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HQ 953263


May 14, 1993

CLA-2 CO:R:C:M 953263 CMS

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 9017.90.00

District Director of Customs
555 Battery St.
P.O. Box 2450
San Francisco, CA 94126

RE: PRD 2809-92-101231; Pen Plotter Heads; Computer Aided Design; Drafting; Drawing Instrument; Automatic Data Processing Machine Output Unit; 9017.10.00; 9017.20.80

Dear District Director:

The following is our decision regarding the request for further review of Protest No. 2809-92-101231, concerning your action in classifying and assessing duty on certain plotter heads under the Harmonized Tariff Schedules of the United States (HTSUS).

FACTS:

The merchandise is described in the protest as plotter heads which are parts of drafting machines of heading 9017, HTSUS. The machines with which the plotter heads are used are pen plotters which draw color plots on "A" to "E" size paper, up to 31 feet in length. The plotters work in conjunction with computer systems. The product literature states that the systems are designed for "geophysical mapping, oil and seismic; IC [integrated circuit] design; and mechanical and electrical CAD [computer aided design]."

The entries were liquidated on May 8, 1992, under subheading 9017.90.00, which provides for parts and accessories of the instruments of heading 9017. The protest was timely filed on July 15, 1992.

The protestant agrees that the merchandise is classified under subheading 9017.90.00, but argues that the applicable duty rate is different from the rate under which the merchandise was liquidated.

The duty rate for the parts and accessories of subheading 9017.90.00 is the "rate applicable to the article of which it is a part or accessory". The plotter heads were liquidated as parts and accessories of other drawing instruments of subheading 9017.20.80, HTSUS. The protestant argues that plotter heads are parts and accessories of drafting machines of subheading 9017.10.00, HTSUS.

The subheadings for the instruments of which the plotter heads may be parts and accessories are as follows:

9017.10.00: Drawing...instruments (for example, drafting machines...: Drafting...machines.

Parts and accessories of goods classifiable under this provision are subject to a Column 1 General rate of duty of 4.9%, ad valorem.

9017.20.80: Drawing...instruments (for example, drafting machines...: ...Other drawing...instruments.

Parts and accessories of goods classifiable under this provision are subject to a Column 1 General rate of duty of 5.8%, ad valorem.

ISSUE:

Is the merchandise classified as parts and accessories of drafting machines of subheading 9017.10.00, HTSUS, or as parts and accessories of other drawing instruments of subheading 9017.20.80, HTSUS?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

The HTSUS provides that the classification of articles is governed by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's). GRI 1 states in pertinent part that "...classification shall be determined according to the terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes..."

The classification and resulting duty rate of the products under consideration is dependent on the classification of the goods of which the products are parts and accessories.

It is not disputed that the pen plotters with which the products under consideration are used are classified in heading 9017, HTSUS. Heading 9017 encompasses drawing instruments of the type used in CAD and for other high precision applications.

The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes to heading 9017, paragraph (A)(2), provide guidance on what products are intended to be classified in heading 9017 as "drafting machines". The pen plotters with which the plotter heads are used, however, are not the type of drafting machines such as those described in the Explanatory Notes. The Explanatory Notes describe drafting machines, generally using a system of parallelograms, which can be used in the actual designing of an image.

Unlike drafting machines which can be used in the actual designing of an image, the plotter heads under consideration are for pen plotters that draw a hard copy of an image which has already been created or designed on other CAD workstation components.

In the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Compendium of Classification Opinions, No. 9017.10 (1), a CAD system which included an automatic data processing machine, an interactive design console on which drawings are drafted, and a digitizer/plotter, were classified in subheading 9017.10, HTS. In the instant protest, however, no interactive design console or similar apparatus for such drafting of drawings is entered with the plotter heads.

What is entered in the instant protest is not a type of CAD drafting system or similar apparatus, but plotter heads for pen plotters. The merchandise is not described as parts and accessories of drafting machines of subheading 9017.10.00, HTSUS, but is classified as parts and accessories of other drawing instruments of subheading 9017.20.80, HTSUS.

Parts and accessories of such instruments are classified in subheading 9017.90.00, HTSUS, subject to a duty rate of 5.8%, ad valorem, which is the rate applicable to the subheading 9017.20.80 other drawing instruments of which the plotter heads are parts and accessories.

HOLDING:

For the foregoing reasons, we find that the merchandise is classified as parts and accessories of other drawing instruments under subheading 9017.90.00, HTSUS, subject to a duty rate of 5.8%, ad valorem, which is the rate applicable to the subheading 9017.20.80 other drawing instruments of which the plotter heads are parts and accessories.

The protest should be denied in full. A copy of this decision should be attached to the Customs Form 19 and provided to the protestant as part of the notice of action on the protest.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division


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