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HQ 964899




January 8, 2001

CLA-2 RR:CR:GC 964899 GOB

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 8414.90.10

Port Director
U.S. Customs Service
10 Causeway Street
Boston, MA 02222-1059

RE: Protest 0401-01-100018; Fan Housing

Dear Port Director:

This is our decision regarding Protest 0401-01-100018, filed on behalf of Global Business Group Ltd. (“protestant”) concerning the classification, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”), of certain fan housings. We have also considered the claims made by counsel for the protestant at a conference at Customs Headquarters on December 27, 2001, as well as a written submission of that date.

FACTS:

The file reflects the following. The entries at issue were filed between March 13, 2000 and October 12, 2000, and were liquidated between October 27, 2000 and December 1, 2000. The protest was filed on January 22, 2001.

The fan housings are aluminum die cast. The sample submitted (#450434) is four and seven-eighths inches by four and seven-eighths inches by one and one-half inch.

The merchandise at issue was entered under subheading 8471.80.40, HTSUS, and was liquidated under subheading 8414.90.10, HTSUS. The protestant now claims classification under subheading 8473.30.50, HTSUS, and, alternatively, under subheading 7616.99.50, HTSUS.

ISSUE:

What is the tariff classification of the subject fan housings?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

We note initially that the protest was timely filed under the statutory and regulatory provisions for protests, 19 U.S.C. 1514(c)(3)(A) and 19 CFR 174.12(e)(1).

Classification under the HTSUS is made in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (“GRI’s”). GRI 1 provides that the classification of goods shall be determined according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative Section or Chapter Notes. In the event that the goods cannot be classified solely on the basis of GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRI’s may then be applied.

The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (“EN’s”) constitute the official interpretation of the Harmonized System at the international level. While neither legally binding nor dispositive, the EN’s provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the HTSUS and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of these headings. See T.D. 89-80.

The HTSUS provisions under consideration are as follows:

7616 Other articles of aluminum:

Other:

7616.99 Other:

7616.99.50 Other

8414 Air or vacuum pumps, air or other gas compressors and fans; ventilating or recycling hoods incorporating a fan, whether or not fitted with filters; parts thereof:

8414.90 Parts:

8414.90.10 Of fans (including blowers) and ventilating or recycling hoods

8473 Parts and accessories (other than covers, carrying cases and the like) suitable for use solely or principally with machines of headings 8469 to 8472:

8473.30 Parts and accessories of the machines of heading 8471:

Not incorporating a cathode-ray tube:

8473.30.50 Other

As stated in the FACTS section of this ruling, the protestant claims classification under subheading 8473.30.50, HTSUS, and, alternatively, under subheading 7616.99.50, HTSUS.

Note 2 to Section XVI, HTSUS, provides in pertinent part as follows:

Subject to note 1 to this section, note 1 to chapter 84 and to note 1 to chapter 85, parts of machines (not being parts of the articles of heading 8484, 8544, 8545, 8546 or 8547) are to be classified according to the following rules:

(a) Parts which are goods included in any of the headings of chapters 84 and 85 (other than headings 8409, 8431, 8448, 8466, 8473, 8485, 8503, 8522, 8529, 8538 and 8548) are in all cases to be classified in their respective headings;

(b) Other parts, if suitable for use solely or principally with a particular kind of machine, or with a number of machines of the same heading (including a machine of heading 8479 or 8543) are to be classified with the machines of that kind or in heading 8409, 8431,8448, 8466, 8473, 8503, 8522, 8529 or 8538 as appropriate ...

(c) All other parts are to be classified in heading 8409, 8431, 8448, 8466, 8473, 8503, 8522, 8529 or 8538 as appropriate, or failing that, in heading 8485 or 8548.

Additional U.S. Rule of Interpretation 1(a), HTSUS, provides as follows:

1. In the absence of special language or context which otherwise requires-

(a) a tariff classification controlled by use (other than actual use) is to be determined in accordance with the use in the United States at, or immediately prior to, the date of importation, of goods of that class or kind to which the imported goods belong, and the controlling use is the principal use[.]

There is no claim that the fan housings may be classified pursuant to Note 2(a) to Section XVI, HTSUS, i.e., that (with certain exceptions) they are goods included in any of the headings of Chapter 84 or 85, HTSUS.

Under Note 2(b), we look to determine if the fan housings are parts suitable for use solely or principally with a particular kind of machine. The protestant has submitted a letter dated October 19, 2000 from the Director of Engineering of Nidec Corporation to a Customs import specialist, in which the Nidec official states in pertinent part as follows:

This is to confirm that the Housings imported by Global Business Group, Ltd. are each specially designed for specific Computer requirements and Computer customers.

They are not generic and we design each Housing per our customer requirement . . .

The Nidec Internet site, as of May 2, 2001, provided a description of its cooling fans and blowers. After a multi-page description of the fans and blowers in which no specific purpose or use of the fans and blowers was stated, the site provided, with respect to fan motors: “Main applications: Personal computers, copiers, laser printers, projectors, audio equipment, IH rice cookers, bidet-toilets[.] [Illustrations omitted.] Operation of electric equipment, such as a computer, generates heat. Fans prevent damage and faulty operation by circulating air to disperse heat and cool critical components. Even ordinary household appliances now contain more sophisticated [sic], containing many electronic components, and fans are being used in an expanding range of applications . . . “

As noted, pursuant to Additional U.S. Rule of Interpretation 1(a), a tariff classification controlled by use (other than actual use) is to be determined in accordance with the use in the United States at, or immediately prior to, the date of importation, of goods of that class or kind to which the imported goods belong. Customs believes that the subject housings are readily identifiable as fan housings. There is nothing in the character or appearance of the housings which would establish, or even suggest, that the principal use of housings of the same class or kind as those at issue are with automatic data processing machines. Nidec’s letter of October 19, 2000, does not establish that the principal use of housings of the same class or kind as the subject housing is with automatic data processing machines.

Accordingly, we find that the fan housings are not provided for in heading 8473, HTSUS.

We note that even if the housing was a part of an automatic data processing machine, classification as a part of a fan in heading 8414, HTSUS, is more specific. In Mitsubishi Electronics America v. United States, 19 CIT 378, 383 n.3 (1995), the court stated:

The Court notes that if the subject merchandise is not a clutch, but rather a part of a starter motor, then it cannot be classified as part of an automobile, even though it is used solely in automobiles. This is because a subpart of a particular part of an article is more specifically provided for as a part of the part than as a part of the whole. C.F. Liebert v. United States, 60 Cust. Ct. 677, 686-87, 287 F. Supp. 1008, 1014 (1968) (holding that parts of clutches which are parts of winches are more specifically provided for as parts of clutches than as parts of winches).

The protestant’s alternative claim is that the fan housings are classified in subheading 7616.99.50, HTSUS, as: “Other articles of aluminum: Other: . . . Other: . . . Other.” EN 76.16 provides, in pertinent part:

This heading covers all articles of aluminum other than those covered by the preceding headings of this Chapter, or by Note 1 to Section XV, or articles specified or included in Chapter 82 or 83, or more specifically covered elsewhere in the Nomenclature." [Emphasis in the original.]

We find that the fan housings are more specifically covered in heading 8414, HTSUS than in heading 7616, HTSUS.

We find that, pursuant to Note 2(b) to Section XVI, HTSUS, the housings are provided for in heading 8414, HTSUS, and are classified in subheading 8414.90.10, HTSUS, as: “Air or vacuum pumps, air or other gas compressors and fans; ventilating or recycling hoods incorporating a fan, whether or not fitted with filters; parts thereof: . . . Parts: Of fans (including blowers) and ventilating or recycling hoods.”

HOLDING:

The fan housings are classified in subheading 8414.90.10, HTSUS, as: “Air or vacuum pumps, air or other gas compressors and fans; ventilating or recycling hoods incorporating a fan, whether or not fitted with filters; parts thereof: . . . Parts: Of fans (including blowers) and ventilating or recycling hoods.”

You are instructed to DENY the protest.

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 in accordance with the decision must be accomplished prior to mailing of 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.treas.gov, by means of the Freedom of Information Act, and other methods of public distribution.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division

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