M10
internally threaded
installs from one side
screw or bolt installs into blind rivet nut
The applicable subheading for the steel blind rivet nuts (item 1)…, will be 7318.19.0000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for screws, bolts, nuts, coach screws, screw hooks, rivets, cotters, cotter pins, washers (including spring washers) and similar articles, of iron or steel: threaded articles: other. The rate of duty will be 5.7% ad valorem.
ISSUE:
Whether a threaded article which is used to fasten a bolt, is used as a nut, but is riveted into place is considered a “nut” for tariff classification purposes, under subheading 7318.16.00, HTSUS, or whether it is classified as “other” than a nut, under subheading 7318.19.00, HTSUS.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Classification under the HTSUS is made in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI). GRI 1 provides that the classification of goods shall be determined according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative Section or Chapter Notes. In the event that the goods cannot be classified solely on the basis of GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRIs may then be applied.
The HTSUS subheading provisions under consideration in this case are as follows:
7318 Screws, bolts, nuts, coach screws, screw hooks, rivets, cotters, cotter pins, washers (including spring washers) and similar articles, of iron or steel:
Threaded articles:
7318.16.00 Nuts
7318.19.00 Other
Because the instant classification analysis occurs beyond the four-digit heading level, GRI 6 is implicated. GRI 6 states:
For legal purposes, the classification of goods in the subheading of a heading shall be determined according to the terms of those subheadings and any related subheading notes, and mutatis mutandis to the above rules, on the understanding that only subheadings at the same level are comparable. For the purposes of this rule, the relative section, chapter, and subchapter notes also apply, unless the context otherwise requires.
Subheading 7318.16.00, HTSUS, which provides for “nuts” is an eo nomine provision. “An eo nomine designation with no terms of limitation, will ordinarily include all forms of the named article.” Carl Zeiss, Inc. v. United States, 195 F.3d 1375, 1379 (Fed. Cir. 1999) (quoting Hayes-Sammons Chem. Co. v. United States, 55 C.C.P.A. 69, 75 (1968)). That said, “[w]hen an object is in character or function something other than as described by a specific statutory provision – either more limited or more diversified – and the difference is significant, it cannot find classification within such [eo nomine] provision.” Casio, Inc. v. United States, 73 F.3d 1095, 1097 (Fed. Cir. 1996), citing Robert Bosch Corp. v. United States, 63 Cust. Ct. 96, 103-04, Cust. Dec. 3881 (1969). Therefore, CBP must first define what a “nut” is for tariff classification purposes. Then, CBP will determine whether the subject rivet nut’s characteristics render it more diverse than the intended scope for “nuts” of subheading 7318.16.00, HTSUS.
The term “nut” is not defined by the tariff. The courts have held that in determining the proper meaning of a tariff provision, “the correct meaning of the term is its common commercial meaning.” Arko Foods Int’l, Inc. v. United States, 654 F.3d 1361, 1364 (Fed. Cir. 2011). To determine the common commercial meaning Customs may rely upon “its own understanding of terms used, and may consult standard lexicographic and scientific authorities.” Airflow Tech., Inc. v. United States, 524 F.3d 1287, 1291 (Fed. Cir. 2008).
The Explanatory Notes of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (ENs) provide commentary on the scope of each heading of the Harmonized System . Classification at the heading level is not in dispute here, however, the ENs are germane as regards what a “nut” is, since it is listed at the heading and subheading level. The EN to 73.18 Subsection (A) Screws, Bolts and Nuts states, in relevant part:
Nuts are metal pieces designed to hold the corresponding bolts in place. They are usually tapped throughout but are sometimes blind. The heading includes wing nuts, butterfly nuts, etc. Lock nuts (usually thinner and castellated) are sometimes used with bolts.
The scope of the subheadings under heading 7318, HTSUS, has been the subject of many rulings issued by this office, as well as an “Informed Compliance Publication” entitled, “What Every Member of the Trade Community Should Know About: Fasteners of Heading 7318”, which was published in April 2012. Therein, “nuts” are defined as “internally threaded fasteners designed to hold the corresponding bolt in place.” Id at page 12.
Myriad commercial standards exist regarding what constitutes a nut. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private, non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards. It also accredits standards developed by other standards organizations. Relevant here is the standard created by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), endorsed by ANSI. ANSI/ASME’s Glossary of Terms for Mechanical Fasteners (ASME B18.12-2012), subsection 3.2.1.1. defines a nut as: “a perforated block having an internal or female screw thread, designed to assemble with an external or male screw thread, such as those on a bolt or other threaded part. Its intended function is fastening, adjusting transmitting motion, or transmitting power with a large mechanical advantage and nonreversible motion.” Section 3.2.1 which regards Nuts as a whole, then goes on to list more than 40 types of nuts of varying sizes, dimensions, and features, which make the nut suitable for different and specific usages.
Thus, in reading the above collectively, a nut is defined broadly as a type of fastener which is internally threaded and often but not always used opposite a mating bolt which fastens the materials together. This describes the subject rivet nuts as they are internally threaded fasteners, installed into a parent material for the attachment of a mating part with a screw. Specifically, the subject rivet nuts are riveted within sheet metals or plastic material as assembly components to provide an internal thread length and prevent the rotation of that thread while a bolt or screw is rotated into the thread. In other words, it clamps multiple assembly components together when tapped threads are not possible due to small wall thickness or hollow components.
As mentioned, the subject rivet nuts have characteristics uncommon to nuts. They differ from the common hexagon nut, in that common hex nuts are generally torqued to turn it onto a stationary bolt, screw, or other threaded fastener. Here, the subject rivet nuts are installed onto a mandrel, placed in the hole, and the user pulls the tool trigger and the mandrel retracts causing the unthreaded exterior shank of the rivet nut to expand behind the parent material, riveting it into place. That said, the article will still be given its claimed eo nomine classification notwithstanding the existence of this additional feature, because it does not transform the character of the article as a “nut.” This is consistent with previous CBP rulings regarding nuts with additional characteristics still being classified as “nuts” under the tariff. See NY N167096, dated June 7, 2011 (classifying 3/8 hex flange nuts in subheading 7318.16.00, HTSUS); NY 844719, dated September 13, 1989 (classifying four articles in subheading 7318.16.00, HTSUS: first, a floating plate nut, described as a steel threaded nut element combined with a steel base. The base has two rivet holes which enable it to be fixed in place to loosely hold the nut element in place. Second, an A.R.E. nut, consisting of a steel threaded nut element combined with a steel base with a ribbed annular neck. Third, a dome nut, and fourth a nonfloating, multi-component nut); and NY N192135, dated November 23, 2011 (classifying a steel fastener called a Round Rivet Nut, in subheading 7318.16.00, HTSUS). See also Headquarters Ruling (HQ) 959570, dated December 20, 1996 (where CBP stated, “the inner cap nut functions not only to secure a truck or trailer’s inner wheel onto a stud by means of its internal thread, but also to serve as a base onto which the outer wheel is mounted and secured by a lug nut tightening onto its external thread. This is a significant additional function not associated with nuts of subheading 7318.16.00, HTSUS,” citing NY 829971, dated June 7, 1998).
HOLDING:
By application of GRI 1, the subject rivet nuts are specifically provided for in subheading 7318.16.0060, HTSUS, which provides for, “screws, bolts, nuts, coach screws, screw hooks, rivets, cotters, cotter pins, washers (including spring washers) and similar articles, of iron or steel: threaded articles: nuts: Other: Of stainless steel.” The column one, general rate of duty is free.
Duty rates are provided for your convenience and subject to change. The text of the most recent HTSUS and the accompanying duty rates are provided at www.usitc.gov.
EFFECT ON OTHER RULINGS
NY H88897 and NY M82161, are hereby MODIFIED, as regards the tariff classification of the steel blind rivet nuts.
In accordance with 19 U.S.C. § 1625(c), this ruling will become effective 60 days after its publication in the Customs Bulletin.
Myles B. Harmon, Director
Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division