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HQ 965172




June 3, 2002

CLA-2 RR:CR:GC 965172 AML

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF Nos.: 8459.70.80; 8459.29.00

Port Director
U.S. Customs Service
1 East Bay Street
Savannah, GA 31401

RE: Protest 1703-01-100006; metal working machines and parts

Dear Port Director:

The following is our decision regarding protest 1703-01-100006, filed by Toyota Manufacturing of North America, concerning your classification of camshaft grinding machine parts, an 8-spindle drilling head and an 8-spindle tapping head under subheading 8466.30.80, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for parts and accessories suitable solely or principally with the machines of headings 8456 to 8465.

FACTS:

The articles at issue are described as (item # MCAM0601001) camshaft grinding parts – grinding parts and soft (KMGR 0011S), (item # MHEAD551001) cylinder head drilling head – 8-spindle drilling head (KMTR-0040S) and (item # MRODO701001) connecting rod tapping head – 8-spindle tapping head (KMTR-0013S). With regard to these articles, the protestant states that “these heads, which hold drilling and tapping tools, are attached to a transfer machine and used to help make metal engine components.”

The protestant describes the substance of its protest (which we paraphrase) as follows:

Item MCAMO601001 Camshaft Grinding Machine Parts “are simply parts that are made specifically for and used as parts for a metal grinding machine and should be classified as parts of metal grinding machines under subheading 8466.93.95, HTSUS. Additionally, both the cylinder head 8-spindle drilling head (item #MHEAD551001) and connecting rod 8-spindle tapping head (item # MRODO701001), both of which consist of a motor, gear box, spindles, and tool holders and are used on a “transfer” machine should be considered for tariff purposes to be machines and be classified under subheading 8466.30.60, HTSUS. Alternatively, the protestant suggests that the articles should be classified under subheading 8466.10.80, HTSUS. A limited description and images of the drilling and tapping devices were provided for our consideration.

The articles were entered on December 13, 1999, and the entry was liquidated on October 20, 2000. The protest was filed on January 10, 2001.

ISSUE:

Whether the camshaft grinding machine, cylinder head 8-spindle drilling head and connecting rod 8-spindle tapping head are classifiable under heading 8459, HTSUS, which provides for drilling and tapping machines, or under heading 8466, HTSUS, which provides for parts and accessories suitable solely or principally with the machines of headings 8456 to 8465, HTSUS?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Initially we note that the protest was timely filed (i.e., within 90 days after but not before the notice of liquidation; see 19 U.S.C. §1514 (c)(3)(A)) and the matters protested are protestable (see 19 U.S.C. §1514 (a)(2) and (5)).

Classification of merchandise under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) is governed by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRIs), taken in order. GRI 1 provides that the classification is determined first in accordance with the terms of the headings and any relative section and chapter notes. If GRI 1 fails to classify the goods and if the heading and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRIs are applied, taken in order.

The 1999 HTSUS provisions under consideration are as follows:

8459 Machine tools (including way-type unit head machines) for drilling, boring, milling, threading or tapping by removing metal, other than lathes (including turning centers) of heading 8458: Other drilling machines:
8459.29.00 Other.
8459.70 Other threading or tapping machines: 8459.70.80 Other.
8466 Parts and accessories suitable for use solely or principally with the machines of headings 8456 to 8465, including work or tool holders, self-opening dieheads, dividing heads and other special attachments for machine tools; tool holders for any type of tool for working in the hand: 8466.10 Tool holders and self-opening dieheads: 8466.10.80 Other.
8466.30 Dividing heads and other special attachments for machine tools: Other special attachments:
Other:
8466.30.60 Machines.

When interpreting and implementing the HTSUS, the Explanatory Notes (ENs) of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System may be utilized. The ENs, while neither legally binding nor dispositive, provide a guiding commentary on the scope of each heading, and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of the HTSUS. Customs believes the ENs should always be consulted. See, T.D. 89-90, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989).

The articles are clearly classifiable in Chapter 84, which provides for, inter alia, machinery and equipment and parts thereof. Section XVI (in which Chapter 85 is found), Note 2, HTSUS, states that:

[s]ubject 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 8485 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. However, parts which are equally suitable for use principally with the goods of headings 8517 and 8525 to 8528 are to be classified in heading 8517;

(c) All other parts are to be classified in heading 8485 or 8548.

Subject to certain exceptions not relevant here, goods that are identifiable parts of machines or apparatus of Chapter 84 or Chapter 85 are classifiable in accordance with Section XVI, Note 2, HTSUS. Nidec Corporation v. United States, 861 F. Supp. 136, aff'd, 68 F. 3d 1333 (1995). Parts, which are goods included in any of the headings of Chapters 84 and 85, are in all cases to be classified in their respective headings. See Note 2(a). Other parts, if suitable for use solely or principally with a particular machine, or with a number of machines of the same heading, are to be classified with the machines of that kind. See Note 2(b). Articles that are integral, constituent components of another article, without which that article could not operate in its intended capacity, have been held to be “parts” under the HTSUS. See United States v. Willoughby Camera Stores, Inc., 21 CCPA 322 (1933), Bauerhin Technologies Ltd., et al v. United States, 110 F. 3d. 774 (Fed. Cir. 1997), and related cases.

In Headquarters Ruling Letter (HQ) 556976, dated June 4, 1994 and issued to the protestant, in considering the issue of substantial transformation, we described the manufacturing process accomplished by the articles at issue as follows:

Crankshaft

The crankshaft is made of forged steel in the U.S., and is shipped to the FTZ in unfinished form. The journals (area that will later mate with the main bearings and connecting rod bearings) are milled and surfaced to a highly polished finish at the proper journal dimensions. Oil passageways are drilled to allow lubrication of the bearings during engine operation. A gear is installed to mesh with the gear on the counterweight, which reduces engine vibrations during engine operation. The crankshaft is heat-treated for strength and precisely balanced to enable smooth engine operation. Machining of the Cylinder Head

The cylinder head is imported as a rough aluminum alloy casting. The cylinder head casting is bored and finished to accommodate the camshafts. The cylinder head is milled at the bottom to provide a mating surface for the cylinder head gasket, at the top for the installation of the valve cover, and the front and rear surfaces are machined and finished. At the bottom of the cylinder head, inside the four combustion chambers, the valve seat surfaces are machined in preparation for installation of the valve seats. Machining of the Camshafts

In processes similar to those performed on the crankshaft, the camshafts are milled and finished at the journal, and holes (oil passages) are drilled to allow lubrication of the bearing surfaces on the camshaft and cylinder head. The surfaces on the camshafts that will operate the valve assemblies (the "lobes") are ground and lapped to a highly polished finish at the correct dimensions.

HQ 556976 at pages 2-4.

Based upon information provided by the protestant, the cylinder head 8-spindle drilling head (item #MHEAD551001) and connecting rod 8-spindle tapping head (item # MRODO701001), separately consist of a motor, gear box, spindles, and tool holders. Given the extent of the constituent components, these articles appear, upon importation, to be unfinished machines rather than parts of machines.

GRI 2(a) provides that “any reference in a heading to an article shall be taken to include a reference to that article incomplete or unfinished, provided that, as entered, the incomplete or unfinished article has the essential character of the complete or finished article. It shall also include a reference to that article complete or finished (or falling to be classified as complete or finished by virtue of this rule), entered unassembled or disassembled.”

The ENs to heading 8459, HTSUS, provide at pages 1547 - 48, in pertinent part that:

This heading covers machine-tools for drilling, boring, milling, threading or tapping by removing metal, other than lathes (including turning centres) of heading 84.58 [bold in original].

In general machine-tools are power-driven but similar machines, worked by hand or pedal, are also covered by this heading. These latter types can be distinguished from the hand tools of heading 82.05 and from the tools for working in the hand of heading 84.67 or 85.08, by the fact that they are usually designed to be mounted on the floor, on a bench, on a wall or on another machine, and are thus usually provided with a base plate, mounting frame, stand, etc.

This heading covers:

(1) Drilling machines. These are used for cutting cylindrical holes, including recessed holes, in articles by means of a rotating tool called a drill or bit. The article remains immobile during the working of the tool which is rotated (cutting action) or fed into the work (feed action). This heading also covers drilling machines which employ a fixed tool to work a rotating article, or like machines using both processes.

Drilling machines include single spindle machines, radial or otherwise, and machines with several spindles (multi-spindle drilling machines).

(2) Boring machines. These further work the internal surface of an existing hole to exact dimensions. Boring may be cylindrical, conical or spherical. Boring machines are used, for example, for working to exact dimensions the cylinder bores of piston engines or pumps.

The operation of boring involves the use of free standing facing tools with fixed dimensions (borer drills, straight or helically-fluted finishing borers) or variable dimensions (expanding-end borers, inset-strip borers, micrometrically adjustable boring heads, boring heads with inset cutters) or with tools working on a guideway (adjustable, expanding or non-adjustable cutters and hollow one-piece sleeves or sleeves with inset parts).

This heading includes, inter alia, vertical boring machines, horizontal boring machines (with fixed or moveable mounting), multiple boring machines, boring machines for duplicating the interiors of hollow-bored shafts as well as machines commonly called miller-borers fitted with a composite spindle made up of two concentric spindles which may function independently; the interior spindle consists of a long sleeve allowing the attachment of a boring bar (spindle borer), while the external spindle, generally coupled to a plate in a rigid manner, is adapted for fitting with a milling cutter (milling spindle).

This heading also covers those machines designed and built essentially for boring, even if they are adapted for carrying out other additional operations (for example, drilling, surfacing, milling, turning and sometimes even screw cutting). On the other hand, lathes (including turning centres) which carry out boring as an auxiliary or additional operation are classified in heading 84.58.

(3) Milling machines. These work a plane or profile surface by means of rotating tools (known as milling cutters), the circular cutting movement is combined with a traversing movement of the article fixed on the machine table. Milling machines include, inter alia, horizontal milling machines, vertical milling machines, horizontal-vertical milling machines, milling machines with adjustable heads, plane-milling machines, universal milling machines which, in addition to the normal milling work, can by means of a dividing head mounted on the machine, mill splines in a shaft, or spur or helical gears, repetitive milling machines, milling machines for grooving or chamfering, engraving millers.

(4)Tapping machines (i.e., machines to produce a screw thread in an existing hole) and threading machines for threading bolts, screws, etc. It should be noted that thread-milling machines are regarded as milling machines.

The heading also includes way-type unit head machines. These machines, which are designed to perform the operations described above, have no attached base. They consist only of a “frame” holding a motor and a tool holder and are equipped with guides (ways) and can therefore move back and forth repetitively when placed on a suitable base. The workpiece is inserted in a work holder independent of the way-type unit head machine which moves back and forth horizontally for drilling, boring, etc.

The cylinder head 8-spindle drilling head (item #MHEAD551001) and connecting rod 8-spindle tapping head (item # MRODO701001), both of which consist of a motor, gearbox, spindles, and tool holders. They are similar to the “way (guide)” type units in that they are not imported with a frame or base. Thus, they must be classified as other than the “way (guide)” type. The articles are not merely parts and accessories of such articles; rather, they have the essential character of the finished articles (see GRI 2(a), above). We conclude that they are unfinished milling and tapping machines classifiable under heading 8459, HTSUS.

The ENs to heading 8466, HTSUS, provide in pertinent part as follows:

With the exception of the tools of Chapter 82 and subject to the general provisions regarding the classification of parts (see the General Explanatory Note to Section XVI), this heading covers :

(A) Parts of the machine-tools of the ten preceding headings, 84.56 to 84.65.

(B) Accessories for these machine-tools, that is, subsidiary devices used in connection with machine-tools, such as interchangeable devices which modify the machine-tool so that it can perform a wider range of operations; devices to increase precision; devices which perform a particular service relative to the main function of the machine.

Based on the limited information provided concerning the camshaft grinding parts, we conclude that the articles were properly classified at liquidation. Grinding machines are classifiable under heading 8460, HTSUS. Parts thereof, “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 (see Note 2(b) to Section XVI).”

HOLDINGS:

The cylinder head drilling head – 8-spindle drilling head (item # MHEAD551001) (KMTR-0040S) is classified under subheading 8459.29.00, HTSUS, which provides for machine tools (including way-type unit head machines) for drilling, boring, milling, threading or tapping by removing metal, other than lathes (including turning centers) of heading 8458: other drilling machines: other.

The connecting rod tapping head – 8-spindle tapping head (item # MRODO701001) (KMTR-0013S) is classified under subheading 8459.70.80, HTSUS, which provides for machine tools (including way-type unit head machines) for drilling, boring, milling, threading or tapping by removing metal, other than lathes (including turning centers) of heading 8458: other threading or tapping machines: other.

The parts for the camshaft-grinding machine (MCAM0601001) have not been sufficiently identified and therefore remain classified as liquidated under subheading 8466.30.80, HTSUS, which provides for parts and accessories suitable solely or principally with the machines of headings 8456 to 8465.

The protest should be GRANTED in part (as it concerns the cylinder head 8-spindle drilling head (item #MHEAD551001) and connecting rod 8-spindle tapping head (item # MRODO701001)) and DENIED in part (as it concerns the camshaft grinding parts). 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 (60) 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

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