HQ 555649: Applicability of HTSUS subheading 9802.00.80 tariff treatment to blood filtering apparatus components disconnected prior to assembly

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 555649

                                    August 3, 1990


            CLA-2 CO:R:C 555649 RA

            CATEGORY:  Classification

            TARIFF NO.:  9802.00.80

            Mr. William L. Dickey, Esq.
            1555 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
            Suite 308
            Washington, D.C. 20036

            RE:  Applicability of HTSUS subheading 9802.00.80 tariff
                 treatment to blood filtering apparatus components
                 disconnected prior to assembly

            Dear Mr. Dickey:

                 This is in response to your letter of April 12, 1990, on
            behalf of the Asahi Medical Company of Tokyo, Japan,
            requesting a ruling on the application of subheading
            9802.00.80, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
            (HTSUS), to component collection bags connected by plastic
            tubing which is cut before being reassembled.

            FACTS:

                 Your client desires to export to Japan certain U.S.-made
            plastic collection bags which will be assembled with a
            foreign-made blood filtering apparatus.  During assembly, the
            plastic tubing connecting the bags when exported from the U.S.
            is cut and the collection bags are joined by other tubing to
            the Japanese-produced plasma filter to complete the imported
            filtering apparatus.  You ask whether the cutting and joining
            operations performed on the tubing attached to the U.S.-made
            collection bags will preclude the partial duty exemption under
            the provisions of subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS.

            ISSUE:

                 Can the cutting of tubing connecting U.S.-made collection
            bags prior to their joinder with foreign-produced filters be
            considered as an operation incidental to the assembly process
            under subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS?
















                                         - 2 -


            LAW AND ANALYSIS:

                 Subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS, 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, lubricating and painting.

                 Section 10.16(a), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 10.16(a)),
            states that the assembly operations may consist of any method
            used to join or fit together solid components and may be
            preceded, accompanied, or followed by operations incidental to
            the assembly process.  However, 19 CFR 10.16(c) provides that
            any significant process, operation, or treatment other than
            assembly whose primary purpose is the fabrication, completion,
            or physical or chemical improvement of a component shall not
            be regarded as incidental to assembly and shall preclude the
            application of the exemption to such component.

                 The separation of the collection bags by the cutting of
            the tubing which held them together in order to prevent a mix-
            up of the set is not considered to be a manufacture or the
            fabrication of a component, which is precluded by the
            regulations.  The cutting operation serves only to separate
            completed products and not to improve them in condition.  In
            U.S. v. Texas Instruments, Inc., 64 CCPA 24, C.A.D. 1178, 545
            F. 2d 739 (1976), the scoring and breaking of silicon slices
            to separate individual transistor chips prior to assembly was
            held to be an incidental assembly operation.  Following this
            judicial decision, we ruled in a letter dated February 21,
            1990 (555213), and published as C.S.D. 90-58, that separating
            paper cards and attachments along pre-cut lines and disposing
            of the excess material may be considered incidental to the
            assembly process and would not render the assembled cards
            ineligible for subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS, treatment.

            HOLDING:

                 The cutting of plastic tubing connecting U.S.-made
            collection bags in order to separate these components prior to
            assembly with foreign-made parts of a blood filtering device












                                         - 3 -


            is considered to be incidental to the assembly process and
            will not preclude tariff treatment of the U.S.-made components
            under subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS, assuming compliance with
            documentation requirements of section 10.24, Customs
            Regulations (19 CFR 10.24).

                                        Sincerely,




                                        John Durant, Director
                                        Commercial Rulings Division
















































            lw:7/30/90