OT:RR:CTF:EMAIN H282901 SK
Mr. Steve Hookey
Customs Specialist
FedEx Trade Networks
7075 Ordan Driver
Mississauga, Ontario L5T 1K6
RE: Request for reconsideration of NY 279024; Classification of heat exchange module; liquid cooling device; affirmed.
Dear Mr. Hookey:
This is in response to your letter, dated October 14, 2016, in which you request reconsideration of New York Ruling Letter (NY) N279024, dated September 23, 2016, in which U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) classified the “900-00450 Rack Direct Contact Liquid Cooling Cadence Air Heat Exchange (AHx) Silvertip Module” (hereinafter described as the “DCLC”) under heading 8419, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (2016 HTSUS), specifically subheading 8419.89.95, HTSUS, which provides for, in pertinent part, “[M]achinery, plant or laboratory equipment, whether or not electrically heated, for the treatment of materials by a process involving a change of temperature such as cooling.” No sample was provided to this office for examination.
We have reviewed NY N279024 and, for the reasons set forth below, have determined that it is correct. Accordingly, NY N279024 is affirmed.
The merchandise at issue in NY N279024 is described as a cooling module designed for use with a commercial data center. It consists of a fan, centralized pumps, a control/monitoring system, a leak detection/migration system, and a 4.3 inch LCD. The subject merchandise is mounted inside an equipment rack (enclosure). It pumps self-contained coolant through the unit’s heat exchanger tubes to absorb and dissipate heat from the cabinet. The subject merchandise removes heat from devices attached to a connection manifold and has no direct contact with processor boards or other heat generating electronic devices.
You submit that the subject article is an accessory designed for exclusive use with the Cadence Rack Cabinet commercial data center. You state that it is installed into the cabinet, directly powered by the cabinet rack, and cannot be used independently. As such, you seek classification of the subject article under heading 8473, HTSUS, specifically subheading 8473.50, HTSUS, as a part or accessory of an Automatic Data Processing (ADP) machine classified in 8471, HTSUS.
The relevant HTSUS provisions are set forth below:
8419 Machinery, plant or laboratory equipment, whether or not electrically heated
(excluding furnaces, ovens and other equipment of heading 8514), for the treatment of materials by a process involving a change of temperature such as heating, cooking, roasting, distilling, rectifying, sterilizing, pasteurizing, steaming, drying, evaporating, vaporizing, condensing or cooling, other than machinery or plant of a kind used for domestic purposes; instantaneous or storage water heaters, nonelectric; parts thereof
8473 Parts and accessories (other than covers, carrying cases and the like) suitable for use solely or principally with machines of headings 8470 to 8472:
Section XVI, Note 2, provides, in pertinent part:
2. Subject to note 1 to this section, note 1 to chapter 84 and to 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:
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;
* * *
Note 2(e) to Chapter 84, HTSUS, states, in relevant part, that heading 8419 excludes
“[M]achinery, plant or laboratory equipment, designed for mechanical operation, in which a change of temperature, even if necessary, is subsidiary….”
The Explanatory Notes (ENs) 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. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989). The ENs to heading 84.19 provide, in pertinent part:
[T]the heading covers machinery and plant designed to submit materials (solid, liquid or gaseous) to a heating or cooling process in order to cause a simple change of temperature, or to cause a transformation of the materials resulting principally from the temperature change (e.g., heating, cooking, roasting, distilling, rectifying, sterilising, pasteurising,
steaming, drying, evaporating, vaporising, condensing or cooling processes). But the heading excludes machinery and plant in which the heating or cooling, even if essential, is merely a secondary function designed to facilitate the main mechanical function of the machine or plant, ….
* * *
(I) HEATING OR COOLING PLANT AND MACHINERY
This group covers plant of general use in many industries for the simple treatment of materials by heating, boiling, cooking, concentration, evaporation, vaporisation, cooling, etc. They include:
* * *
(B) Heat exchange units in which a hot fluid (hot gas, steam or hot liquid) and a cold fluid are made to traverse parallel paths, but usually in opposite directions, separated by thin metal walls in such a manner that the one fluid is cooled and the other heated. These units are usually of the three following types, viz., in the form of:
Concentric tube systems: one fluid flows in the annular interval, the other in the central tube.
A tubular system for the one fluid, enclosed in a chamber through which flows the other fluid, or
Two parallel series of interconnected narrow chambers formed of baffle plates.
In your request for reconsideration, you suggest that the DCLC is classified in heading 8473 as parts and accessories of the machines of heading 8471 because it cannot act independently and is a complimentary accessory of the Cadence Data Center, which you claim is classified under heading 8471, HTSUS. As an initial matter, we note that this office has not received, reviewed, or considered information pertaining to the classification of the Cadence Data Center. Notwithstanding this fact, pursuant to Section XVI Note 2(a), cited supra, classification of the subject article as a part of an ADP machine may only be considered if it is not 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).
The initial analysis, therefore, is whether the subject merchandise is included in
heading 8419, HTSUS, which provides for “[M]achinery, plant or laboratory equipment… for the treatment of materials by a process involving a change of temperature such as … cooling… .” Note 2(e) to Chapter 84, HTSUS, supra, states that “the heading excludes machinery, plant or laboratory equipment in which a change of temperature, even if necessary, is subsidiary.” EN 84.19 provides that heading 84.19 “excludes machinery and plant in which the heating or cooling, even if essential, is merely a secondary function designed to facilitate the main mechanical function of the machine or plant.” As the sole
function of the subject merchandise is to cool (i.e., remove or dissipate heat) devices attached to a connection manifold, and it used in a non-domestic setting, it is specifically covered by heading 8419, HTSUS. As such, classification as a part or accessory of heading 8473, HTSUS, is precluded by Section XVI Note 2(a). We further note that as classification is pursuant to GRI 1, we do not reach a GRI 4 analysis as suggested in your submission.
In your submission you also state that CBP’s reliance on NY M82308, dated June 1, 2006, is improper as the “USB Beverage Cooler” at issue in that ruling is not similar to the instant merchandise under review. While we agree that the “USB Beverage Cooler” is not similar to the instant merchandise, NY M82308 also classified the “Freezone CPU Cooler” which is a liquid cooling system designed to cool commercial computers and functionally similar to the DCLC cooling module at issue. In NY M82308 CBP classified the “Freezone CPU Cooler,” which is also a product of CoolIt Systems, Inc., in subheading 8419.89.95, HTSUS.
You also submit that in NY N279024 CBP failed to distinguish NY N133281, dated December 7, 2010, in which three styles of liquid central processing unit (CPU) coolers were classified in subheading 8473.30.51, HTSUS, as parts and accessories suitable solely or principally for use with ADP machines of heading 8471. In NY N133281, CBP determined that as the subject CPU coolers were designed to be mounted directly onto an ADP machine’s motherboard and make direct contact with the machine’s CPU, they were essential to the proper functioning of the CPU of an ADP machine. In contrast, the DCLC currently under reconsideration operates independently of the data center it is installed to cool. The only connection between the subject DCLC and the electrical machines it is cooling is the input and output of coolant liquids via a plumbing manifold mounted inside the cabinet. Although you submit that the subject article cannot operate without an attached ADP machine, there does not appear to be any technical reason why the DCLC cannot function to cool other types of devices. As the DCLC is connected to a manifold, any device that can also connect to the manifold can access the closed loop coolant path and receive cooling.
For the aforementioned reasons, we hereby affirm NY N279024. Accordingly, the
“900-00450 Rack Direct Contact Liquid Cooling (DCLC) Cadence Air Heat Exchange (AHx) Silvertip Module” remains classified in heading 8419, HTSUS, specifically in subheading 8419.89.95, HTSUS, which provides for, in pertinent part, “[M]achinery, plant or laboratory equipment, whether or not electrically heated, for the treatment of materials by a process involving a change of temperature such as cooling.”
Sincerely,
for Craig T. Clark, Director
Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division