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NY D80754





August 20, 1998

CLA-2-84:RR:NC:1:103 D80754

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 8479.50.0000

Mr. Joshua Bloomfield
Tower Group International
6730 Middlebelt Road
Romulus, MI 48174-2039

RE: The tariff classification of the Flexys robotic workstation from England

Dear Mr. Bloomfield:

In your letter dated May 18, 1998 on behalf of Genomic Solutions Inc. you requested a tariff classification ruling. Additional information on this product was received from your client on July 28, 1998.

The Flexys robotic workstation is used in molecular biology laboratories to perform a wide range of colony picking, gridding, and library manipulation operations. The unit is equipped with a CCD-based image processing system, as well as a robotic arm which holds a head containing numerous individual pins in a specified pattern. In colony picking, the image processing system is used to locate yeast and bacterial colonies in an agar solution by color, shape, and size. The robotic arm moves the head over the solution and a pneumatic system "fires" specific pins into those areas where the colonies have been detected. When the pins are withdrawn, some yeast or bacteria will adhere to the pins. The arm then moves the head over a microtitre plate containing a growth medium and again fires the appropriate pins, thus transferring yeast or bacteria to the growth medium. In a similar fashion, the Flexys utilizes 96 or 384 pins, fired as a group, to spot pieces of DNA in a standard or user definable grid pattern onto a nylon membrane. Like gridding, library manipulation involves the copying of DNA to other plates by means of the pins. The Flexys workstation is 1425 millimeters wide, 930 millimeters high, 790 millimeters deep, and weighs 130 kilograms. It can position the head with an accuracy of 0.1 millimeter.

The applicable subheading for the Flexys robotic workstation will be 8479.50.0000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere (in chapter 84): industrial robots, not elsewhere specified or included. The rate of duty will be 2.7 percent ad valorem.

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

A copy of the ruling or the control number indicated above should be provided with the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If you have any questions regarding the ruling, contact National Import Specialist Alan Horowitz at 212-466-5494.

Sincerely,

Robert B. Swierupski
Director,

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