HQ 082793: Wiring harnesses used in motor vehicle lighting equipment

Native CBP ruling rendition. Applicability is fact-specific; modification/revocation relationships and original publisher date are retained. Publisher sentinel year0001 means unknown date, not a historical legal adoption.

                                     HQ 082793
                                  August 10, 1989

          CLA-2 CO:R:C:G 082793 VEA

          CATEGORY: Classification

          TARIFF NO.: 8544.30.00.

          William Joffrey
          William F. Joffrey Custom House Brokers Inc.
          P.O. Box 698
          Nogales, Arizona 85628-0698

          RE:   Wiring harnesses used in motor vehicle lighting equipment

          Dear Mr. Joffrey:

                Your inquiry dated July 5, 1988, on behalf of Coleman
          Products Co., requests reconsideration of a New York ruling
          dated June 21, 1988 (File # 830553), classifying electrical
          wiring harnesses in heading 8544.30.00 of the Harmonized Tariff
          Schedule of the United States (HTSUS).


          FACTS:

                The submission states that the wiring harness is imported
          from Mexico and is used in motor vehicle lighting equipment.
          The harness consists of twin insulated electrical wires fitted
          at one end with a twin lead connector and an electrical light
          socket with or without its light bulb at the other end.  The
          New York office classified the merchandise under subheading
          8544.30.0000, HTSUS.

                You disagree with this classification claiming that the
          harnesses should be classified under subheading 8512.90.6000
          because they are used exclusively in motor vehicle lighting
          equipment.  The request for classification was submitted to the
          New York office for reconsideration and forwarded to
          Headquarters for resolution.


          ISSUE:

                Whether wiring harnesses used in lighting systems for
          motor vehicles are insulated electrical conductors within the
          terms of heading 8544, or whether they are electric lightning
          equipment within the terms of heading 8512, HTSUS.















                                       - 2 -


          LAW AND ANALYSIS:

                The General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's), the legal
          principles by which merchandise is classified, govern
          classification under the HTSUS.  GRI 1 states, in part, that
          classification shall be determined according to the terms of
          the headings and any relative section or chapter notes.  Under
          the HTSUS, electrical articles are classified in Chapter 85.
          The competing headings 8512 and 8544 provide:

                8512    Electrical lighting or signaling equipment
                        (excluding articles of heading 8539), windshield
                        wipers, defrosters and demisters, of a kind used
                        for cycles or motor vehicles; parts thereof:

                *     *     *     *     *       *       *        *

                8544    Insulated (including enameled or anodized)
                        wire, cable (including coaxial cable) and other
                        insulated electric conductors whether or not
                        fitted with connectors; optical fiber cables,
                        made up of individually sheathed fibers, whether
                        or not assembled with electric conductors or
                        fitted with connectors:

                        *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *   *   *

                8544.30.00              Ignition wiring sets and other
                                        wiring sets of a kind used in
                                        vehicles, aircraft or ships.

                The wiring harnesses are precluded from classification in
          heading 8512.  The Explanatory Notes describe the articles
          intended for classification in that heading.  They exclude
          insulated electric wire and cable, whether or not cut to length
          or fitted with connectors or made up in sets.  These articles
          are provided for in heading 8544.

                The Explanatory Notes to heading 8544 state that it
          covers electric wire, cable and other conductors (e.g. braids,
          strip bars) used as conductors in electrical machinery,
          apparatus or installations, provided that they are insulated.
          The insulated wires and cables covered in this heading include:


















                                       - 3 -


          (1) single or multiple strand insulated wires twisted together,
          (2) two or more such insulated wires twisted together, and (3)
          two or more such insulated wires assembled together in a common
          insulating sheath.  Fitting the wire or cable with connectors
          (e.g. plugs, sockets, lugs, jacks, sleeves or terminals) at one
          or both ends, or cutting it to length does not preclude
          classification under 8544.  The wiring harnesses in this case
          clearly fall within this provision.  They are comprised of two
          insulated wires fitted at one end with a twin lead connector
          and an electrical light socket.

                It is our position that the harness, if imported with its
          light bulb attached would also be classified under heading 8455
          as a composite good whose essential character is determined by
          the wiring harness under GRI 3(b).  GRI 3(b) states that
          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 3(a),
          shall be classified as if they consisted of the material or
          component which gives them their essential character.


          HOLDING:

                Wiring harnesses used in lighting systems for motor
          vehicles are properly classifiable in heading 8544, subheading
          8544.30.00 as insulated electric conductors.


                                    Sincerely,




                                    John Durant, Director
                                    Commercial Rulings Division