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NY N021737




January 22, 2008

CLA-2-90: RR: NC: 1:114

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 9027.90.5450

Ms. Eleanore Kelly-Kobayashi
Rode & Qualey
55 West 39th Street
New York, NY 10018

RE: The tariff classification of the chassis for a flow cytometry machine from China.

Dear Ms. Kelly-Kobayashi:

In your letter dated January 8, 2008, on behalf of Becton Dickinson and Company, you requested a tariff classification ruling.

The imported article is an empty cold rolled steel chassis/housing. The chassis is 24 inches deep, 35.5 inches wide and 25 inches high. You state that after importation, the importer assembles the necessary components into the chassis to create the BD FACSCanto™, II Flow Cytometry System. The imported product is the housing into which the various components will be assembled. You have stated in your letter that the imported chassis is designed solely as a part for the BD FACSCanto™.

The standard system is composed of a flow cytometer with blue (488 nanometer) and red (633 nanometer) lasers for light excitation, a fully integrated fluidics cart and digital electronics. The system detects and analyzes up to six fluorescent forward (FSC) and side scatter (SSC) parameters. The sample, a blood cell, has a substance added that produce a different color of light. In flow cytometry, usually different kinds of cells are coated with different substances. This causes them to light up with specific light colors, and produce a new light of specific colors. The cytometer looks for these color signatures, one cell at a time, to identify the type of cells. In some cases it also counts the cells.

In operation, a small test tube of the sample is loaded onto the instrument. Once loaded, the tube is pressurized by air. This forces a small trickle of the blood into the instrument where it merges with a stream of salt water. This salt water stream is directed with high precision into a clear, very small viewing chamber. In the BD FACSCanto™, the laser beams shine onto particular spots in this chamber. At this time, all the blood cells are at the exact center of the salt water stream. They are lined up, single file. One cell at a time passes each laser. This causes some of the coating substance to produce light at particular colors. This light is collected by optics and sent to special light detectors. As the cells go by the lasers, one or more detectors may see a blip or signal if the color is right. The cytometer registers this and that is how the operator knows what type of cell has passed by. The finished BD FACSCanto™ does not operate by means of electrophoresis.

The applicable subheading for the chassis will be 9027.90.5450, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for parts and accessories of instruments and apparatus for physical or chemical analysis; instruments 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; other instruments and apparatus using optical radiations (ultraviolet, visible, infrared), electrical, other. The rate of duty will be free.

Duty rates are provided for your convenience and are subject to change. The text of the most recent HTSUS and the accompanying duty rates are provided on World Wide Web at http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/.

This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177).

A copy of the ruling or the control number indicated above should be provided with the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If you have any questions regarding the ruling, contact National Import Specialist Barbara Kiefer at 646-733-3019.

Sincerely,

Robert B. Swierupski
Director,

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