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HQ H011145




August 16, 2007

CLA-2 OT:RR:CTF:TCM H011145 KSH

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 9018.19.95

Gail T. Cumins, Esq.
Sharretts, Paley, Carter & Blauvelt
Seventy-Five Broad Street
New York, NY 10004

RE: Classification of four Computed Radiography Systems.

Dear Ms. Cumins:

This letter is in response to your request of April 11, 2007, on behalf of Eastman Kodak Company, to the National Commodity Specialist Division in New York in which you requested a binding ruling pertaining to the classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) of four Computed Radiography Systems. Your letter has been forwarded to this office for a response.

FACTS:

The products at issue are identified as four Computed Radiography Systems (CRS) designated as the Direct View CR 800, CR 850, CR 900 and CR 950. They are designed and dedicated exclusively for use in computed radiography for medical purposes. The CRSs scan from the cassette feed slot one or more phosphor plate cassettes that have been exposed by radiation emitted from an X-ray tube with a laser. The CRSs will produce a digital image from the phosphor plates and store and organize those images electronically. The CRSs also provide for the entry, storage and editing of examination and patient information with the corresponding images. The information may be entered from a network external drive, a bar code reader built into the CRS or a virtual keyboard displayed on the CRSs touch screen monitor. The CRS systems all incorporate an internal computer programmed with proprietary software, a touch screen monitor, a cassette feed slot or cassette transport table, an internal uninterruptible power supply and a bar code reader in the CR 800 and 850 systems.

ISSUE:

Whether the Computed Radiography Systems are classified in heading 9018, HTSUS, as: “Instruments and appliances used in medical, surgical, dental or veterinary sciences, including scintigraphic apparatus, other electro-medical apparatus and sight-testing instruments” or heading 9022, HTSUS, as: “Apparatus based on the use of X-rays or of alpha, beta or gamma radiations, whether or not for medical, surgical, dental or veterinary uses, including radiography or radiotherapy apparatus, X-ray tubes and other X-ray generators, high tension generators, control panels and desks, screens, examination or treatment tables, chairs and the like.”

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 HTSUS and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of the headings. It is Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) practice to follow, whenever possible, the terms of the ENs when interpreting the HTSUS. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989).

Note 2 to Chapter 90, HTSUS, provides, in relevant part:

Subject to Note 1 above, parts and accessories for machines, apparatus, instruments or articles of this chapter are to be classified according to the following rules:

(a) Parts and accessories which are goods included in any of the headings of this chapter or of chapter 84, 85 or 91 (other than heading 8487, 8548 or 9033) are in all cases to be classified in their respective headings;

(b) Other parts and accessories, if suitable for use solely or principally with a particular kind of machine, instrument or apparatus, or with a number of machines, instruments or apparatus of the same heading (including a machine, instrument or apparatus of heading 9010, 9013 or 9031) are to be classified with the machines, instruments or apparatus of that kind.

Heading 9018, HTSUS, provides for: “Instruments and appliances used in medical, surgical, dental or veterinary sciences, including scintigraphic apparatus, other electro-medical apparatus and sight-testing instruments; parts and accessories thereof.” The EN to heading 9018, HTSUS, states in relevant part:

This heading covers a very wide range of instruments and appliances which, in the vast majority of cases, are used only in professional practice (e.g., by doctors, surgeons, dentists, veterinary surgeons, midwives), either to make a diagnosis, to prevent or treat an illness or to operate, etc. Instruments and appliances for anatomical or autoptic work, dissection, etc., are also included, as are, under certain conditions, instruments and appliances for dental laboratories (see Part (II) below). The instruments of the heading may be made of any material (including precious metals).

The heading does not cover:

(o) X-ray apparatus, etc., (whether medical or not) of heading 90.22.

(V) OTHER ELECTRO-MEDICAL APPARATUS

This heading also covers electro-medical apparatus for preventive, curative or diagnostic purposes, other than X-ray, etc., apparatus of heading 90.22. This group includes:

(x) Diagnostic apparatus incorporating or operating in conjunction with an automatic data processing machine for processing and visualising clinical data, etc.

Heading 9022, HTSUS, provides for: “Apparatus based on the use of X-rays or of alpha, beta or gamma radiations, whether or not for medical, surgical, dental or veterinary uses, including radiography or radiotherapy apparatus, X-ray tubes and other X-ray generators, high tension generators, control panels and desks, screens, examination or treatment tables, chairs and the like.” The EN to heading 9022, HTSUS, provides in relevant part:

(III) X-RAY TUBES AND OTHER X-RAY GENERATORS, HIGH TENSION GENERATORS, CONTROL PANELS AND DESKS, SCREENS, EXAMINATION OR TREATMENT TABLES, CHAIRS AND THE LIKE

This group includes :

(F) Examination or treatment tables, chairs and the like specialised for X-ray work, whether designed to be incorporated in the X-ray apparatus or to form separate articles. Provided they are exclusively or primarily designed for use with X-ray apparatus, such tables, chairs, etc., remain classified in this heading even if presented separately; but tables, chairs, etc., not specialised for X-ray work are excluded (usually heading 94.02).

PARTS AND ACCESSORIES

Subject to the provisions of Notes 1 and 2 to this Chapter (see the General Explanatory Note), parts and accessories identifiable as being solely or principally for use with X-ray apparatus, etc., are also classified in this heading.

You argue that the CRSs are classified in heading 9018, HTSUS, because they are high precision machines used exclusively in professional practice by radiologists and other physicians for diagnostic and other medical purposes and fall squarely within the terms of heading 9018, HTSUS. Further, you maintain that even if the CRSs are considered accessories of articles described in heading 9022, HTSUS, they must be classified in 9018, HTSUS, based on the application of Note 2(a) to Chapter 90, HTSUS.

In HQ 962048, dated July 28, 1999, a medical laser imager that incorporated an electrical control unit or controller, a laser unit, supply film magazines, a print unit and a receive unit was classified in heading 9018, HTSUS. Through modality interface boards, the controller receives video and/or digital signals sent by diagnostic equipment, such as computed tomography (CT) scanners, magnetic resonance imaging machines (MRI), and sonograms, from any location in a hospital. The controller configures the analog signals into digital images in paginated format and then transmits the images to the imager. Once received, the imager records the configured images onto a special negative film. In classifying the imager in heading 9018, HTSUS, CBP stated:

The evidence provided suggests that the laser imager is principally used in a hospital or professional practice for processing radiology films. See Additional U.S. Rule of Interpretation 1(a). The subject merchandise is designed to convert analog signals received from various diagnostic units, such as ultrasound and MRI machines, into digitized signals. The imager produces negatives which are subsequently developed into “x-ray” films by the film processing unit. As such, the merchandise is an appliance used in the medical science, described by heading 9018.

It is undisputed the CRSs are used in medical sciences. Specifically, the CRSs are primarily used in a hospital or professional practice to view x-rays taken from a MRI in a digitized format that can be manipulated and shared. Similar to the imager, the CRSs create a digitized x-ray which can be viewed, manipulated, shared and/or saved onto the CRSs system.

Moreover, the EN to heading 9018, HTSUS, explains that the heading covers diagnostic apparatus incorporating or operating in conjunction with an automatic data processing machine for processing and visualising clinical data, etc. In HQ 961998, dated May 7, 1999, CBP noted the following definitions of “diagnostic”:

The term “diagnostic” is defined in Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary 372 (1988) as “1. Of, relating to, or used in a diagnosis. 2. Serving to identify a disease.” The same term is defined in Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary 458 (28th ed.) as “pertaining to or subserving diagnosis.” The term “diagnosis” is defined in Webster’s as “1. Med. The act or process of identifying or determining the nature of a disease by way of examination.” The term “diagnosis” is defined in Dorland’s as the determination of the nature of a case of disease. 2. the art of distinguishing one disease from another.”

In HQ 961705, we cited the Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary definition of diagnosis as “a diagnosis is the identification of a disease by careful investigation of its symptoms and history.” 1 Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary 714 (1987). Diagnostic in the medical sense means relating or aiding in diagnosis. Stedman’s Medical Dictionary 428 (1990).

Though the CRSs do not actually make a diagnosis, they do aid in diagnosis by producing a digital image of an x-ray thereby allowing an evaluation of the images by which a diagnosis can be made. Indeed in advertising material for the CRSs it was noted that the systems yield better visualization of the anatomy especially in traditional problem areas, support reduced reading time, eliminate loss in detail, reduce the need to level images, provide better anatomical context and provide robust automatic tonescale processing. As such, the CRSs fall within the ambit of electo-diagnostic apparatus as described in the EN to heading 9018, HTSUS.

In accordance with Note 2(a) to Chapter 90, HTSUS, because the CRSs are classifiable in heading 9018, HTSUS, they cannot be classified as parts or accessories of x-ray apparatus of heading 9022, HTSUS.

HOLDING:

By application of GRI 1 and Note 2(a) to Chapter 90, HTSUS, the Computed Radiography Systems are classified in heading 9018, HTSUS. They are provided for in subheading 9018.19.95, HTSUS, which provides for: “Instruments and appliances used in medical, surgical, dental or veterinary sciences, including scintigraphic apparatus, other electro-medical apparatus and sight-testing instruments; parts and accessories thereof: Electro-diagnostic apparatus (including apparatus for functional exploratory examination or for checking physiological parameters); parts and accessories thereof: Other: Other: Other.” The column one, general rate of duty is free.

Sincerely,


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