United States International Trade Commision Rulings And Harmonized Tariff Schedule
faqs.org  Rulings By Number  Rulings By Category  Tariff Numbers
faqs.org > Rulings and Tariffs Home > Rulings By Number > 2001 HQ Rulings > HQ 562039 - HQ 961103 > HQ 959280

Previous Ruling Next Ruling
HQ 959280




DECEMBER 19, 2000

CLA-2 RR:CR:GC 959280 JAS

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: Various

Port Director of Customs
423 Canal Street
New Orleans, LA 70130

RE: Protest 2002-96-100074; Threaded Fasteners

Dear Port Director:

This is our decision on protest 2002-96-1000740, filed against your classification, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), of threaded fasteners. The entries under protest were liquidated on February 23, 1996, and this protest timely filed on March 29, 1996.

FACTS:

The articles at issue are four hundred and nine (409) threaded fasteners. They are listed by part number and other identifying characteristics in Exhibit 1, consisting of twelve (12) pages, attached to a Memorandum of Law filed by counsel for the importer in support of this protest.

The fasteners are all of iron or steel construction and are used in assembling motor vehicles. They vary in length, are threaded along at least part of their shanks and have pilot, chamfered or as-rolled points. Counsel notes that most have hex heads (i.e., with six flat sides). Counsel further notes that many have washer faces (i.e., large, flat bearing surfaces on the underside of the heads), and that some have washers permanently attached. The fasteners were entered under a provision for heading 7318, HTSUS, for bolts and bolts and their nuts or washers entered or exported in the same shipment. The local import specialist determined that the fasteners conformed to a well-regarded industrial standard for screws, and liquidated the entries under another provision in heading 7318 for other screws.

Counsel for the protestant maintains that the fasteners are within the common and commercial meaning of the term bolt contained both in standard dictionaries and in more technical lexicons, and that these sources do not rely on the standards used by Customs in classifying threaded fasteners. Counsel also maintains the fasteners conform to International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards for bolts. Since many of the fasteners under protest are manufactured, bought, sold and referred to in the trade by their metric dimensions, rather than by inches, the referenced ISO standards are the appropriate measure of their classification.

The HTSUS provisions under consideration are as follows:

Screws, boltsand similar articles; parts thereof:

Other screws and bolts, whether or not with their nuts or washers:

Bolts and bolts and their nuts or washers entered or exported in the same shipment

Other:

Having shanks or threads with a diameter of less than 6 mm

Having shanks or threads with a diameter of 6 mm or more

ISSUE:

Whether the fasteners under protest are bolts or screws for tariff purposes.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Under General Rule of Interpretation (GRI) 1, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), goods are to be classified according to the terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes, and provided the headings or notes do not require otherwise, according to GRIs 2 through 6.

The HTSUS does not define the terms bolt or screw. These terms must therefore be construed in accordance with their common and commercial meanings which are presumed to be the same. The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes, which Customs routinely consults for guidance in
interpreting the scope of the HTSUS, and standard dictionaries define the terms in nearly identical fashion. These sources, however, do not provide guidance from which the terms can be clearly differentiated. In such cases, the courts consult industrial or commercial standards within the affected industry, particularly those sanctioned by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). See THK America v. United States, Slip Op. 93-207 (Ct. Int’l Trade, decided November 1, 1993). When there is a recognized fastener standard available to cover a particular article, Customs will accept that standard as establishing the fastener’s identity. Often, however, many fasteners are found to be hybrids, that is, they have design characteristics of different fastener types for which no one fastener standard exists. This is the case here. Then, Customs relies on American National Standards Institute/American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ANSI/ASME) Standard B18.2.1, which sets forth the recommended procedure for differentiating bolts from screws. This 1981 specification was most recently updated in 1996. Recently, in Rocknel Fastener, Inc. v. United States, Slip Op. 00-112 (Ct. Int’l Trade, decided August 29, 2000), the court sanctioned ANSI/ASME Standard B18.2.1 as “provid[ing] a well-recognized, comprehensive basis for the common and commercial meaning of bolt and screw as understood by the fastener industry in the United States.” The court implicitly rejected the claim made by counsel in this protest that an international (ISO) standard should be applied. Standard B18.2.1 specifies four primary criteria and nine supplementary criteria. The Rocknel court concluded that the fasteners at issue in that case possessed at least five of the nine supplementary design characteristics of a screw which identified them as “externally threaded fasteners capable of being inserted into holes in assembled parts, of mating with a preformed internal thread, and of being tightened or released by torquing the head.”

The Glossary of Terms for Mechanical Fasteners, first published by the American Standards Association in 1962, and sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, contains the following definitions: hexagon head – the hexagon head has a flat or indented top surface, six flat sides, and a flat bearing surface (Underlining added). See p. 10; chamfer point - a truncated cone point, the end of which is approximately flat and perpendicular to the fastener axis. These points on threaded fasteners generally have point included angles of 45 to 90 degrees and a point diameter equal to or slightly less than the minor diameter of the thread. This point is intended to facilitate entry of fasteners into holes at assembly (Underlining added). See p. 15; pilot point - a cylindrical point having a diameter somewhat smaller than the shank diameter. It is designed to facilitate the alignment and starting of such fasteners as drive screws and groove pins into holes at assembly (Underlining added). See pp.15, 16.

In addition, the United States Court of International Trade’s predecessor, the United States Customs Court, sanctioned Customs longstanding practice of distinguishing cap screws from bolts based on the presence of a washer face or its equivalent on the underside of the head. A washer face is an embossed circle on the bearing surface, the surface underneath the head of the fastener or such a circle with chamfered corners which would be the equivalent of a washer face. See Heads and Threads, Div. of MSL Industries, Inc. v. United States, C.D. 3412, C.A.D. 960 (1969).

In Rocknel, the court’s classification as screws focused on the fact that they were capable of being inserted into holes and of being torqued by the head. Applying ANSI/ASME Standard 18.2.1 to the fasteners listed in Exhibit 1, the following findings are warranted.

Fastener part #2060635F00 is identified in Exhibit 1 as a stud bolt and fastener part #52297DE700 is identified as a weld bolt. Customs does not contest these designations. These fasteners are bolts classifiable in subheading 7318.15.20, HTSUS.

Fasteners with head types identified in Exhibit 1 as hex flange head, hex washer w/wlw, hex-washer face, hex wash face w/w, hex-cross recess, hex-chf, hex-hex socket, hex-chamfer and hex-xrecess w/w, and fasteners with points identified as chamfer, chfr+thrd, pilot, pilot.chfr, pilot spc, p/c-pilot, pilot tap and taper - all with either a listed head type, a listed point or both a listed head type and point - have design features which suggest they are intended to be torqued by the head and inserted into holes. These are design features of screws. These fasteners are classifiable either in subheading 7318.15.60 or in subheading 7318.15.80, HTSUS, as appropriate.

The design features of the following fasteners are not sufficiently identified to support classification in subheading 7318.15.20 or to permit us to independently determine their classification: part #0112006301 with hex w/spw head type and rounded point, part #0112102871 with hex w/conspw head type and special point, parts #0112106281, *06291 and *06301, each with hex w/spw head type and as rolled point, part #0112106401 with hex w/wlw head type and as rolled point, part # 119160M301 with hex special head type and as rolled point, part #40222J6400 with N/A head type and N/A point, and part #5445931U16 with hex w/spw&pw head type and paint cln point.

HOLDING:

Under the authority of GRI 1, the fasteners found to be bolts are classifiable in subheading 7318.15.20, HTSUS. The protest should be ALLOWED as to these fasteners.

The fasteners with a head type and point of the kind listed in this decision, or with either of these design features, which are characteristic of screws, i.e., are intended to be torqued by the head and inserted into holes, are classifiable in subheading 7318.15.60 or in subheading 7318.15.80, HTSUS, as appropriate. The protest should be DENIED as to these fasteners.

With respect to the fasteners the design features of which are not sufficiently identified to support classification in subheading 7318.15.20, counsel for the protestant will be given an opportunity, not to exceed 60 days from the date of this decision, to present evidence to satisfy you that because of head design they are prevented from being turned during assembly, and can only be tightened or released by torquing a nut. The protest should be ALLOWED or DENIED as to these fasteners as appropriate.

In accordance with Section 3A(11)(b) of Customs Directive 099 3550-065, dated August 4, 1993, Subject: Revised Protest Directive, you are to mail this decision, together with the Customs Form 19, to the protestant no later than 60 days from the date of this letter. Any reliquidation of the entry or entries in accordance with the decision must be accomplished prior to mailing the decision. Sixty days from the date of the decision the Office of Regulations and Rulings will make the decision available to Customs personnel, and to the public on the Customs Home Page on the World Wide Web at www.customs.gov, by means of the Freedom of Information Act, and other methods of public distribution.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division


Previous Ruling Next Ruling

See also: