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NY 804266




November 18, 1994

CLA-2-84:S:N:N1:110 804266

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 8471.92.3800; 8471.92.5600

Mr. Dennis Heck
Tower Group International
5420 West 104th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90045-6069

RE: The tariff classification of Laser Printers and the Laser Printer cartridges from Japan.

Dear Mr. Heck:

In your letter dated November 8, 1994, on behalf of Brother International Corp., you requested a tariff classification ruling.

The merchandise under consideration involves a model Brother HL-1260 & TMT-1 Laser printer that is imported complete and assembled, a Brother Laser Printer Toner Cartridge (Part # R74- 1004), and the Brother HL-1260 & TMT-1 Laser printer imported without the toner cartridge.

The HL-1260 Laser printer is a 12 page per minute, 600 dots per inch resolution printer that contains a standard 2MB of memory and contains a EP-EP Canon compatible toner cartridge. It incorporates a high speed bi-directional parallel interface that is used for high speed data transmission and networking. It uses electrophotography by semiconductor laser beam scanning as its print method, and has 75 scalable fonts capability. In its imported condition, the printer is a complete and functional laser printer, and meets the definition of an output "unit", noting Legal Note 5 (B) to Chapter 84 of the HTS.

The Brother Laser Printer Toner Cartridge (R74-1004), is a Canon EP-EP compatible toner cartridge that is used with the Brother HL-1260 & TMT-1 laser printers. This toner cartridge consists of a plastic cartridge that contains the geared photosensitive print drum, the developer cylinder unit, the primary charging roller, the corona unit, the cleaner blades and the black toner powder. The essential character of this toner cartridge is exemplified by its mechanical components, and is thus considered to be an integral part of the laser printer. They are also specially designed and principally used with laser printers.

The Brother HL-1260 & TMT-1 Laser Printer imported without its toner cartridge is identical to the printer described above, but is shipped without its toner cartridge. It has been previously established that the toner cartridge as described above, is in fact the print mechanism for such a type of printer.

The applicable subheading for the Brother HL-1260 & TMT-1 Laser printer will be 8471.92.3800, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for other laser printers, assembled units incorporating at least the media transport, control and print mechanism. The rate of duty will be 3.7 percent ad valorem.

The applicable subheading for the Brother HL-1260 & TMT-1 laser printer imported without its toner cartridge (part # R74- 1004) will be 8471.92.5600, HTS, which provides for other laser printers. The rate of duty will be free.

Regarding the classification of the R74-1004 toner cartridge, merchandise that is similar in nature to the subject merchandise is the subject of an appeal before the U.S Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Mita Copystar America v U.S. (No. 93-1466). Because the issues in Mita appear to be similar to those in this case, until the appeal is resolved, it would be imprudent to rule on the subject merchandise. Consequently, under 19 CFR 177.7(b), we cannot issue a ruling concerning the toner cartridge at this time.

This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Section 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177).

A copy of this ruling letter should be attached to the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If the documents have been filed without a copy, this ruling should be brought to the attention of the Customs officer handling the transaction.

Sincerely,

Jean F. Maguire
Area Director

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