HQ 953508: Protest No. 3004-92-100148; speaker stand pedestals;8518.90.30; Note 1(g) and 2 to Chapter 94; EN 85.18(B), Gen 4(A)to Chapter 94

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 953508

                                        June 21, 1993

CLA-2 CO:R:C:M 953508 MMC

CATEGORY: Classification

TARIFF NO.: 9403.60.80

District Director
U.S. Customs Service
909 First Ave, Rm 2039
Seattle, WA 98174

RE: Protest No. 3004-92-100148; speaker stand pedestals;
8518.90.30; Note 1(g) and 2 to Chapter 94; EN 85.18(B), Gen 4(A)
to Chapter 94

Dear District Director:

     The following is our decision regarding the request for
further review of Protest No. 3004-92-100148 concerning your
action in liquidating entries of "speaker stands" under the
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS).  

FACTS:

     The merchandise subject to this protest consists of three
types of "wooden speaker stands", model nos. SS 660, SPST 600,
and SPST 300.  Protestant submitted pictures of the "speaker
stands" and detailed diagrams of models SS 660 and SPST 600.  All
have "feet" on their top surfaces for holding completed
loudspeakers in place.  

     The merchandise was entered under subheading 9403.60.80,
HTSUS, as other wooden furniture.  However, the entries were
liquidated, on July 31, 1992, under subheading 8518.90.30, HTSUS,
as parts of loudspeakers.  The protest was timely filed on
October 8, 1992.

     The subheadings under consideration are as follows:

9403.60.80          Other furniture and parts thereof: [o]ther
                    wooden furniture: [o]ther (2.5%)

8518.90.30          Microphones and stands therefor;
                    loudspeakers, whether or not mounted in their
                    enclosures; headphones, earphones and
                    combined microphone/speaker sets; audio-
                    frequency electric amplifiers; electric sound
                    amplifier sets; parts thereof: [p]arts:
                    [o]ther (4.9%)

ISSUE:

     Whether the articles are classifiable under subheading
9403.60.80, HTSUS, as other wooden furniture or under subheading
8518.90.30, HTSUS, as parts of loudspeakers?


LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     Classification of merchandise under the HTSUS is in
accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's),
taken in order.  GRI 1, HTSUS, states in part that for legal
purposes, classification shall be determined according to the
terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes. 

     Note 1(g) to Chapter 94 states in pertinent part:  [t]his
chapter does not cover:  [f]urniture specially designed as parts
of apparatus of heading 8518...  Therefore, it must be determined
if the articles in question are pieces of furniture specially
designed for apparatus of heading 8518, HTSUS.

     In understanding the language of the HTSUS, the Harmonized
Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes may be
consulted.  The Explanatory Notes (EN), although not dispositive,
are to be used to determine the proper interpretation of the
HTSUS.  54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128, (August 23, 1989).  EN
85.18(B), p. 1364, states in pertinent part:

              LOUDSPEAKERS, WHETHER OR NOT MOUNTED 
                       IN THEIR ENCLOSURES

     Loudspeakers may be mounted on frames, chassis or in
     cabinets of different types (often acoustically designed),
     or even in articles of furniture.  They remain classified in
     this heading provided the main function of the whole is to
     act as a loudspeaker.  Separately presented frames, chassis,
     cabinets, etc., also fall in this heading provided they are
     identifiable as being mainly designed for mounting
     loudspeakers; articles of furniture of Chapter 94 designed
     to receive loudspeakers in addition to their normal function
     remain classified in Chapter 94.

     It is our position that the speaker stands are not mainly
designed for mounting the loudspeaker itself, but for supporting
a loudspeaker which has already been mounted in a frame, chassis
or an acoustically designed cabinet.  The speaker stands do not
aid in reproducing or amplifying sound, as would the speakers,
baffles, or the cabinet, chassis, or frame which enclose them. 
Furthermore, models SPST 600 and 300 are capable of supporting
articles other than speakers.  Essentially they are merely wooden
pedestal stands.  Because the articles do not aid the functioning
of the loudspeaker itself, but rather only support loudspeakers
already enclosed in frames, chassis or cabinets, they are not
considered parts of loudspeakers and therefore are classifiable
in Chapter 94.

     Chapter 94 provides for furniture.  EN Gen 4 (A) for chapter
94, p. 1574, states in pertinent part that: 

     [f]or the purposes of this Chapter, the term "furniture"
     means:
     
     [a]ny "movable" articles (not included under other more
     specific headings of the Nomenclature), which have the
     essential characteristic that they are constructed for
     placing on the floor or ground, and which are used, mainly
     with a utilitarian purpose...

     Heading 9403, HTSUS, provides for other furniture and parts
thereof.  Note 2 to chapter 94 states in pertinent part that:
articles (other than parts) referred to in headings 9401 to 9403
are to be classified in those headings only if they are designed
for placing on the floor or ground.  The speaker stands are
designed for placing on the floor or ground.  Therefore, the
speaker stands are classifiable under heading 9403, specifically,
subheading 9403.60.80, HTSUS.


HOLDING:

     For the foregoing reasons, we find that the speaker stands
are classifiable as other wooden furniture under subheading
9403.60.80, HTSUS.

     Accordingly, the protest should be granted in full.  A copy
of this decision should be attached to the Customs Form 19 and
provided to the protestant as part of the notice of action on the
protest.


                              Sincerely, 


                              John Durant, Director
                              Commercial Rulings Division