CLA-2 OT:RR:CTF:TCM H179635 LWF
Port Director
U.S. Customs & Border Protection
Port of Mobile
150 North Royal Street, Suite 3004
Mobile, AL 36602
Attn: Jack Nichols, Senior Import Specialist
Patricia Knight, Supervisory Import Specialist
Re: Internal Advice Request No. 11/026; Classification of a disassembled helicopter and associated equipment from Germany
Dear Port Director:
This ruling is in response to your memorandum, dated July 26, 2011, forwarding a request for internal advice (No. 11/026), dated May 23, 2011, initiated by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, on behalf of its client, American Eurocopter Corporation (“AEC”). At issue is the proper classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) of a disassembled helicopter and associated equipment from Germany. The request for internal advice is sought based upon AEC’s disagreement with a determination by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that certain items imported with the disassembled helicopter should be classified separately from the helicopter with which they are imported.
FACTS:
The merchandise at issue consists of a disassembled helicopter, model EC135, and associated components specific to the particular model, from Germany.
Eurocopter manufactures, assembles, and flight-tests helicopters in France and Germany. All models are built with certain standard components such as a fuselage, tail assembly, and rotor assembly, and each completed helicopter is assigned a unique serial number. However, each model of Eurocopter helicopter is designed and manufactured for particular uses, and included with the purchase price of the helicopter are certain items that AEC states are “necessary to the safe and efficient use, maintenance, storage of the helicopter.” While these items typically consist of basic equipment and accessories such as manuals and engine covers, Eurocopter may also include devices and components necessary for the helicopter to perform medical transport, fire suppression, or other highly specialized operations. AEC emphasizes that the additional equipment associated with a particular model of helicopter is not optional, and that all included items and equipment are marketed and sold as part of the final purchase price of any AEC helicopter.
The parts and accessories included with the disassembled EC135 (the “EC135 Equipment”) are described as follows:
EC135 Cockpit Fire Extinguisher: a hand-held fire extinguisher installed in the helicopter cockpit in Europe and generally left in its mounting bracket during shipment.
EC135 “Fly-Away Gear” Kit: consisting of logbooks and flight manuals, oil and fuel catch cans, weight balancing and landing gear brackets, engine covers, tie-down straps, and flight accessories such as a sun shade and co-pilot flight control covers.
EC135 Ground-Handling Wheels: two wheels that can be placed under the helicopter’s skids to facilitate movement and repositioning of the helicopter on a tarmac after landing or independent of flight operations.
For purposes of avoiding damage during shipment to the United States, each completed EC135 helicopter is disassembled and palletized in Europe prior to export. Any additional equipment that is not permanently affixed to the assembled helicopter is packaged with the disassembled helicopter components, and the helicopter, including all disassembled components and additional equipment specific to that model, is transported to the United States in a single shipment.
After importation, AEC takes possession of the disassembled EC 135 helicopter and reassembles it for delivery to the purchaser. The helicopter is reassembled in the same configuration in which it was originally manufactured and flight tested in Europe, and the reassembled helicopter, together with the EC135 Equipment, is delivered to the purchaser.
ISSUE:
Whether the disassembled EC135 helicopter and the included EC135 Equipment are classifiable together, under GRI 2(a), as a disassembled helicopter, or separately in their respective headings?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Merchandise is classifiable under the HTSUS in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRIs). The systematic detail of the HTSUS is such that most goods are classified by application of GRI 1, that is, 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 heading and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRIs 2 through 6 may then be applied in order.
The HTSUS subheadings under consideration are as follows:
8424 Mechanical appliances (whether or not hand operated) for projecting, dispersing or spraying liquids or powders; fire extinguishers, whether or not charged; spray guns and similar appliances; steam or sand blasting machines and similar jet projecting machines; parts thereof:
8424.10.00 Fire extinguishers, whether or not charged…
* * * * *
8802 Other aircraft (for example, helicopters, airplanes); spacecraft (including satellites) and suborbital and spacecraft launch vehicles:
Helicopters:
8802.11.00 Of an unladen weight not exceeding 2,000 kg…
* * * * *
8803 Parts of goods of heading 8801 or 8802:
8803.30.00 Other parts of airplanes or helicopters…
* * * * *
GRI 2(a) states as follows:
Any reference in a heading to an article shall be taken to include a reference to that article incomplete or unfinished, provided that, as entered, the incomplete or unfinished article has the essential character of the complete or finished article. It shall also include a reference to that article complete or finished (or failing to be classified as complete or finished by virtue of this rule), entered unassembled or disassembled.
* * * * *
The Explanatory Notes to the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (ENs) represent the official interpretation of the Harmonized System 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. See T.D. 89-90, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989).
The EN for GRI 2(a) provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
RULE 2(a)
(Articles presented unassembled or disassembled)
(V) The second part of Rule 2 (a) provides that complete or finished articles presented unassembled or disassembled are to be classified in the same heading as the assembled article. When goods are so presented, it is usually for reasons such as requirements or convenience of packing, handling or transport.
* * * * *
CBP has consistently classified complete helicopters and aircraft in heading 8802, HTSUS. In Headquarters Ruling Letter (“HQ”) 556790, dated January 31, 1993, CBP classified a modified DC-10 cargo airplane in heading 8802, HTSUS. In that case, a DC-10 airplane was flown to Portugal where additional equipment was added and certain structural changes were made to convert the aircraft into a standard freighter configuration. Based on statements and documents provided by the importer, CBP concluded that the airplane and any modifications or structural changes to its airframe were imported together for use in a civil aircraft. Similarly, in HQ 112719, dated June 21, 1993, CBP classified complete, assembled “air ambulance” helicopters in heading 8802, HTSUS. In both HQ 556790 and HQ 112719, CBP’s analysis remained silent concerning the classification of any safety equipment or accessories that would have necessarily been included with the imported aircraft.
The merchandise at issue consists of a disassembled helicopter, presented together with various equipment and accessories necessary for the safe use, maintenance, storage of the aircraft. The EC 135 Equipment is packaged together with the disassembled helicopter and intended for use with that specific aircraft. By contrast, parts or accessories imported in bulk, and disassociated from a specific finished item, are treated as parts inventory and classified accordingly. See HQ 953860, dated June 23, 1993.
GRI 1, by application of GRI 2(a), extends the terms of a heading to include an article complete or finished that is entered “unassembled” or “disassembled” so long as it possesses the essential character of the complete or finished article. Consistent with the EN to GRI 2(a), the EC135 is presented “disassembled” and so entered to protect it against damage during transport. With respect to the EC135 Equipment, the merchandise also exhibits the properties of an “unassembled” article because articles such as the fire extinguisher and fly-away gear kit are only integrated with the helicopter after it is imported and reassembled. That the EC135 is presented both “disassembled” and “unassembled” does not, however, change our analysis under GRI 2(a). The EC135 is reassembled in the same configuration in which it was originally manufactured and flight tested in Europe, and the merchandise prima facie exhibits the essential character of a complete helicopter both before and after the EC135 Equipment is integrated with the aircraft.
We emphasize that the instant matter does not concern the importation of spare or bulk parts and equipment. The disassembly and packaging operations do not disassociate parts from the individual completed helicopter, and consequently, this ruling does not address the classification of components or equipment imported separately from a particular helicopter or entered in bulk. The EC135 Equipment is shipped and supplied for use with a specific, individual helicopter, and we note that the Cockpit Fire Extinguisher, “Fly-Away Gear” Kit, and Ground-Handling Wheels are marked with the serial number of the aircraft and are shaped and fitted to be suitable for use in this particular helicopter. Thus, in accordance with GRI 2(a), we conclude that the disassembled EC135 helicopter and EC135 Equipment should be classified together, in heading 8802, HTSUS, which provides for complete helicopters.
HOLDING:
By application of GRI 1 and GRI 2(a), the disassembled helicopter and EC135 Equipment are classified in heading 8802, HTSUS, specifically in subheading 8802.11.00, HTSUS, which provides for “Other aircraft (for example, helicopters, airplanes); spacecraft (including satellites) and suborbital and spacecraft launch vehicles: Helicopters: Of an unladen weight not exceeding 2,000 kg.” The 2010 column one, general rate of duty under this provision is free.
You are to mail this decision to counsel for the internal advice requester no later than sixty days from the date of this decision. At that time, the Office of International Trade, Regulations and Rulings, will make the decision available to CBP personnel, and to the public, on the CBP Home Page at http://www.cbp.gov, by means of the Freedom of Information Act, and other methods of publication.
Sincerely,
Myles B. Harmon, Director
Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division