OT:RR:NC:N1:103
Ray DeLaRosa
Border 2 Border Services
12160 Rojas Drive, Suite A
El Paso, TX 79936
RE: The eligibility of a snowblower under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
Dear Mr. DeLaRosa:
In your letter dated October 21, 2022, you requested a binding ruling on the eligibility of a snowblower under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA”) on behalf of your client, Duro Industries.
The item under consideration is the YARDMAX 26" two-stage, self-propelled gas snowblower, model number YB6770. Among the features are a seven-horsepower gasoline engine, push-button electric start, and headlights. You suggest the snowblower is classified under subheading 8430.20.0060, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States ("HTSUS"), which provides for "Other moving, grading, leveling, scraping, excavating, tamping, compacting, extracting or boring machinery, for earth, minerals or ores; pile-drivers and pile-extractors; snowplows and snowblowers: Snowplows and snowblowers: Snowblowers: Other." We agree.
You inquire whether the YARDMAX snowblower is eligible for preferential treatment under the USMCA. According to the bill of materials provided, the snowblower is assembled in Mexico using parts sourced from China and Mexico.
The USMCA was signed by the Governments of the United States, Mexico, and Canada on November 30, 2018. The USMCA was approved by the U.S. Congress with the enactment on January 29, 2020, of the USMCA Implementation Act, Pub. L. 116-113, 134 Stat. 11, 14 (19 U.S.C. § 4511(a)). General Note (“GN”) 11 of the HTSUS implements the USMCA. GN 11(b) sets forth the criteria for determining whether a good is an originating good for purposes of the USMCA. GN 11(b) states:
For the purposes of this note, a good imported into the customs territory of the United States from the territory of a USMCA country, as defined in subdivision (l) of this note, is eligible for the preferential tariff treatment provided for in the applicable subheading and quantitative limitations set forth in the tariff schedule as a "good originating in the territory of a USMCA country" only if—
the good is the good is a good wholly obtained or produced entirely in the territory of one or more USMCA countries;
the good is a good produced entirely in the territory of one or more USMCA countries, exclusively from originating materials;
the good is a good produced entirely in the territory of one or more USMCA countries using nonoriginating materials, if the good satisfies all applicable requirements set forth in this note (including the provisions of subdivision (o));
The YARDMAX snowblower contains non-originating materials and is not considered goods wholly obtained or produced entirely in a USMCA country under GN 11(b)(i) and GN 11(b)(ii). We must next determine whether the snowblower qualifies under GN 11(b)(iii). Since the finished snowblower is classified under subheading 8430.20, HTSUS, the applicable rule of origin is in GN 11(o)/84.89, HTSUS, which provides for “a change to subheadings 8428.10 through 8430.69 from any other subheading, including another subheading within that group.”
Since all the Chinese-origin parts are classified outside of subheadings 8428.10 through 8430.69, HTSUS, the requisite tariff shift rule is met, and the finished YARDMAX snowblower is considered an originating good under the USMCA and is eligible for preferential treatment.
Please note the merchandise in question may be subject to antidumping duties and countervailing duties (AD/CVD). Written decisions regarding the scope of AD/CVD orders are issued by the Enforcement and Compliance office in the International Trade Administration of the Department of Commerce and are separate from tariff classification and origin rulings issued by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). You can contact them at https://trade.gov/enforcement/ (click on “Contact Us”). For your information, you can view a list of current AD/CVD cases at the Department of Commerce ITA website at https://www.trade.gov/data-visualization/adcvd-proceedings, and you can search AD/CVD deposit and liquidation messages using CBP’s AD/CVD Search tool at https://aceservices.cbp.dhs.gov/adcvdweb.
Please note that 19 C.F.R. 177.9(b)(1) provides that "[e]ach ruling letter is issued on the assumption that all of the information furnished in connection with the ruling request and incorporated in the ruling letter, either directly, by reference, or by implication, is accurate and complete in every material respect. The application of a ruling letter by a Customs Service field office to the transaction to which it is purported to relate is subject to the verification of the facts incorporated in the ruling letter, a comparison of the transaction described therein to the actual transaction, and the satisfaction of any conditions on which the ruling was based."
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 Paul Huang at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Steven A. Mack
Director
National Commodity Specialist Division