CLA-2-90:OT:RR:NC:4:405
Mr. Jason Griffiths
PWG Orthodontic Specialties LTD.
795 Carson Avenue, Suite 1
Dorval H9s1L7, Canada
RE: The tariff classification of dental technician tools from Pakistan.
Dear Mr. Griffiths:
In your letter dated March 19, 2013, you requested a tariff classification ruling. No samples were provided.
You indicated that the maker of the three items is Raiment Industries and that you will re-export them to dental technicians in the United States. From its website, Raiment specializes in various medical related instruments. The pliers have an unusual small notch; the tweezers have one tip which is jagged, curved, and at an unusual angle to the other tip; and the stainless steel shims are made with high precision and are sold in precise sizes. Their unusual features are consistent with the explanation you give concerning the need for those features for a dental technician performing various steps in producing an orthodontic appliance for a patient.
Harmonized System Explanatory Note II to 9018, Dental Instruments and Appliances, states:
The heading also covers tools and instruments of a kind used in prosthetic dentistry either by the practitioner himself or by a dental technician, for example : knives; spatulae and other modelling tools; miscellaneous pliers and tweezers (for fixing clamps and crowns, cutting pivots, etc.); saws; shears; mallets; files; chisels; scrapers; burnishers; metal formers, for the manufacture, by beating, of metal dental crowns. The heading also covers dental casting machines, dental milling machines, and dental trimmers for trimming models of dentures. The heading does not, however, include tools or other articles of general use (furnaces, moulds, soldering tools, melting ladles, etc.); these are classified in their respective headings.
We apply the same principle for the tools and instruments in orthodontic dentistry as to those in prosthetic dentistry.
The features of these three items and your explanation of their use in orthodontics indicate that they are distinguishable from those “of general use.”
The applicable subheading for these three dental technician tools will be 9018.49.8080, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for "other" instruments and appliances, used in the dental sciences, and parts and accessories thereof. The rate of duty will be will be Free
Duty rates are provided for your convenience and are subject to change. The text of the most recent HTSUS and the accompanying duty rates are provided on World Wide Web at http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/.
This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177).
A copy of the ruling or the control number indicated above should be provided with the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If you have any questions regarding the ruling, contact National Import Specialist J. Sheridan at (646) 733-3012.
Sincerely,
Thomas J. Russo
Director
National Commodity Specialist Division