CLA-2-73:OT:RR:NC:N1:113
Mr. Marc A. Romano ROAR Logistics, Inc. 120 Church Street, Suite 100 Buffalo, NY 14202
RE: The tariff classification of a Long Drive Rack from China
Dear Mr. Romano:
In your letter dated November 20, 2019, on behalf of your client Meritool, LLC, you requested a tariff classification ruling on a Long Drive Rack. In response to our request for additional information, this office received answers to our questions in your letter dated December 30, 2019. A sample, mill certificate and Powerpush Cordless Dispensing Products brochure were provided for our review.
In your letter you identified the product under consideration as a Long Drive Rack. You stated that “The Long Drive Rack is a toothed length of steel, approximately 3/8” width x 3/8” height, cut to length, and designed specifically for use in the manufacture of battery-operated caulking guns. The functionality of the Long Drive Rack, when in operation, is to couple between the drive train and the caulk tube. The drive train activates the Long Drive Rack, forcing the caulk through the tube and piston, onto the surface to be caulked.”
The manufacturing processes performed on the subject drive rack in China include cutting rack teeth into raw steel blank, cutting the material to length, and zinc coating the material with clear Chromate. The manufacturing processes performed on the imported drive rack in the United States to render it a finished product include feeding the imported rack into a lathe where each end of the rack is faced, drilled and tapped to accept a screw.
In your request, you suggest that the Long Drive Rack is properly classified in subheading 8467.99.0190, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, (HTSUS), which provides for tools for working in the hand, pneumatic, hydraulic or with self-contained electric or nonelectric motor, and parts thereof: parts: other…other. This office disagrees. The unfinished Long Drive Rack for a battery-operated caulking gun, in its imported condition, does not have the shape of a finished Long Drive Rack. After importation, essential machining occurs to complete the article for use in a caulking gun. As such, the subject Long Drive Rack cannot be considered a part of a caulking gun classifiable in subheading 8467.99.0190, HTSUS,
You also suggest that the Long Drive Rack could be classified in heading 8483, HTSUS, which provides for transmission shafts (including camshafts and crankshafts) and cranks; bearing housings, housed bearings and plain shaft bearings; gears and gearing; ball or roller screws; gearboxes and other speed changers including torque converters; flywheels and pulleys, including pulley blocks; clutches and shaft couplings (including universal joints); parts thereof. This office disagrees, as the drive rack does not transmit power or rotary motion, but instead pushes caulk through a tube and piston. While the Long Drive Rack is described in your letter as a drive rack that converts rotational gear motion to linear motion, the linear motion is the action in which contact is made with the adhesive or caulk so that it is pushed through the container. This pushing process differs from gears of 8483, which transmit rotary motion by meshing with the teeth of other gears, a shaft that transmits rotary motion or a ball or roller screws that consist of a threaded shaft and a nut with bearing balls or rollers distributed along the path between the threads on its inner surface. As such, the Long Drive Rack does not meet the terms of heading 8483, HTSUS.
The applicable subheading for the Long Drive Rack will be 7326.90.8688, HTSUS, which provides for other articles of iron or steel, other, other…other. The rate of duty will be 2.9 percent ad valorem.
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 the World Wide Web at https://hts.usitc.gov/current.
Pursuant to U.S. Note 20 to Subchapter III, Chapter 99, HTSUS, products of China classified under subheading 7326.90.8688, HTSUS, unless specifically excluded, are subject to an additional 25 percent ad valorem rate of duty. At the time of importation, you must report the Chapter 99 subheading, i.e., 9903.88.03, in addition to subheading 7326.90.8688, HTSUS, listed above.
The HTSUS is subject to periodic amendment so you should exercise reasonable care in monitoring the status of goods covered by the Note cited above and the applicable Chapter 99 subheading. For background information regarding the trade remedy initiated pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, you may refer to the relevant parts of the USTR and CBP websites, which are available at https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/enforcement/section-301-investigations/tariff-actions and https://www.cbp.gov/trade/remedies/301-certain-products-china, respectively.
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 Ann Taub at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Steven A. Mack
Director
National Commodity Specialist Division