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HQ H005075




April 17, 2007

CLA-2 RR:CTF:TCM H005075 KSH

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 8207.90.7585

Matthew R. Miller
Allor Manufacturing, Inc.
P.O. Box 1540
Brighton, MI 48116-5340

RE: Steel Rolls for Flatteners and Levelers; Reconsideration of NY R04531.

Dear Mr. Miller:

This letter is in response to your request of November 3, 2006, for reconsideration of New York Ruling Letter (NY) R04531, dated August 30, 2006, as it pertains to the classification of steel rolls for flatteners and levelers under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA).

FACTS:

The merchandise at issue is steel rolls used in flattening and leveling machines. A flattening or leveling machine flattens rolled steel coil thereby reducing or eliminating distortions which occur when the steel coil is initially processed by steel rolling mills. Coil strip is fed into the leveling line where it rides up and down through the rolls under tension. The tension from the rolls breaks down the memory of the steel coil so that it can be flattened. The rolls are made from several grades of high grade steel, are 6 feet in length or longer and measure 20mm to 12 inches in diameter

ISSUE:

Whether the steel rolls are classified in heading 8207, HTSUSA, as interchangeable tools for machine-tools or in heading 8455, HTSUSA, as metal rolling mills and rolls therefor.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Classification of goods under the HTSUSA is governed by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI). GRI 1 provides that classification 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 may then be applied.

The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (EN) constitute the official interpretation of the Harmonized System at the international level. While neither legally binding nor dispositive, the EN provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the HTSUSA and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of the headings. It is Customs and Border Protections' (CBP) practice to follow, whenever possible, the terms of the ENs when interpreting the HTSUSA. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989).

In NY R04531, the steel rolls were classified in heading 8207, HTSUSA, which provides for: "Interchangeable tools for handtools, whether or not power-operated, or for machine-tools (for example, for pressing, stamping, punching, tapping, threading, drilling, boring, broaching, milling, turning or screwdriving), including dies for drawing or extruding metal, and rock drilling or earth boring tools. You argue that the product is classified in heading 8455, HTSUSA, as rolling mills and rolls therefor because the rolls are not hand tools but are used in rolling mills. As the rolls are parts of machines, CBP must first determine the classification of the machine itself.

Heading 8455, HTSUSA, provides for: "Metal-rolling mills and rolls therefor; parts thereof." Subheading 8455.30.00, HTSUSA, provides for "Rolls for rolling mills."

EN 8455, HTSUSA, provides in pertinent part as follows:

(I) ROLLING MILLS

Rolling mills are metal working machines consisting essentially of a system of rollers between which the metal is passed; the metal is rolled out or shaped by the pressure exerted by the rollers, and at the same time the rolling modifies the structure of the metal and improves its quality. In some cases, in addition to their normal functions, rolling mills may be used to produce a pattern on the metal surface, or to roll together two or more sheets of different metals to produce a laminated product.

Similar machines for rolling materials other than metal, e.g., calenders, are excluded (heading 84.20). Other roller machines (e.g., for gumming metal foil on to a paper support) (heading 84.20), bending, folding, straightening or flattening machines (heading 84.62) are not regarded as rolling mills in the sense described above and are therefore also excluded from this heading.

Rolling mills are of various types according to the particular rolling operations for which they are designed, viz:

(A) Rolling out to reduce the thickness with a corresponding increase in length (e.g., in the rolling of ingots into blooms, billets or slabs; rolling of slabs into sheet, strip, etc.).

(B) Rolling of blooms, billets, etc., to form a particular cross-section (e.g., in the production of bars, rods, angles, shapes, sections, girders, railway rails).

(C) Rolling tubes.

(D) Rolling of wheel blanks or wheel rim blanks (e.g., to shape the flanges of railway wheels).

The steel rolls are not part of the rolling mill. Rather they are a part of flattening and leveling machines used to correct defects occurring at the rolling mill. The leveling or flattening machines correct the defects by applying tension from its steel rolls to the steel coil created by the rolling mills. The EN to heading 8455, HTSUSA, expressly excludes flattening machines and directs classification to heading 8462, HTSUSA. Accordingly, the steel rolls cannot be classified in heading 8455, HTSUSA. See HQ 965398, dated May 20, 2002; HQ 965296, dated July 9, 2001 and; HQ 965198, dated May 1, 2002.

Heading 8462, HTSUSA, provides for, "Machine tools (including presses) for working metal by forging, hammering or die-stamping; machine tools (including presses) for working metal by bending, folding, straightening, flattening, shearing, punching or notching; presses for working metal or metal carbides, not specified above." The EN to heading 8462, HTSUSA, provides in relevant part:

The heading includes:

(4) Straightening machines and flattening machines. These machines are for remedying imperfections in non-flat products, such as wire, bars, rods, tubes, angles, shapes and sections, or flat products, such as sheets or strip, arising during their manipulation after manufacture.

Flattening machines include the following, for example:

(a) Flattening machines of the roller type which consist of a series of parallel rollers (or cylinders), either small in number (5 to 11) but of relatively large diameter and great rigidity, or large in number (generally 15 to 23) but of small diameter, great flexibility, and supported by an equal number of counter rollers;

The subject steel rolls are small in diameter and work to remedy imperfections in steel strip which arise during their manipulation after manufacture. The steel rolls are clearly part of a flattening or leveling machine of heading 8462, HTSUSA.

Note 2 to Section XVI, HTSUSA, governs the classification of parts of machines. It provides in relevant part:

2. Subject to note 1 to this section, note 1 to chapter 84 and 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 chapter 84 or 85 (other than headings 8409, 8431, 8448, 8466, 8473, 8487, 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. 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.

Note 1(o) to Section XVI provides:

1. This Section does not cover:

(o) Interchangeable tools of heading 8207 or brushes of a kind used as parts of machines (heading 9603); similar interchangeable tools are to be classified according to the constituent material of their working part (for example, in Chapter 40, 42, 43, 45 or 59 or heading 6804 or 6909);

Heading 8466, HTSUSA, provides for "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."

The EN to heading 8466, HTSUSA, provides in relevant part:

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.

While the steel rolls may appear to be prima facie classifiable in heading 8466, HTSUSA, consideration must be first given to heading 8207, HTSUSA. Heading 8207, HTSUSA, provides for "Interchangeable tools for ... machine- tools...; base metal parts thereof." (Emphasis added). The EN to heading 8207, HTSUSA, provides in relevant part:

Whereas (apart from a few exceptions such as machine saw blades) the preceding headings of this Chapter apply in the main to hand tools ready for use as they stand or after affixing handles, this heading covers an important group of tools which are unsuitable for use independently, but are designed to be fitted, as the case may be, into:

(A) hand tools, whether or not power-operated (e.g., breast drills, braces and die-stocks),

(B) machine-tools, of headings 84.57 to 84.65, or of heading 84.79 by reason of Note 7 to Chapter 84,

(C) tools of heading 84.67,
for pressing, stamping, punching, tapping, threading, drilling, boring, reaming, broaching, milling, gear-cutting, turning, cutting, morticing or drawing, etc., metals, metal carbides, wood, stone, ebonite, certain plastics or other materials, or for screwdriving.

The steel rolls meet the terms of heading 8207, HTSUSA, because the steel rolls are unsuitable for use independently, but are designed to be fitted into a machine-tool of heading 8462, HTSUSA. As the steel rolls meet the terms of heading 8207, HTSUSA, they are excluded from heading 8466, HTSUSA, by application of Note 1(o) to Section XVI. This decision is consistent with HQ 965283, dated May 21, 2002. .

HOLDING:

By application of GRI 1 and Note 1(o) to Section XVI, the steel rolls are classified in heading 8207, HTSUSA. They are provided for in subheading 8207.90.7585, HTSUSA, which provides for "Interchangeable tools for handtools, whether or not power-operated, or for machine-tools (for example, for pressing, stamping, punching, tapping, threading, drilling, boring, broaching, milling, turning or screwdriving), including dies for drawing or extruding metal, and rock drilling or earth boring tools; base metal parts thereof: Other interchangeable tools, and parts thereof: Other: Other: Other: Other." The general column one rate of duty is 3.7% ad valorem.

EFFECT ON OTHER RULINGS:

NY R04531, dated August 30, 2006, is hereby affirmed.

Sincerely,

Myles B. Harmon, Director
Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division

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