HQ 556469: Applicability of partial duty exemption under subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUSA, to a 35mm camera from China; HRL 555533; 19 CFR 10.14, 10.16

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 556469      

                        June 10, 1992    
CLA-2 CO:R:C:S 556469 SER

CATEGORY: Classification

TARIFF NO.:  9802.00.80

M. Barry Levy, Esq.
Sharrets, Paley, Carter & Blauvelt
67 Broad Street
New York, NY 10004

RE:  Applicability of partial duty exemption under subheading
     9802.00.80, HTSUSA, to a 35mm camera from China; HRL 555533;
     19 CFR 10.14, 10.16

Dear Mr. Levy:

     This is in reference to your letters of December 31, 1992,
and May 6, 1992, on behalf of Concord Camera Corp., concerning
the applicability of subheading 9802.00.80, Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA), to cameras
assembled in China.

FACTS:

     The merchandise at issue is a single lens 35mm camera, Model
No. 500, which will be produced from 111 U.S. component parts, in
China.  The assembly procedure is stated to consist of a main
assembly procedure and four subassembly operations.

     The four subassembly operations involve: 1) the gear deck
subassembly; 2) the lens subassembly; 3) the film door
subassembly; and 4) the battery door subassembly.  These sub-
assembly operations involve simple joining of fitted parts; the
application of small screws, springs and adhesive tapes;
soldering; wire dressing; and cold staking components together. 
Cold staking is a form of force fitting which joins components. 
The main assembly operation is a 35-step procedure which
primarily involves the camera subassemblies being joined together
by the same methods identified above in regard to the
subassemblies.

ISSUE:

     Whether the cameras made from U.S. components will qualify
for the partial duty exemption available under subheading
9802.00.80, HTSUSA, when imported into the U.S.  
n                              -2-


LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     Subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUSA, provides a partial duty
exemption for:

     [a]rticles assembled abroad in whole or in part of
     fabricated components, the product of the United
     States, which (a) were exported in condition ready for
     assembly without further fabrication, (b) have not 
     lost their physical identity in such articles by change
     in form, shape, or otherwise, and (c) have not been
     advanced in value or improved in condition abroad
     except by being assembled and except by operations
     incidental to the assembly process, such as cleaning,
     lubrication, and painting.

All three requirements of subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUSA, must be
satisfied before a component may receive a duty allowance.  An
article entered under this tariff provision is subject to duty
upon the full cost or value of the imported assembled article,
less the cost or value of the U.S. components assembled therein,
upon compliance with the documentary requirements of section
10.24, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 10.24).

     Section 10.14(a), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 10.14(a)),
states in part, that:

     [t]he components must be in condition ready for
     assembly without further fabrication at the time of
     their exportation from the United States to qualify for
     the exemption.  Components will not lose their
     entitlement to the exemption by being subjected to
     operations incidental to the assembly either before,
     during, or after their assembly with other components.

     Section 10.16(a), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 10.16(a)),
provides that the assembly operation performed abroad may consist
of any method used to join or fit together solid components, such
as gluing, laminating, welding, soldering, riveting, force
fitting, sewing, or the use of fasteners. 

     Operations incidental to the assembly process are not
considered further fabrication operations, as they as of a minor
nature and cannot always be provided for in advance of the
assembly operations.  Examples of operations which are
incidental to the assembly process include trimming, filing, or
cutting off of small amounts of excess materials, and adjustments
in the shape or form of a component to the extent required by the
assembly being performed abroad.  See, section 10.16(b), Customs
Regulations (19 CFR 10.16(b)).  However, any significant process,
operation or treatment whose primary purpose is the fabrication,n-3-

 
completion, physical or chemical improvement of a component
precludes the application of the exemption under subheading
9802.00.80, HTSUSA, to that component.  See, section 10.16(c),
Customs Regulations (19 CFR 10.16(c)).

     It is our opinion that the U.S. components exported for
assembly into the cameras meet the requirements of subheading
9802.00.80, HTSUSA.  The primary operations performed in China,
involving soldering, wire dressing, soldering, screwing, and cold
staking, are considered acceptable assembly operations pursuant
to 19 CFR 10.16(a).  See also, Headquarters Ruling Letter (HRL)
555533 dated April 11, 1990.  Furthermore, the operations whereby
certain plastic or metal components are manipulated for easier
joining are considered an allowable procedure incidental to
assembly pursuant to 19 CFR 10.16(b)(5), which provides for an
adjustment in the shape or form of a component to the extent
required by the assembly being performed abroad as long it is
minor in nature.  In addition, the operation whereby a sink
contact is staked into the camera body and is split in two in the
process, is also an acceptable incidental operation under 19 CFR
10.16(b)(5).

HOLDING:

     On the basis of the information submitted, the U.S.
components meet the requirements of subheading 9802.00.80,
HTSUSA.  They are exported in condition ready for assembly
without further fabrication pursuant to the Customs Regulations. 
The primary operations are considered acceptable assembly
operations pursuant to 19 CFR 10.16(a), and several minor non-
assembly operations constitute operations incidental to assembly
pursuant to 19 CFR 10.16(b).  Therefore, allowances in duty may
be made under subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUSA for the cost or value
of the U.S.-origin components used in the assembly of the
cameras, provided that the proper documentation requirements of
19 CFR 10.24 are satisfied. 

                                   Sincerely,



                                   John Durant, Director