CLA-2 OT:RR:CTF:TCM H213704 DSR
Area Port Director
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Port of Pembina
10980 Highway 29
Pembina, ND 58271
RE: Request for internal advice; Classification of a mobile lube skid
Dear Port Director:
This is in response to your memorandum dated February 23, 2012, forwarding a request for internal advice dated February 22, 2012, filed by GHY USA, Inc., on behalf of Western Environmental Canada (“Western”). The internal advice request concerns the classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) of a mobile lube skid. A brochure describing the product, as well as the website address of Western, has been submitted.
FACTS:
The mobile lube skid is a complete portable system used in various industries such as construction, agriculture, quarrying, open cast mining and power generation. It is used to service equipment in remote locations where returning the equipment to the base facility would not be feasible. The skid is not self-propelled but can be transported by vehicle to the servicing destination, and dispense lubricants, compressed air and, if required, fuel. A skid is available in various configurations but may consist of (1) grease and oil pumps; (2) fuel pumps; (3) delivery hose reels for grease, oil, or fuel: (4) an air compressor (5), a gasoline (or diesel) engine compressor and required accessories – all mounted together on a chassis.
In its request for internal advice, Western asserts that the skid is likely classified under subheading 8413.11.0000, HTSUSA, which covers pumps for dispensing fuels or lubricants, of the type used in filling stations or in garages, fitted or designed to be fitted with a measuring device. As justification for that position, the importer claims that the essential character of the skid is imparted by the pumps within.
ISSUE:
Whether the mobile lube skid is classified under heading 8413, HTSUS, as a pump for liquids, whether or not fitted with a measuring device, or under heading 8479, HTSUS, as a machine or mechanical appliance having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in Chapter 84, HTS.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Classification of merchandise under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) is governed by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI). GRI 1 provides that classification shall be determined according to the terms of the headings 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 may then be applied. In addition, in interpreting the HTSUS, the Explanatory Notes (ENs) of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System may be utilized. The ENs, although neither dispositive nor legally binding, provide a commentary on the scope of each heading, and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of the HTSUS. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127 (August 23, 1989).
The HTSUS provisions under consideration are as follows:
8413 Pumps for liquids, whether or not fitted with a measuring device; liquid elevators; part thereof:
* * *
8479 Machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof:
* * * *
Insofar as heading 8479, HTSUS, covers machines not specified elsewhere, if the subject merchandise is described by the terms of heading 8413, HTSUS, it is classified therein. The importer argues that the subject merchandise is described by the terms of heading 8413, HTSUS, as a pump for liquids. EN 84.13 explains that the heading covers:
… most machines and appliances for raising or otherwise continuously displacing volumes of liquids (including molten metal and wet concrete), whether they are operated by hand or by any kind of power unit, integral or otherwise.
The heading also includes delivery pumps equipped with measuring or price-calculating mechanisms such as are used for supplying petrol or oil in garages, and also pumps specially designed for use with other machines, vehicles, etc. (including petrol, oil or water pumps for internal combustion engines, and pumps for man-made textile fiber spinning machines).
While the skid at issue incorporates pumps as components, the documentation submitted by the importer indicates that the function of the skid is to service machinery by dispensing lubricants, air and gas, and not to simply continuously displace or deliver fluids. Therefore, we find that the skid is beyond the scope of heading 8413, HTSUS.
By asserting that the skid’s internal pump imparts the skid’s essential character, the importer is apparently invoking General Rule of Interpretation (“GRI”) 3(b), which states the following:
Mixtures, composite goods consisting of different materials or made up of different components, and goods put up in sets for retail sale, which cannot be classified by reference to 3(a), shall be classified as if they consisted of the material or component which gives them their essential character, insofar as this criterion is applicable.
EN(XI) to GRI 3(b) defines composite goods made up of different components as follows:
… not only those in which the components are attached to each other to form a practically inseparable whole but also those with separable components, provided these components are adapted one to the other and are mutually complementary and that together they form a whole which would not normally be offered for sale in separate parts.
We think that it is important to note that while the skid’s components are attached to one another, the skid is not ipso facto a composite good for tariff classification purposes. While we recognize that that the components at issue – the air compressor, grease pump, oil pump, fuel pump and the hose reels – are all mounted on a common chassis, they are not attached to each other and function independently of each other. Therefore, they cannot be said to form a “practically inseparable whole.” The components, even though separable, are also not adapted to one another and are not “mutually complementary.” None of the pumps and compressor are adapted to one another because they have not been modified or altered so as to make them more suitable for use with one another. The fuel pump is complete and functional without the air compressor and the other pumps. The air compressor and the other pumps are similarly complete and functional, and all of the components are whole, marketable and saleable as goods unto themselves. The mobile lube skid is thus classifiable at GRI 1.
Heading 8479 provides for machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in Chapter 84, HTS. The subject merchandise is not described by any other heading in Chapter 84, HTS. Further, EN 84.79 states, in pertinent part, that mechanical devices, with or without motors or other driving force, whose function can be performed distinctly from and independently of any other machine or appliance are to be regarded as having “individual functions,” and specifically provides for “pump-type automatic machine greasers.” EN 84.79(III)(4). Here, the skid meets the definition of having an individual function because it is a mechanical device that performs its function without the aid of any other machine or appliance. The skid contains lubricant pumps, delivery hose reels, an air compressor, a gasoline (or diesel) engine compressor and required accessories that allow it to apply lubricants to various machinery, which is akin to the “pump-style automatic machine greasers” explicitly described in EN 84.79. We therefore find that the skid is classified in heading 8479, HTSUS. This classification is consistent with prior CBP rulings. See HQ H84078, dated August 20, 2001; HQ H85564, dated August 30, 2001.
HOLDING:
Pursuant to GRIs 1 and 6, the mobile lube skid is classifiable in heading 8479, HTSUS, specifically subheading 8479.89.98, HTSUS, which provides for “Machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof: Other machines and mechanical appliances: Other: Other.” The rate of duty is 2.5% ad valorem.
Sixty days from the date of the decision, the Office International Trade, Regulations and Rulings, will make this decision available to CBP personnel, and to the public on the CBP Home Page at www.cbp.gov, by means of the Freedom of Information Act, and other methods of public distribution.
Sincerely,
Myles B Harmon, Director
Commercial & Trade Facilitation Division