HQ 954411: Apple Computer; Automatic Data Processing Machine; ADP; Parts; Subassemblies Without CPUs; HQs 950221, 088118, 087695, 085894, 951438, 954307

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 954411
                                                               
                        October 19, 1993

CLA-2 CO:R:C:M  954411 MBR

CATEGORY:  Classification

TARIFF NO.:  8473.30.40; 8473.30.80 

Ms. Amy C. Huber
Apple Computer, Inc.
20525 Mariani Avenue, M/S 36-I/E
Cupertino, California 95014

RE:  Apple Computer; Automatic Data Processing Machine; ADP; Parts;
     Subassemblies Without CPUs; HQs 950221, 088118, 087695,
     085894, 951438, 954307

Dear Ms. Huber:

     This is in response to your letters of May 14, 1993, and June
8, 1993, to the Area Director of Customs, New York Seaport,
regarding the classification of automatic data processing ("ADP")
machine subassemblies, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the
United States (HTSUS).  Your letters were forwarded to this office
for reply.

FACTS:

     The proposed ADP subassemblies are as follows:

Configuration No. 1

     Personal computer housing containing the following components
within the same housing:

-Cathode ray tube with yoke
-Floppy disk drive
-Hard disk drive
-Power supply
-Main logic board, not including the Central Processing Unit
("CPU") chip

Configuration No. 2

     Personal computer housing containing the following components
within the same housing:


                               -2-

-Floppy disk drive
-Hard disk drive
-Power supply
-Main logic board, not including the CPU chip 
(This configuration does not include a cathode ray tube and yoke
assembly)

Configuration No. 3

     Personal computer housing containing the following components
within the same housing:

-Floppy disk drive
-Hard disk drive
-Power supply
(does not contain main logic board)

Configuration No. 4

     Laptop personal computer housing containing the following
components within the same housing:

-Liquid crystal display ("LCD")
-Track ball
-Keyboard
-Floppy disk drive
-Hard disk drive
-Power supply
-Main logic board, not including the CPU chip

ISSUE:

     How are the subject ADP machine subassemblies/parts classified
under the HTSUS?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     The General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's) to the HTSUS
govern the classification of goods in the tariff schedule.  GRI 1
states, in pertinent part:

     ...classification shall be determined according to the terms 
    of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes...

     An ADP "motherboard" is the main interconnecting circuit board
in an electronic device, to which the various subassemblies, such
as printed circuit boards, are plugged or wired.  See Webster's New
World Dictionary, Third College Edition (1988), page 886.  See HQ
085894, dated February 14, 1990. 

     Complete ADP "Motherboards" with CPUs have been consistently
deemed to possess the essential character of an ADP processing

                               -3-

unit.  Therefore, a "motherboard" containing a CPU is properly
classifiable in subheading 8471.91.00, HTSUS, which provides for:
"[a]utomatic data processing machines and units thereof: [o]ther:
[d]igital processing units, whether or not entered with the rest
of a system...."

     The classification of a "motherboard" without a CPU was
addressed in HQ 088118, dated February 22, 1991, which held that
it was classifiable under subheading 8473.30.40, HTSUS, which
provides for: "[p]arts and accessories (other than covers, carrying
cases and the like) suitable for use solely or principally with the
machines of headings 8469 to 8472: [p]arts and accessories of the
machines of heading 8471: [n]ot incorporating a cathode ray tube."

     GRI 2(a) provides direction regarding unfinished and
incomplete articles.  It states:

     2.   (a)  Any reference in a heading to an article shall be
               taken to include a reference to that article
               incomplete or unfinished, provided that, as entered,
               the incomplete or unfinished article has the
               essential character of the complete or finished
               article.  It shall also include a reference to that
               article complete or finished (or falling to be
               classified as complete or finished by virtue of this
               rule), entered unassembled or disassembled.
               (Emphasis added).

     Therefore, the question arises whether an ADP subassembly can
have the essential character of an automatic data processing
machine if it does not contain the microprocessor chip (CPU).

     The Computer Glossary defines a CPU, in pertinent part, as
follows:


     (Central Processing Unit) The CPU, also called the central
     processor, or simply processor, is the computing part of the
     computer.  It is made up of the control unit and
     arithmetic/logic unit.  The control unit extracts the
     instructions out of memory and executes them.  The
     arithmetic/logic unit performs the arithmetic calculations and
     comparisons.

          A minicomputer CPU is contained on from one to several
     printed circuit boards.  A mainframe CPU is contained on many
     printed circuit boards.  In a personal computer, the CPU is
     contained on a single chip, called a microprocessor....
     (Emphasis added).

     Customs has consistently held that the CPU is the heart of an
ADP system since it performs the processing.  It determines the

                               -4-

systems power, capacity, and speed at which it will operate. 
Therefore, it is not possible to have the essential character of
an automatic data processing personal computer without the
microprocessor chip.  See HQ 954307, dated October 5, 1993, for a
ruling regarding an ADP subassembly missing only the CPU,
oscillator, and hard disk drive, which held that the subassembly
was classifiable in subheading 8473.30.40, HTSUS, which provides
for parts of ADP machines.

     The classification of an ADP subassembly missing the CPU, hard
disk drive and memory module, was also addressed in HQ 951438,
dated March 2, 1993.  That decision determined that a similar ADP
subassembly did not rise to the level of an incomplete processor
unit since it did not have the main essential features of the
complete processor unit. 

     Similarly, for the same reasons, the instant importations do
not impart the essential character of a finished processor unit
since the processor itself is not imported with the subassemblies.

     Although the instant importations do not rise to the level of
incomplete processor units, in their imported state as
subassemblies, they also do not have the essential character of any
of their constituent components/parts.

     In determining whether an item is a part of an article, the
courts look to the "nature, function, and purpose of an item in
relation to the article to which it is attached or designed to 
serve...."  Ideal Toy Corp. v. United States, 58 CCPA 9, 13, C.A.D.
996, 433 F.2d 801, 803 (1979).  See Clipper Belt Lacer Co., Inc.
v. United States, Slip Op. 90-22 (March 13, 1990).  
     
     The instant subassemblies are necessary to the completion of
an ADP system, as integral, constituent, and component parts. 
Therefore, for tariff purposes, they should be
considered "parts" of the machines of 8471, HTSUS.  

HOLDING:

     Configuration No. 1, which incorporates a cathode ray tube,
is classifiable in subheading 8473.30.80, HTSUS, which provides
for: "[p]arts and accessories (other than covers, carrying cases
and the like) suitable for use solely or principally with the
machines of headings 8469 to 8472: [p]arts and accessories of the
machines of heading 8471: [o]ther," at a 3.9% rate of duty. 

     Configurations Nos. 2, 3, and 4 are classifiable in subheading
8473.30.40, HTSUS, which provides for: "[p]arts and accessories
(other than covers, carrying cases and the like) suitable for use
solely or principally with the machines of headings 8469 to 8472:



                               -5-

[p]arts and accessories of the machines of heading 8471: [n]ot
incorporating a cathode ray tube," at a Free rate of duty.
          
                              Sincerely,





                              John Durant, Director