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HQ 083289


October 3, 1989

CLA-2 CO:R:C:G 083289 JMH

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.S: 9209.92.80

Mr. Philip Scott
President
IVL Technologies Ltd.
3318 Oak Street
Victoria, British Columbia
CANADA V8X 1R2

RE: Guitar harmonizers

Dear Mr. Scott:

Your letter of November 28, 1988, requesting a classification ruling for the Smart Shift IPS-33 harmonizer (Smart Shift) and the Pitchrider 7000 System (Pitchrider) has been referred this office for a reply.

FACTS:

The merchandise in question are two devices for use with electric guitars. Both items are manufactured and imported from Canada.

The first apparatus, the Smart Shift, is a digital electronic pitch shifter. It is a 16-bit real time sampler and computer. The Smart Shift allows the user to program harmonies by defining the key and scale type to be used. The user may add one or two additional notes to each one played and select how far above or below the original note the extra notes should play.

The second apparatus, the Pitchrider, is an electronic digitizer. The device allows the instrumentalist to control a MIDI synthesizer with the guitar. A MIDI synthesizer is a digital electronic musical instrument which generates and/or stores music in the form of digital data. This allows the user to manipulate the data and create variations of the output. Such variations includes sounds made by the flute, organ, piano, and other instruments. The Pitchrider also allows the instrumentalist to play one or two additional notes for each note played on the guitar, thereby playing in three part harmony. The Pitchrider includes a foot switch controller.

ISSUE:

Whether the Smart Shift and the Pitchrider should be classified under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUSA) as computer equipment within Chapter 84, HTSUSA, or within Chapter 92, HTSUSA, as musical instruments, or whether they are excluded from classification within Chapter 92 by reason of Chapter 92, Note 1(b), and thus classifiable within Chapter 85 as electrical apparatus.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Classification of merchandise under the HTSUSA is governed by the General Rules of Classification (GRI's). GRI 1 states in part that "for legal purposes, classification shall be determined according to the terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes..."

The importer suggests that the equipment should be classified as computers, therefore within the headings of Chapter 84, HTSUSA, presumably heading 8471 inasmuch as the musical devices contain microprocessors. However, Note 5 (A), Chapter 84, defines "automatic data processing machines" for the purposes of the Chapter. The Smart Shift and the Pitchrider do not meet the requirements of the note, therefore they do not fall within Chapter 84.

The other relevant heading in this case is heading 9209, HTSUSA. The heading describes:

9209 Parts..and accessories...of musical instruments; metronomes, tuning forks and pitch pipes of all kinds...

9209.92.80 Parts and accessories for the musical instruments of heading 9202...Other.

Chapter 92, HTSUSA, covers "Musical Instruments; Parts and Accessories of Such Articles." Chapter 92, Note 1(b) states that:

"This chapter does not cover...Microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers...or other accessory instruments, apparatus or equipment of Chapter 85 or 90, for use with but not incorporated in or housed in the same cabinet as instruments of this chapter."

It is the view of this office that the Smart Shift and the Pitchrider are not "other accessory instruments, apparatus or equipment of Chapter 85 or 90" and thus are not within the exclusionary language of Note 1(b). Although the Smart Shift and the Pitchrider are not "incorporated in or housed in the same
cabinet" as musical instruments, the items in question are indisputably accessories to guitars.

HOLDING:

The Smart Shift IPS-33 and the Pitchrider 7000 System are classifiable within subheading 9209.92.80, HTSUSA. The rate of duty is 5.9 percent ad valorem.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division

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