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HQ 083967


June 21, 1989

CLA-2 CO:R:C:G: 083967 BPM

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 8543.80.9080

Ms. Deborah A. Gross
North American Philips Corporation
100 East 42 Street
New York, N.Y. 10017-5699

RE: Digital to analog converter

Dear Ms. Gross:

By letter dated February 22, 1989, you requested a tariff classification ruling for the DAC 960 digital to analog converter imported from Japan under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA) on behalf of Philips Consumer Electronics Company, Knoxville, Tennessee. You proposed as the proper classification subheading 8518.40.2000, HTSUSA. Your request has been forwarded to this office for a reply.

FACTS:

The DAC 960 is an electronic device that converts digital data to an analog signal. Various input devices can provide the digital input for the converter. These include digital sound reproducing apparatus such as digital audio tape players and compact disk players, as well as musical instruments which produce digital output. The DAC 960 contains amplifying equipment for direct personal listening or source monitoring by headphone. The principal output can be adjusted to the precise level required by the power amplifier or other equipment to which the output is sent, but the principal output is not amplified. The documentation submitted with the ruling request states that the converter operates within the audio frequency range of 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz with respect to both the amplified headphone output and the unamplified principal output.

ISSUE:

Is a digital to analog converter which contains a headphone amplifier for direct personal listening or source monitoring classifiable as an audio-frequency electric amplifier under heading 8518, HTSUSA, or under subheading 8543, HTSUSA, covering electrical machines and apparatus, having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in Chapter 85?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Classification under subheading 8518, HTSUSA, as an audio- frequency electrical amplifier is inappropriate since the amplification is a secondary function of the converter included merely to aid the user in monitoring the primary function of the converter. The primary function of the converter is the translation of digital data into an audio signal. The essential character of the converter is therefore provided by the components which convert digital data to an analog signal and the converter must be classified under the provision for machines with that function.

Since no specific provision of the HTSUSA covers machines which function to convert digital data to an analog signal, the converters are classified under subheading 8543.80.9080, HTSUSA, as other electrical machines and apparatus, having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in Chapter 85.

HOLDING:

A digital to analog converter which contains a headphone amplifier for direct personal listening or source monitoring is classified under subheading 8543.80.9080, HTSUSA, covering other electrical machines and apparatus, having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in Chapter 85.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director

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