CLA-2 OT:RR:CTF:TCM H252412 PJG
Donna M. Klavon, LCB
WF Whelan Co.
41425 Joy Road Canton, MI 48187
RE: Tariff classification of a profiling, welding, and liner cutting line
Dear Ms. Klavon:
This ruling is in response to your letter dated May 16, 2012, filed on behalf of Witzenmann USA (“Witzenmann”) requesting a binding ruling on the tariff classification of a profiling, welding, and liner cutting line under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”). Your request has been forwarded by the National Commodity Specialist Division to this office for a reply.
FACTS:
The profiling, welding, and liner cutting line consists of ten units or component stations, imported together in one shipment. The ten units or component stations together make up a fully integrated manufacturing line for the processing of stainless steel strip into stripwound hoses. The ten units or component stations consist of the following: 1) winches; 2) strip attaching station (resistance fusion welding process); 3) strip oiling unit; 4) profiling unit; 5) winding unit; 6) adjusting force measuring unit; 7) hose cutoff saw; 8) stripwound hose cartridge; 9) cutoff stations 1 and 2; and 10) OK part outlet belt. The line processes stainless steel strip with strip widths from 12 mm to 20 mm and strip thickness from 0.10 mm to 0.30 mm to stripwound hoses in the sizes DN 38 to DN 95. The product line information provided states that there are two main controls and a welding source control and that the control is included with the shipment. The purpose of the manufacturing line is to make stripwound hoses, which have various applications according to the Witzenmann USA LLC website, including: “as protective hose for fibre optic and electrical cables”; “as suction and conveying hose for fumes, solids, and granules”; and “as exhaust gas hose.”
Stripwound hoses are made from profiled metal strip that is helically coiled in an interhooked manner. The process of manufacturing the stripwound hoses begins with a steel strip that arrives in coils, which are run through the winding machine that is equipped with a twin winch. The strip attaching station welds a new strip to the end of a previous strip and the strip oiling station applies a thin film of oil onto the strips. The profiling unit forms the strip into a finished profile. The winding unit forms the strip into a polygonal stripwound hose by simultaneously applying pressure and winding the strip around the winding mandrel. The adjusting force measuring unit measures and checks the technical values of the completed stripwound hose. The winding unit feeds the stripwound hose into the hose cutoff saw, which cuts the stripwound hose into pieces no more than 7 mm in length. The stripwound hose cartridge stores the stripwound hoses before they are transferred to the cutting stations. The hose is cut in either cutoff stations 1 or 2 and the pieces are then transported by the outlet belt to the OK part box. The profiling, welding, and liner cutting line is neither computer numerical controlled nor programmable logic controlled.
ISSUE:
Whether the subject profiling, welding, and liner cutting line is classifiable in heading 8462, HTSUS, which provides for “Machine tools (including presses) for working metal by forging, hammering or die-stamping; machine tools (including presses) for working metal by bending, folding, straightening, flattening, shearing, punching or notching; presses for working metal or metal carbides, not specified above” or in heading 8479, HTSUS, which provides for “Machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof.”
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“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 2015 HTSUS provisions under consideration are as follows:
8462 Machine tools (including presses) for working metal by forging, hammering or die-stamping; machine tools (including presses) for working metal by bending, folding, straightening, flattening, shearing, punching or notching;
presses for working metal or metal carbides, not specified above
8479 Machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof
Note 4 to Section XVI, HTSUS, which includes Chapter 84, states the following:
Where a machine (including a combination of machines) consists of individual components (whether separate or interconnected by piping, by transmission devices, by electric cables or by other devices) intended to contribute together to a clearly defined function covered by one of the headings in chapter 84 or chapter 85, then the whole falls to be classified in the heading appropriate to that function.
The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (“ENs”) constitute 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. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989).
The EN to 84.62 states, in pertinent part:
The heading covers certain machine-tools, listed in the heading text, which work by changing the shape or form of metal or metal carbides.
The heading includes:
…
(2) Bending machines. These include machines for working flat products (sheets, plates and strips) which, by passing the product through three or four sets of rollers, give them a cylindrical curve (for this the rollers are parallel as with tube forming machines) or else a conical shape (in which the rollers are not parallel); machines for working non-flat products (bars, rods, angles, shapes, sections, tubes). These machines work either by means of forming rollers, by press bending, or, for tubes (and, in particular, oil pipes), by drawing their ends while the main section is held by a fixed cylinder.
The EN to 84.79 states, in pertinent part:
This heading is restricted to machinery having individual functions, which:
Is not excluded from this Chapter by the operation of any Section or Chapter Note.
and (b) Is not covered more specifically by a heading in any other Chapter of the Nomenclature.
and (c) Cannot be classified in any other particular heading of this Chapter since:
No other heading covers it by reference to its method of functioning, description or type.
and (ii) No other heading covers it by reference to its use or to the industry in which it is employed.
or (iii) It could fall equally well into two (or more) other such headings (general purpose machines).
Witzenmann argues that the subject merchandise is classified in heading 8479, HTSUS, specifically, subheading 8479.81.0000, HTSUSA, as “Machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof: Other machines and mechanical appliances: For treating metal, including electric wire coil-winders.”
The subject merchandise in this case consists of ten items that function together to process stainless stainless steel strip into stripwound hoses. It is the complete fully integrated line for the production of stripwound hoses. Heading 8479, HTSUS, provides for merchandise “not specified or included elsewhere” in Chapter 84. EN 84.79 indicates that heading 8479, HTSUS is a “basket” provision that is intended to cover merchandise that cannot be classified more specifically in any other heading of Chapter 84. According to the Court of International Trade, “[c]lassification of imported merchandise in a basket provision is appropriate only when there is no tariff category that covers the merchandise more specifically.” Apex Universal, Inc. v. United States, 22 C.I.T. 465, 16 (1998).
Heading 8462, HTSUS, provides in relevant part for machine-tools for working metal by bending, folding, straightening, flattening, shearing, punching or notching. Machines-tools are classified in heading 8462, HTSUS when they work by changing the shape or form of metal. See EN 84.62. The scope of the term “machine-tools” has been provided by EN 84.62. Specifically, EN 84.62 states that “[i]n general machine-tools are power-driven but similar machines, worked by hand or pedal, are also covered by” heading 8462, HTSUS.
We find that the profiling, welding, and liner cutting line consists of several units or components that are intended to contribute together to the clearly defined function of working metal, that is, forming stainless steel strip into stripwound hoses. The components are either separate or interconnected by devices within the meaning of Note 4 to Section XVI, HTSUS. Therefore, by Note 4 to Section XVI, HTSUS, we conclude that the function of the subject merchandise is a metal forming operation, which involves bending of the metal, in this case, stainless steel strips to form them into stripwound hoses. The subject merchandise takes the stainless steel strips and winds them around a winding mandrel to form a polygonal stripwound hose and cuts the stripwound hose into the desired specifications. Accordingly, we find that the subject merchandise is described in heading 8462, HTSUS. It is specifically classified under subheading 8462.29.00, HTSUS, as “Machine tools (including presses) for working metal by forging, hammering or die-stamping; machine tools (including presses) for working metal by bending, folding, straightening, flattening, shearing, punching or notching; presses for working metal or metal carbides, not specified above: Bending, folding, straightening or flattening machines (including presses): Other,” because it is not numerically controlled. Therefore, the merchandise is not classifiable in heading 8479, HTSUS.
Our conclusion is consistent with prior CBP rulings. In HQ 965198, dated May 1, 2002, for example, CBP classified a welded tube mill, which was a machine that took coiled metal strip, passed it through a series of bending rolls that gradually formed it into a cylindrical tube, welded the seam to close the tube, sized the welded tube, and cut it off to the desired length. CBP determined that the welded tube mill consisted of several components that were intended to contribute together to the clearly defined function of forming the metal and therefore the welded tube mill was essentially a metal forming operation which involved a bending of the metal so as to impart a cylindrical curve to the metal sheet to form a tube. Accordingly, CBP classified the merchandise under subheading 8462.29.80, HTSUS, as “…machine tools (including presses) for working metal by bending, folding, straightening, flattening, shearing, punching or notching …: Bending, folding, straightening or flattening machines (including presses): … Other: … Other.”
HOLDING:
Under the authority of GRIs 1 and 6, the profiling, welding, and liner cutting line is classified in heading 8462, HTSUS, specifically in subheading 8462.29.00, HTSUS, which provides for “Machine tools (including presses) for working metal by forging, hammering or die-stamping; machine tools (including presses) for working metal by bending, folding, straightening, flattening, shearing, punching or notching; presses for working metal or metal carbides, not specified above: Bending, folding, straightening or flattening machines (including presses): Other.” The 2015 column one, general rate of duty is 4.4 percent ad valorem.
Duty rates are provided for convenience and are subject to change. The text of the most recent HTSUS and the accompanying duty rates are provided on the internet at www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/.
Sincerely,
Ieva K. O’Rourke, Chief
Tariff Classification and Marking Branch