CLA-2 OT:RR:CTF:TCM H250136 EGJ

Pete Mento
Expeditors Tradewin, LLC
1015 Third Avenue, 12th Floor
Seattle, WA 98104

RE: Revocation of NY I89639 and Modification of NY R01329: Classification of Parts of a Paint Mixing Unit

Dear Mr. Mento:

This is in reference to New York Ruling Letter (NY) I89639, dated January 21, 2003, issued to you concerning the tariff classification of metal shelving for the Dedoes Alliance 1.7 and Alliance 2.4 paint mixing units. In NY I89639, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) classified the metal shelves in heading 9403 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for furniture and parts thereof.

We have reviewed NY I89639 and find it to be in error. For the reasons set forth below, we hereby revoke NY I89639 and modify one other ruling with substantially similar merchandise: NY R01329, dated January 24, 2005, which was also issued to Expeditors Tradewin, LLC. In NY R01329, CBP classified a blending table, as well the foot and gusset supports (feet) for the Dedoes Alliance Paint Mixing unit. This modification only applies to the feet, which CBP classified in heading 9403, HTSUS.

Pursuant to section 625(c)(1), Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. §1625(c)(1)), as amended by section 623 of Title VI, notice of the proposed modification and revocation was published on November 12, 2014, in the Customs Bulletin, Volume 48, No. 45. CBP received no comments in response to this notice.

FACTS:

The Dedoes Alliance Paint mixer is a floor-standing unit of metal shelves. An electric motor sits on the bottom shelf and powers gear drives on the shelves. The gear drives rotate paddles on paint can lids specifically designed for the Dedoes Alliance Paint mixer. A picture of the paint mixing unit is provided below:



Each metal shelving unit comes equipped with a gear drive on the top of the shelf and safety guards on the bottom of the shelf. The safety guards lock the paint cans into place and secure them during mixing. A mixing shelf cover is also included to cover the gear drive and set additional paint cans on top of the shelving unit. A picture of the metal shelving unit and its components is provided below:



The feet attach to the bottom of the paint mixing unit and stabilize the unit. A picture of the feet is provided below:



ISSUE:

Are the metal shelving units and the feet classified in heading 9403, HTSUS, as parts of metal furniture, or in heading 8479, HTSUS, as parts of machines which perform individual functions?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Classification under the HTSUS is made in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's). 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 GRI’s 2 through 6 may then be applied in order.

The HTSUS provisions at issue are as follows:

8479 Machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof:

Other machines and mechanical appliances:

8479.82.00 Mixing, kneading, crushing, grinding, screening, sifting, homogenizing, emulsifying or stirring machines * * *

8479.90 Parts:

8479.90.94 Other

* * *

9403 Other furniture and parts thereof:

9403.90 Parts:

Other:

9403.90.80 Other * * *

Note 2(a) – (b) to Section XVI (Chapters 84-85) states that:

Subject to note 1 to this section, note 1 to chapter 84 and note 1 to chapter 85, parts of machines (not being parts of the articles of heading 8484, 8544, 8545, 8546 or 8547) are to be classified according to the following rules: (a) Parts which are goods included in any of the headings of chapter 84 or 85 (other than headings 8409, 8431, 8448, 8466, 8473, 8487, 8503, 8522, 8529, 8538 and 8548) are in all cases to be classified in their respective headings;

(b) Other parts, if suitable for use solely or principally with a particular kind of machine, or with a number of machines of the same heading (including a machine of heading 8479 or 8543) are to be classified with the machines of that kind or in heading 8409, 8431, 8448, 8466, 8473, 8503, 8522, 8529 or 8538 as appropriate. However, parts which are equally suitable for use principally with the goods of headings 8517 and 8525 to 8528 are to be classified in heading 8517 …

* * *

Note 5 to Section XVI (Chapters 84 – 85) provides as follows:

5. 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.

* * *

Note 2 to Chapter 94 provides as follows:

2. The articles (other than parts) referred to in headings 9401 to 9403 are to be classified in those headings only if they are designed for placing on the floor or ground.

The following are, however, to be classified in the above-mentioned headings even if they are designed to be hung, to be fixed to the wall or to stand one on the other.

(a) Cupboards, bookcases, other shelved furniture (including single shelves presented with supports for fixing them to the wall) and unit furniture;

(b) Seats and beds.

* * *

GRI 3(a) provides as follows:

When, by application of rule 2(b) or for any other reason, goods are, prima facie, classifiable under two or more headings, classification shall be effected as follows:

(a) The heading which provides the most specific description shall be preferred to headings providing a more general description. However, when two or more headings each refer to part only of the materials or substances contained in mixed or composite goods or to part only of the items in a set put up for retail sale, those headings are to be regarded as equally specific in relation to those goods, even if one of them gives a more complete or precise description of the goods.

* * *

The Explanatory Notes (EN) to the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System represent the official interpretation of the tariff at the international level. While neither legally binding nor dispositive, the ENs provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the HTSUS and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of these headings at the international level. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989).

EN 84.79 provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

For this purpose the following are to be regarded as having “individual functions”:

(I) MACHINERY OF GENERAL USE   This group includes, for example:

…   (2)   Presses, crushers, grinders, mixers, etc., not designed for particular goods or industries.

* * *

Applying GRI 1, the first issue is whether the complete paint mixing unit is classified as a machine of heading 8479, HTSUS, or as shelved furniture of heading 9403, HTSUS. In NY I89639 and NY R01329, CBP classified the unit’s metal shelves and feet as parts of furniture under heading 9403, HTSUS. This means that in those rulings, CBP considered the complete paint mixing unit to be classifiable as shelved furniture of heading 9403, HTSUS.

However, in NY I86036, dated October 2, 2002, CBP examined the Alliance Elite paint can lids for the paint mixing unit. Each paint can lid is equipped with a paddle assembly. The operator will attach the Alliance Elite lid to the top of a paint can, and then place the paint can on one of the unit’s shelves. The lid’s paddle assembly attaches to the gear drive inside the shelf. When the operator turns on the unit’s motor, the gear shaft turns the paddle assembly inside of the lid and mixes the paint. CBP classified the Alliance Elite lids under subheading 8479.82, HTSUS, as mixing machines in themselves.

Heading 8479 provides for machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions. In United States v. Guth Stern & Co., Inc., 21 C.C.P.A. 246 (1933) (Guth Stern), the U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (CCPA) (predecessor to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) defined the term “machine” as follows:

Popularly and in the wider mechanical sense, a machine is a more or less complex combination of mechanical parts, as levers, cog and sprocket wheels, pulleys, shafts, and spindles, ropes, chains, and bands, cams and other turning and sliding pieces, springs, confined fluids, etc., together with the framework and fastenings supporting and connecting them, as when it is designed to operate upon material to change it in some preconceived and definite manner, to lift or transport loads, etc. Id. at 248 citing Webster’s New International Dictionary [citation omitted in original].

While the CCPA was interpreting the tariff term “machine” under the Tariff Schedule of the United States (TSUS), predecessor to the HTSUS, this definition is still helpful. As noted in House Conference Report No. 100-576, dated April 20, 1998, on the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (P.L. 100-418), decisions by the Customs Service and the courts interpreting nomenclature under the TSUS are not to be deemed dispositive in interpreting the HTSUS. Nevertheless, on a case-by-case basis, prior decisions 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.

Moreover, the CCPA’s definition is consistent with current dictionary definitions of the term “machine.” The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (11th ed. 2014), available at www.merriam-webster.com, defines “machine” as “a piece of equipment with moving parts that does work when it is given power from electricity, gasoline, etc.” The Macmillan Dictionary (Macmillan Publisher Ltd. 2009 – 2014) available at www.macmillandictionary.com, defines machine as “a piece of equipment that does a particular job by using electricity, steam, gas, etc.”

The paint mixing unit has an electric motor that powers the gear drive shafts inside of each shelf. The drive shafts connect to the paint can lids, which are equipped with mixing paddles. The drive shafts turn the mixing paddles to mix up the paint. Thus, the paint mixing unit satisfies the CCPA’s definition of a machine because it consists of shafts, pulleys and other simple machines. These simple machines are combined together on a framework to mix paint. Also, the paint mixing unit is powered by an electric motor, which satisfies the current dictionary definitions. Therefore, the paint mixing unit is a machine. Moreover, EN 84.79 states that mixing machines are classifiable as machines with individual functions. For these reasons, the entire paint mixing unit is classifiable as a machine performing an individual function under heading 8479, HTSUS.

Heading 9403, HTSUS, provides for furniture. Note 2 to Chapter 94 describes the merchandise covered by the term “furniture.” Note 2 states that “the articles … referred to in headings 9401 to 9403 are to be classified in those headings only if they are designed for placing on the floor or ground.” Further, Note 2 states that “cupboards, bookcases, other shelved furniture…seats and beds” are classifiable as furniture even if they are “designed to be hung, to be fixed to the wall or to stand one on the other.”

The paint mixing unit is designed for placing on the floor or the ground. Moreover, it consists of shelved furniture similar to bookcases and cupboards. As such, the paint mixing unit satisfies the definition of furniture set forth in Note 2 to Chapter 94. Therefore, it is classifiable as furniture under heading 9403, HTSUS.

GRI 3(a) provides that when goods are, prima facie, classifiable under two or more headings, the heading which provides the most specific description shall be preferred to headings providing a more general description. Heading 9403, HTSUS, provides for “other furniture.” Heading 8479, HTSUS, provides for “machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter.” While heading 9403, HTSUS, appropriately describes the paint mixing unit as a shelving unit, heading 8479, HTSUS, more specifically describes the paint mixing unit as a machine performing an individual function. As mentioned above, a machine can be powered by electricity, can consist of smaller, simpler machines and can perform a specific job. The paint mixing unit does all of these things. By application of GRI 3(a), we find that the paint mixing unit is properly classified in heading 8479, HTSUS, because it more specific than heading 9403, HTSUS.

Turning next to the classification of the shelving units and the feet, Note 2(a) to Section XVI provides that parts which are goods included in any of the headings of Chapter 84 or 85 are in all cases to be classified in their respective headings. As the feet and shelving units are not goods included in a heading of Section XVI, we must proceed to Note 2(b).

Note 2(b) states that parts which are suitable for use solely or principally with a particular kind of machine, or with a number of machines of the same heading (including a machine of heading 8479 or 8543) are to be classified with the machines of that kind. In their condition as imported, the instant shelving units contain gear drives that only function with the complete paint mixing unit. The gear drives are powered by the unit’s motor and turn the paddle assemblies in the paint can lids. The unit’s feet are designed for use solely with the complete paint mixing unit. As such, both the shelves and feet are solely used with a machine having an individual function of heading 8479, HTSUS. For all of the aforementioned reasons, the shelving units and the feet are properly classified as parts of machines which have an individual function under subheading 8479.90, HTSUS.

HOLDING:

By application of GRI 1 (Note 2(b) to Section XVI) and GRI 3(a), the shelving units and the feet for the Dedoes Alliance Paint Mixing unit are classified under heading 8479, HTSUS. Specifically, they are classified under subheading 8479.90.94, HTSUS, which provides, in pertinent part, for “Machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof: Parts: Other.” The 2015 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 on the World Wide Web at www.usitc.gov.

EFFECT ON OTHER RULINGS:

NY I89639, dated January 21, 2003, is hereby revoked.

NY R01329, dated January 24, 2005, is hereby modified with regard to the tariff classification of the foot and gusset support (feet).

In accordance with 19 U.S.C. §1625(c), this ruling will become effective 60 days after its publication in the Customs Bulletin.

Sincerely,

Myles B. Harmon, Director
Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division