CLA-2 RR:CR:GC 962769 JAS
Karin Bogue
Komatsu America International Company
108 N. Industrial Drive, Caller #2101
Ripley, TN 38063
RE: NY D88328 Revoked; Track Chain, Rail and Link Assemblies
Dear Ms. Bogue:
In NY D88328, dated March 16, 1999, the Director of Customs National Commodity Specialist Division, New York, replied to your February 15, 1999, ruling request, and held that track chain for bulldozers and other earth moving machinery was classifiable in subheading 7315.12.00, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), as articulated link chain, cast, of iron or steel. We have reconsidered this classification and determined that it is incorrect.
FACTS:
The track chain described in NY D88328 is of cast iron construction and consists of a series of links, pins and bushings. Each link has drilled bolt holes that permit a track shoe to be attached. The chain, however, will be imported without track shoes. This chain is designed to travel around the sprockets of the final drive in the rear of bulldozers and other earth moving machines and the machine’s front idler. A series of rollers and top idlers between the front idler and the final drive keep the chain on track and take up the slack. Each machine has two rows of chain on the left side and two rows on the right side. The rows are linked together with a pin and bushing. As the chain rotates, the track shoes become the platform on which the machine rolls. Complete track chain, also known commercially as rail and link assemblies, permits the vehicle on which it is mounted to move, and the vehicle is inoperable without the track chain.
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The provisions under consideration are as follows:
7315 Chain and parts thereof, of iron or steel:
Articulated link chain and parts thereof:
7315.12.00 Other chain
* * * *
8431 Parts suitable for use solely or principally with the machinery of headings 8425 to 8430:
Other:
8431.49.90 Other
ISSUE:
Whether cast iron track chain without track shoes is parts of machinery provided for in heading 8431.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Under General Rule of Interpretation (GRI) 1, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), goods are to be classified according to the terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes, and provided the headings or notes do not require otherwise, according to GRIs 2 through 6.
In accordance with Section XVI, Note 2(b), HTSUS, parts suitable for use solely or principally with a machine or machines of Chapter 84 or Chapter 85 are classifiable with those machines, or in heading 8431, as appropriate. However, under Section XVI, Note 1(g), HTSUS, parts of general use are excluded from heading 8431. Under Section XV, Note 2(a), HTSUS, chain of heading 7315 is among the articles considered parts of general use. Therefore, if the track chain in issue is chain of heading 7315, it cannot be classified in heading 8431.
Initially, heading 7315 describes an article or class of articles eo nomine, by name. In the absence of contrary legislative intent, judicial decision, or administrative practice, an unlimited eo nomine designation will include all
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forms of the named article. However, in determining whether an article is embraced within an eo nomine designation, its use may be considered in order to establish its identity. United States v. Quon Quon Company, 46 CCPA 70, CAD 699 (1959), and related cases. Chain of heading 7315 is typically used for conveying and power transmission applications. However, as previously described, the track shoes on this chain, one bolted to each link of the chain, function as the platform on which the machine rolls. This is a function not appropriate to chain of heading 7315. Furthermore, prior judicial and administrative decisions under the Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS), the HTSUS predecessor tariff code, have held that complete or finished track chain, or rail and link assemblies, are not chain for tariff purposes. They are parts of tractors and earth moving machines on which they are chiefly (now solely or principally) used. On a case-by-case basis, decisions under a previous nomenclature have significant probative value under the HTSUS where, as here, the successor provisions are substantially similar. Track chain, therefore, is not chain of heading 7315. It is regarded as a part for tariff purposes. Track chain, imported without track shoes, is similarly classifiable. We conclude that track chain that is solely or principally used with bulldozers and other earth moving machinery of headings 8425 through 8530, is provided for in heading 8431.
HOLDING:
Under the authority of GRI 1, track chain, as described, is provided for in heading 8431. It is classifiable in subheading 8431.49.90, HTSUS.
NY D88328, dated March 16, 1999, is revoked under the authority of section 177.9(d), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 177.9(d)).
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division