OT:RR:CTF:CPMM:ABL
Ms. Susan Kohn Ross
Mitchell, Silverberg & Knupp
11377 W. Olympic Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90064
RE: Reconsideration of NY N290100; classification of marine deck hardware
Dear Ms. Ross,
This is in response to your April 5, 2018 request for reconsideration of New York Ruling Letter (NY) N290100, dated September 21, 2017, on behalf of your client, Universal Motion Components, Co., Inc., pertaining to the tariff classification of marine deck hardware under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). In that ruling, the marine deck hardware was described as follows:
The merchandise under consideration, which you describe as deck hardware, is five products made of cast steel that are designed to be permanently welded onto the decks of barges, workboats, commercial fishing boats and other vessels. Each product is imported finished and ready for installation. The first product, identified as a 24” Cast Steel Kevel- SKU: UMC-30, weighs approximately 50 lbs. and is mounted along the gunnels/gunwale of a push-boat/tow-boat, barge or workboat. It is used primarily with line or wire for barge checking, coupling and mooring. The second product, identified as a 9” Button Chock- SKU: UMC-194, weighs approximately 75 lbs. and is designed primarily to hold/guide a line or wire on the deck of a push-boat/tow-boat, barge or workboat when making up a tow. The third product, identified as an 8” Single Bitt Thru Deck- SKU: UMC-425, weighs approximately 260 lbs. and is designed primarily to be used with line or wire for barge coupling, checking and mooring. The fourth product, identified as a Panama Bulwark 10 X 14-SKU: UMC-531-1014B, weighs approximately 430 lbs. and is typically welded to the bulwark of a vessel. It is used to guide mooring lines on deck by guiding a line or wire in a specific direction while minimizing chaffing. The last product, identified as an 11” Roller Button- SKU: UMC-50, weighs approximately 100 lbs. and features roller sheaves made from ASTM A27 cast steel or hot rolled and fabricated high strength steel plate. Roller Buttons (aka Roller Chocks) are designed primarily for changing the direction of a line or wire while minimizing chaffing. The kevel, button chock, single bitt and panama bulwark are imported without surface paint or finish to enable quick, easy and safe weldability to the deck of the vessel. The roller button is imported painted with a grey primer and greased for continuous smooth operation.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) determined that the product was classified in subheading 8302.49.6055, HTSUS, which provides for “base metal mountings, fittings and similar articles… other mountings, fittings and similar articles, and parts thereof, other, other, of iron or steel, of aluminum or of zinc, other, for aircraft, vessels and other vehicles (except motor vehicles) of section XVII.” You claim classification in heading 7308, HTSUS, which provides for structures and parts of structures, of iron or steel.in part. Additionally, you proposed an alternative classification of heading 7325, HTSUS, which provides for other cast articles of iron or steel.
In your request, you state that the merchandise in question, specifically, fabricated steel and cast bitts, cast steel chocks, mooring eyes, kevels and roller buttons, is permanently welded on to the decks of barges, workboats, and installed by welding on barges, pullboats, commercial fishing boats and other vessels. Furthermore, you state this deck hardware is used to secure lines that are used by boats, to moor, tow or for similar purposes and thus is not ejusdem generis with the articles named in the heading.
We believe the articles in question are included in heading 8302 by the terms “similar articles” to “base metal mountings” and “fittings” “suitable for … blinds, coachwork … or the like. Coachwork is a portion of an automobile not unlike bulwarks being a portion of a boat. Mountings for blinds include base metal and plastic rollers for ropes to open and close them. Mountings are supports or they are attachments for accessories. Ropes and tow lines are supported and guided when attached or wound round the merchandise at issue. We therefore maintain that heading 8302 describes the instant merchandise.
Explanatory Notes (“EN’s”), while not binding, provide guidance in classification. You argue that the text of EN 83.02 does not support classification in that heading. The instant attachments do not form an essential part of the structure of the bulwark. The bulwark is the sides of a ship above the deck. The gunnel is the upper edge of the side of a boat or ship. The deck is the outside top part of a ship that you can walk on. The structural integrity of these portions of the ship does not depend in any way upon the attachment of the instant merchandise, welded or otherwise. The instant merchandise does not shore up, support, or add to the structural integrity of the bulwark, deck or gunnel. The attachments are for the support and guidance of lines or ropes, much like mountings and fittings for ropes that raise blinds on windows, specifically listed in the heading text and EN.
Although EN 73.08, HTSUS, mentions welding as a method for the attachment of parts to structures, mountings, fittings and the like are not classified there by virtue of being welded to the bulwark, deck or gunnel of a ship, barge or boat. Nor is the instant merchandise prepared for use in the structure of the bulwark, deck or gunnel. Bulwarks are railings or walls, decks are floors and gunnels are the tops of railings or walls. The instant merchandise is not prepared for use in the creation of these structures. Bulwarks and gunnels serve to prevent falls from the ship and decks are the surface on which one walks. The instant articles are attached to these portions of a ship, barge or boat to serve the purpose of mountings: support and guidance for a rope or line.
Additionally, CBP disagrees with your proposed classification in heading 7325, HTSUS, which provides for “Other cast articles of iron or steel.” The EN for heading 73.25 states “This heading covers all cast articles of iron or steel, not elsewhere specified or included… This heading does not cover castings which are products falling in other headings of the Nomenclature (e.g., recognisable parts of machinery or mechanical appliances) or unfinished castings which require further working but have the essential character of such finished products.” This Heading is a basket provision covering articles of iron or steel which are not covered elsewhere in the tariff. The merchandise in question would not fall under this provision as it is more specifically provided for in another provision, Heading 8302, HTSUS.
For the aforementioned reasons, we hereby affirm NY N290100, the applicable subheading for the marine deck hardware will be 8302.49.6055, HTSUS, which provides for “base metal mountings, fittings and similar articles… other mountings, fittings and similar articles, and parts thereof, other, other, of iron or steel, of aluminum or of zinc, other, for aircraft, vessels and other vehicles (except motor vehicles) of section XVII.” Under Column one, the rate of duty will be 5.7 percent ad valorem.
Sincerely,
for
Craig T. Clark, Director
Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division