CLA-2-84:OT:RR:NC:N1:118
Mr. Karl F. Krueger
Radix Group International dba
DHL Global Fowarding
2660 20th Street
Port Huron, MI 48060
RE: The tariff classification of unassembled poultry houses from Germany.
Dear Mr. Krueger:
In your letter dated May 16, 2016, on behalf of your client Big Dutchman Incorporated, you requested a tariff classification ruling.
The subject of your request involves the classification of unassembled poultry houses for commercial breeding. A fully assembled unit is used to house chickens and chicks in order to provide food, drink, egg collection, air ventilation and manure collection systems. You have stated that all of the parts needed to construct a complete poultry house will be imported in the same shipment. In a telephone conversation with this office, you clarified that you are not seeking classification on individual parts and that each shipment will constitute only one unassembled unit. Parts included in the shipment will consist of tubing, brackets, fasteners, lighting and electrical. Mechanical features such as conveyor-type manure system, egg collection and feeder system are also present at importation. Although the size of each poultry house can be customized for a specific customer, the fundamental components will remain the same for each shipment. The unassembled poultry houses will be imported under the following model names: Colony 2+ / C2+ XL, Avech III, Natura 60, Natura Primus and Avech 2240.
Under the General Rules of Interpretation (GRIs) to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), specifically at GRI 2 (a), “any reference to an article shall be taken to include a reference to that article incomplete or unfinished, provided that, as presented, the incomplete or unfinished article has the essential character of the complete or finished article. It shall also include a reference to that article complete or finished (or falling to be classified as complete or finished by virtue of this rule), entered unassembled or disassembled.” Therefore, a complete unassembled poultry house is classifiable in the same HTSUS heading as an assembled poultry house upon importation into the United States.
The applicable subheading for each unassembled poultry house (models: Colony 2+ / C2+ XL, Avech III, Natura 60, Natura Primus and Avech 2240) will be 8436.29.0000, HTSUS, which provides for Other agricultural, horticultural, forestry, poultry-keeping or bee-keeping machinery, including germination plant fitted with mechanical or thermal equipment; poultry incubators and brooders; parts thereof: Poultry-keeping machinery; poultry incubators and brooder: Other. The rate of duty will be Free.
You suggested classification in 7308.90.9590, (HTSUS), as structures and parts of structures of iron or steel; plates, rods, angles, shapes, sections, tubes and the like, prepared for use in structures of iron or steel: other, other, other, other, other, other. We do not agree. Although structural in nature the unassembled poultry houses are not classifiable as structures in 7308.90.9590, (HTSUS), because they are more specifically provided for elsewhere in the HTSUS. The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (ENs) constitute the official interpretation of the HTSUS. While not 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 at the international level. EN 84.36 II (D) provides for “Rearing and laying units or “Batteries”, large installations equipped with automatic devices for filling the feeding troughs, cleaning the floors and collecting the eggs.”
Additionally, you requested that the unassembled poultry houses be considered, in the alternative, classified under subheading 9817.00.5000, HTSUS, as “Machinery, equipment and implements to be used for agricultural or horticultural purposes.” In order for a product to fall within the special provisions of subheading 9817.00.5000, HTSUS, the product in question must not be excluded from the heading under Section XXII, Chapter 98, Subchapter XVII, U.S. Note 2, HTSUS. As stated, the unassembled poultry houses are provided for under subheading 8436.29.0000, HTSUS. Heading 8436, HTSUS, is excluded from classification in subheading 9817.00.50, HTSUS, by operation of Section XXII, Chapter 98, Subchapter XVII, U.S. Note 2(t).
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 https://hts.usitc.gov/current.
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 Specialist Anthony E. Grossi at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Steven A. Mack
Director
National Commodity Specialist Division