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HQ 959754




OCTOBER 10, 1996

CLA-2 RR:TC:MM 959754 JAS

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 8417.80.00, 8514.10.00

Mr. Jack Eldridge
Scan American Corporation
9505B N. Congress Avenue
Kansas City, Missouri 64153

RE: HQ 959379 Affirmed; Belt Grill; Continuous Contact Roasting Plant; Industrial Oven, Heading 8417; Machinery for Treatment of Materials by a Change in Temperature Such as Heating, Cooking, Roasting, Heading 8419; Oven, Common Meaning, F.L. Smidth & Company v. United States, C.D. 3141

Dear Mr. Eldridge:

In a letter, dated August 30, 1996, you ask that we reconsider a ruling concerning the tariff status of the Berief Dubra model 10/1000 Continuous Roasting Plant or Belt Grill from Germany. At a meeting in our office on September 16, 1996, you and Mr. Charles Parker, President of Scan American, made additional arguments in support of your proposed classification, which you confirmed in a letter to us, dated September 17, 1996.

In HQ 959379, issued to Scan American Corporation on August 20, 1996, we held that the Belt Grill was classifiable as a nonelectric industrial oven, in subheading 8417.80.00, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), or in an equivalent provision in heading 8514, if electric. The contents of HQ 959379 are incorporated by reference in this letter.

You maintain that the proper classification is in subheading 8419.81.50, HTSUS, a provision for cooking stoves, ranges and ovens which are industrial machinery for the treatment of materials by a process involving a change of temperature such as heating, cooking or roasting. You contend the Belt Grill is not an oven because traditional ovens cook food by the principal of convection or circulating air, and this method is unreliable because during operation the sides of the Belt Grill are open. The Belt Grill, you state, cooks by means of bringing heated top - 2 -
and bottom conveyors into actual contact with the food. In this respect, you liken the Belt Grill to a double sided frying pan.

For the reasons stated in HQ 959379, the provision in heading 8417, if it applies, is deemed more specific than the provision in heading 8419. In reaching our initial classification decision, we relied, in part, on the common meaning of the term oven, sanctioned by the United States Customs Court (now the Court of International Trade), as a heated chamber or other enclosure used for baking, heating, drying or hardening. This meaning does not prescribe a particular method of baking, heating, drying or hardening, nor is it limited to apparatus utilizing convection heat. The heading 8417 provision for ovens describes a product eo nomine, by name. Such a designation, without limitation or a contrary legislative intent or judicial decision, will include all forms of the named article.

We have given full and careful consideration to the arguments you have raised. However, for the stated reasons, we remain of the opinion that the Berief Dubra 10/1000 Belt Grill is an industrial oven for tariff purposes. It is classifiable in subheading 8417.80.00, HTSUS, if of the thermal oil type, or in subheading 8514.10.00, HTSUS, if electric.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director
Tariff Classification

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