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HQ 966211




April 24, 2003

CLA-2 RR:CR:GC 966211 GOB

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 9027.80.25

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

RE: Protest 0401-02-100383

Dear Port Director:

This is our decision regarding Protest 0401-02-100383, filed on behalf of Bruker Biospin Corporation (“protestant”) concerning the classification, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”), of certain articles which include superconducting nuclear magnetic resonance (“NMR”) magnets.

FACTS:

The file reflects the following. The nine entries at issue were filed between October 16, 2001 and January 19, 2002. The entries were liquidated between August 30, 2002 and November 1, 2002. The protest was filed on November 8, 2002.

The goods were entered under subheading 9027.80.25, HTSUS. The entries were liquidated under subheading 8505.90.80, HTSUS.

In its protest submission, the protestant describes the subject goods as follows:

The magnets imported under the entries listed are actually cryostats containing magnets, which are used in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy. The units contain the electromagnetic device, shield, stand, cooling unit, sensors, shims, and other components . . .

In a letter dated April 10, 2003 in response to Customs request for further information, the protestant’s representative stated in pertinent part as follows:

The items indicated on the invoices as magnets are actually cryostats that contain superconducting NMR magnets. The units as imported consist of the cryostat, which is an apparatus used to maintain a constant low temperature, the superconducting NMR magnet, sensors, vibration isolation and dampening systems and an electronic atmospheric pressure device.

ISSUE:

Are the subject goods, which are described as articles containing NMR magnets and other apparatus, provided for in heading 8505, HTSUS, or in heading 9027, HTSUS?

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:

8505 Electromagnets, permanent magnets and articles intended to become permanent magnets after magnetization . . . :

8505.90 Other, including parts:

8505.90.80 Other

9027 Instruments and apparatus for physical or chemical analysis (for example, polarimeters, refractometers, spectrometers, gas or smoke analysis apparatus); instruments and apparatus for measuring or checking viscosity, porosity, expansion, surface tension or the like; instruments and apparatus for measuring or checking quantities of heat, sound or light (including exposure meters); microtomes; parts and accessories thereof:

9027.80 Other instruments and apparatus:

9027.80.25 Nuclear magnetic resonance instruments

EN 85.05 provides in pertinent part as follows:

This heading does not cover:
. . .
(b) Electro-magnets, permanent magnets or magnetic devices of this heading, when presented with machines, apparatus, toys, games, etc., of which they are designed to form part (classified with those machines, apparatus, etc.). [Emphasis in original.]

After a careful consideration of this matter, we find that exclusion (b) in EN 85.05 is applicable here, i.e., based on the available information, the imported goods consist of magnets or magnetic devices which are presented with apparatus of which they are designed to form a part. Accordingly, we find that the subject goods are not provided for in heading 8505, HTSUS.

Pursuant to the instruction of exclusion (b) to EN 85.05, the goods are to be classified with the machines, apparatus, etc. which they were presented with and of which they are designed to form a part. The protestant states that the subject goods “are used in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy.” The spectroscope, which is used in spectroscopy, is “an instrument for forming and examining spectra esp. in the visible regions of the electro-magnetic spectrum.” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (10th ed.; 1998). The spectrometer is “. . . any of various analytical instruments in which an emission . . . is dispersed according to some property (as mass or energy) of the emission and the amount of dispersion is measured (nuclear magnetic resonance).” Id.

Accordingly, we find that the subject goods, described above as articles containing NMR magnets and other apparatus, are provided for in heading 9027, HTSUS, and are classified in subheading 9027.80.25, HTSUS, as: “Instruments and apparatus for physical or chemical analysis (for example, polarimeters, refractometers, spectrometers, gas or smoke analysis apparatus) . . . : Other instruments and apparatus: Nuclear magnetic resonance instruments.”

The result here is consistent with the result in HQ 962625 dated May 25, 1999. We note that the goods in this case and HQ 962625 are not identical but they appear to have some substantial similarities.

HOLDING:

The articles containing NMR magnets and other apparatus are classified in subheading 9027.80.25, HTSUS, as: “Instruments and apparatus for physical or chemical analysis (for example, polarimeters, refractometers, spectrometers, gas or smoke analysis apparatus) . . . : Other instruments and apparatus: Nuclear magnetic resonance instruments.”

You are instructed to GRANT 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.cbp.gov, by means of the Freedom of Information Act, and other methods of public distribution.

Sincerely,

Myles B. Harmon, Director
Commercial Rulings Division

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