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HQ 966024




February 10, 2003

CLA-2 RR:CR:GC 966024 DSS

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 8302.41.60

Mr. R. Kevin Williams
Rodriguez, O’Donnell, Ross, Furest, Gonzalez & Williams, P.C. 20 North Wacker Drive
Suite 1416
Chicago, IL 60606

RE: Request for Reconsideration of NY D89002; Garage Door Rollers

Dear Mr. Williams:

This is our decision on your request for reconsideration of New York Ruling letter (NY) D89002, on behalf of your client Canimex, filed against classification, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), of garage door rollers under subheading 8482.10.10. You submitted this request to the Director, National Commodity Specialist Division, who forwarded it to this office for reply. Three samples were included in your submission. After review of NY D89002, Customs has determined that the classification of garage door rollers under subheading 8482.10.10, HTSUS, is incorrect.

Pursuant to section 625(c), Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1625(c)), as amended by section 623 of Title VI (Customs Modification) of the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, Pub. L. 103-182, 107 Stat. 2057, 2186 (1993), a notice was published on January 2, 2003, in the Customs Bulletin, Volume 37, Number 1, proposing to revoke NY D89002. No comments were received in response to this notice.

FACTS:

In NY D89002, dated April 8, 1999, we classified garage door rollers as integral shaft bearings under subheading 8482.10.10, HTSUS. You argue that the subject garage door rollers are properly classified under subheading 8302.41.60, HTSUS, as base metal mountings, fittings, and similar articles suitable for buildings.

The rollers consist of steel balls positioned between an outer ring formed from cold-rolled strip steel and a cold rolled steel shaft. The stem is an integral shaft which serves as the inner race of the bearing and extends beyond the face of the bearing to facilitate mounting of the bearing in a suitable fitting, which you describe as a roller bracket, which mounts the roller on a sectional garage door. In NY D89002, the shafts of the garage door rollers were grooved, but the stems of the garage door rollers you submitted were not grooved. Two of the samples submitted contained outer rings of steel; the other sample contained an outer ring of plastic.

You state that garage door rollers are also referred to as track rollers in the industry, and are defined as a “roller assembly for guiding the door sections along a track” by the Door and Access Systems Manufacturers Association (DASMA).

A garage door roller is mounted to a sectional garage door using a roller bracket. The rollers travel in a track and guide the garage door as it is raised and lowered. The rollers facilitate the raising and lowering of the garage door by the path prescribed by the track (i.e., they keep the garage door in the correct lateral position as it is raised and lowered). You state that the weight of the garage door is not carried by the rollers or the tracks during the opening and closing operation, but is borne by the springs in the door system which serve as the counterbalance to the weight of the door. You also state that the rollers and track do support the weight of the door when it is in the horizontal (open) position.

The HTSUS provisions under consideration are as follows:

8302 Base metal mountings, fittings, and similar articles suitable for furniture, doors, staircases, windows, blinds, coachwork, saddlery, trunks, chests, caskets or the like; base metal hat racks, hat-pegs, brackets and similar fixtures; castors with mountings of base metal; automatic door closers of base metal; and base metal parts thereof:

Other mountings, fittings and similar articles, and parts thereof: 8302.41 Suitable for buildings:
Other:
8302.41.60 Of iron or steel of aluminum or of zinc

Ball or roller bearings, and parts thereof:

8482.10 Ball bearings:

8482.10.10 Ball bearings with integral shafts

ISSUE:

What is the proper tariff classification for the subject garage door rollers?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Classification under the HTSUS is made in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRIs). 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 GRIs may then be applied. Pursuant to GRI 3(b), when goods are prima facie classifiable under two or more headings, classification shall be effected as follows:

(b) Mixtures, composite goods consisting of different materials or made up of different components, and goods put up in sets for retail sale, which cannot be classified by reference to [GRI] 3(a) [i.e., by the heading which provides the most specific description], shall be classified as if they consisted of the material or component which gives them their essential character, insofar as the criterion is applicable.

In interpreting the headings and subheadings, Customs looks to the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (ENs). Although not legally binding, they provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the HTSUS. It is Customs practice to follow, whenever possible, the terms of the ENs when interpreting the HTSUS. See T.D. 89-90, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989).

Heading 8302 is contained in Chapter 83 and Section XV, HTSUS; Heading 8482 is contained in Chapter 84 and Section XVI, HTSUS. According to Note 1, Section XVI, HTSUS, parts of general use, as defined in Note 2, Section XV, cannot be classified in section XVI. Parts of general use are defined by reference to “the articles of heading 8301, 8302, 8308 or 8310,” according to Note 2 to Section XV. EN 83.02 provides in relevant part:

This heading covers general purpose classes of base metal accessory fittings and mountings, such as are used largely on furniture, doors, windows, coachwork, etc. Goods within such general classes remain in this heading even if they are designed for particular uses (e.g., door handles or hinges for automobiles). This heading does not, however, extend to goods forming an essential part of the structure of the article, such as window frames or swivel devices for revolving chairs.

The heading covers:

(D) Mountings, fittings, and similar articles suitable for buildings This group includes:
(3) Fittings for sliding doors or windows of shops, garages, sheds, hangars, etc. (e.g., grooves and tracks, runners and rollers) [emphasis in original].

You state that the subject garage door rollers are specifically designed for use with the standard size tracks used with garage doors in the United States and are sold solely to companies in the garage door industry. You claim that the garage door rollers are not suitable for any other use.

Relevant ENs for Chapter 84 state that heading 8482 covers ball, roller, or needle roller type bearings that enable friction to be considerably reduced. They may be designed to give radial support or to resist thrust. This EN states further that normally, bearings consist of two concentric rings or races enclosing the balls or rollers, and a cage which keeps them in place and ensures that their spacing remains constant.

In other articles of this type, similar to track rollers and cam followers, the outer portion of the wheel or ring is significantly reinforced in thickness to provide weight-carrying capability. In addition, the inner and outer diameter surfaces are slightly contoured to permit the wheels to fit into and roll smoothly in the track. Known by various names, articles that function to position, hold and guide moving machine parts, as well as reduce friction during such movement, have been held to be ball or roller bearings of heading 8482. See THK America, Inc. v. United States, 17 CIT 1169 (1993), and lexicographic sources cited. Although, prima facie, these rollers would appear to function similarly to the description of ball bearings cited above, there is one fundamental difference between ball bearings and the subject garage doors rollers. While ball and roller bearings function to position, hold and guide moving machine parts the subject rollers function to position, hold and guide moving sections of a garage door, not machine parts.

We conclude that the rollers fall within the definition of rollers in EN 83.02. The term “roller” is not defined in the HTSUS or the ENs. When terms are not so defined, tariff terms are construed in accordance with their common and commercial meaning. Nippon Kogasku (USA), Inc. v. United States, 69 CCPA 89, 673 F.2d 380 (1982). Common and commercial meaning may be determined by consulting dictionaries, lexicons, scientific authorities and other reliable sources. C.J. Tower & Sons v. United States, 69 CCPA 128, 673 F.2d 1268 (1982). The term “roller” is broadly defined as “a revolving cylinder over or on which something is moved or on which is used to press, shape, spread or smooth something.” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (10th ed. 2002). Thus, it appears that the subject garage door rollers fall within the common meaning of the term “roller.”

Therefore, based on the foregoing analysis it appears that the articles fall within the common meaning of the term “rollers” and are classifiable under subheading 8302.41.60, HTSUS, as base metal mountings, fittings, and similar articles suitable for buildings.

In regard to the roller with the plastic outer ring, we feel that this particular roller is a composite good, with the essential character of the roller provided by the steel portion of the roller. EN Rule 3(b)(IX) states, in part, that:

For the purposes of this Rule, composite goods made up of different components shall be taken to mean not only those in which the components are attached to each other to form a practically inseparable whole but also those with separate components, provided these components are adapted one to the other and are mutually complementary and that together they form a whole which would not normally be offered for sale in separate parts.

In this case, we are of the opinion that the garage door roller with the plastic outer ring is a composite good. According to GRI 3(b), classification must be made according to the essential character of the good. In general, essential character has been construed to mean the attribute which strongly marks or serves to distinguish what an article is or that which is indispensable to the structure, core or condition of the article. EN Rule 3(b)(VIII) provides factors which help determine the essential character of goods. The factors listed in EN Rule 3(b)(VIII) include the nature of the material or component, bulk, quantity, weight or value, or the role of a constituent material in relation to the use of the goods.

The components of the article, the steel roller shaft and bearings and plastic outer ring, are adapted one to the other, mutually complementary, and together form a whole which would not normally be offered for sale in separate parts. The bearings of the roller assembly fit into the outer ring which fits into the track. Based on the information submitted, we determine that the essential character of the roller is provided by the steel portion of the roller; it provides the bulk of the weight and form of the roller and attaches to the garage door itself, through a roller bracket. Thus, we find that the garage door roller with the plastic outer ring would be classified similarly to the other garage door rollers provided which are comprised entirely of steel.

Thus, based on the foregoing analysis, we conclude that the subject garage door rollers are within the common meaning of the term “rollers” and are classifiable under subheading 8302.41.60, HTSUS. Since the garage door rollers are parts of general use classified in subheading 8302.41.60, HTSUS, they are excluded from classification under subheading 8482.10.10, HTSUS, according to Note 1, Section XVI.

HOLDING:

In accordance with the above discussion, the correct classification for the subject garage door rollers is under subheading, 8302.41.60, HTSUS, which provides for “Base metal mountings, fittings, and similar articles suitable for furniture, doors, staircases, windows, blinds, coachwork, saddlery, trunks, chests, caskets or the like; base metal hat racks, hat-pegs, brackets and similar fixtures; castors with mountings of base metal; automatic door closers of base metal; and base metal parts thereof: . . .Other mountings, fittings and similar articles, and parts thereof: . . . Suitable for buildings: . . . Other: . . . Of iron or steel of aluminum or of zinc.”

EFFECT ON OTHER RULINGS:

NY D89002 is REVOKED. In accordance with 19 U.S.C. 1625(c), this ruling will become effective 60 days after publication in the Customs Bulletin.

Sincerely,

Myles B. Harmon
Director,
Commercial Rulings Division

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