HQ 554633: LCD television receiver

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 554633

                         March 28, 1990

CLA-2 CO:R:C:G  554633  JMH

CATEGORY:  Classification

TARIFF NO.:  685.04

Ms. Angela Gaetano
Chief, Customs Information Exchange
U.S. Customs Service
6 World Trade Center
New York City, New York  10048

RE:  LCD television receiver

Dear Ms. Gaetano:

     This is in response to your May 11, 1987, request for the
resolution of a difference of opinion between the Los Angeles-
Long Beach port and the National Import Specialist (NIS) in New
York on certain LCD television receivers manufactured by Casio
Computer Ltd. of Japan.

FACTS:

     The instant difference concerns the Casio TV-2000, a 2.6
inch color LCD television receiver.  The TV-2000 uses a liquid
crystal display instead of a cathode ray tube.

     The Los Angeles-Long Beach port took the position that the
television receiver should be classified within item 685.04,
Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS), as "Television
apparatus and parts thereof...Television receivers and parts
thereof...Not having a picture tube...Other...Other...Flat panel
television receivers..."

      The NIS position is that the television receiver should be
classified within item 684.98, TSUS as "Television apparatus and
parts thereof...Television receivers and parts thereof...Not
having a picture tube...Entered with components enumerated in
headnote 3(b)(i) of this part..."

     Both ports in the instant difference agree that the TV-2000
is to be classified within Schedule 6, Part 5 of the TSUS. The
disagreement relates to the effect of Schedule 6, Part 5,
Headnote 3(b)(i), TSUS, on the classification of the merchandise.
                               -2-


ISSUE:

     Whether the Casio TV-2000 is properly classified within Item
684.98, TSUS, as "Television apparatus and parts thereof...
Television receivers and parts thereof...Not having a picture
tube...Entered with components enumerated in headnote 3(b)(i) of
this part..." or within Item 685.04, TSUS, as "Television
apparatus and parts thereof...Television receivers and parts
thereof...Not having a picture tube...Other...Other...Flat panel
television receivers..."

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     Schedule 6, Part 5, Headnote 3(b)(i) states:

     3.  The provisions of this headnote apply to "television
apparatus and parts thereof" provided for in items 684.92,
684.98, 685.00, and 685.08 of this part.
     (a) The term "complete", as used to describe television
receivers, means a television receiver, fully assembled, whether
or not packaged or tested for distribution to the ultimate
purchaser.
     (b) For this purposes of items 684.98 and 685.00--
          (i) each subassembly that contains as a component, or
              is covered in the same entry with, one or more
              of the following television components, viz.,
                 tuner, channel selector assembly, antenna,
                 deflection yoke, degaussing coil, picture
                 tube mounting bracket, grounding assembly,
                 parts necessary for fixing the picture tube
                 or tuner in place, consumer operated
                 controls, or speaker,
              shall be classified in item 684.98...

     Headquarter's Ruling Letter 071709 (HQ 071709), dated May
17, 1984, involved similar merchandise, the Casio TV-10.  This
ruling disregarded Headnote 3(b)(i).  The LCD television receiver
in that case was determined to be "more than" the subassembly and
parts described in Headnote 3(b)(i).  The description of
"television receivers not having a picture tube," was found to be
more specific than the description for "other television
apparatus and parts thereof." An LCD is not viewed as a picture
tube within the TSUS.  "The requirements that an article be a
television receiver and lack a picture tube are more difficult to
satisfy than the requirement that an article be television
apparatus or parts thereof."  HQ 071709, p. 3.

     HQ 071709 is dispositive of the article in question, the TV-
2000.  The same rationale used for ruling the TV-10 "more than"
parts or subassemblies can also be applied to the TV-2000.  The
TV-2000, unlike the TV-10, is a color television receiver and
                               -3-


more closely corresponds to the language of item 684.98, TSUS.
However, we ruled that the TV-10 to be "more than" the
subassemblies and components of item 684.98.  This ruling was
unrelated to the distinction between black and white and color
television receivers.  Therefore, the TV-2000 is properly
classified within item 685.04, as "Television receivers and parts
thereof...Not having a picture tube...Other...Other...Flat panel
television receivers..."

HOLDING:

     The Casio TV-2000 is properly classified within item
685.04, TSUS, as "Television apparatus and parts thereof...Not
having a picture tube...Other...Other...Flat panel television
receivers..."

                              Sincerely,



                              John Durant, Director
                              Commercial Rulings Division