HQ 555675: Applicability of subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS, to string trimmers assembled in Mexico

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 555675

                        November 26, 1990


CLA-2 CO:R:C   555675  RA

CATEGORY:   Classification

TARIFF NO.:   9802.00.80

Mr.  David S. Simpson, Jr.
Vice President
William F. Joffroy, Inc.
P.O. Box 698
Nogales, Arizona 85628-0698

RE:  Applicability of subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS, to 
     string trimmers assembled in Mexico

Dear Mr. Simpson:

     This is in response to your letter of May 14,  1990,
requesting a ruling, on behalf of the McCullcch Corporation of
Tucson, Arizona, regarding the applicability of subheading
9802.00.80, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
(HTSUS), to string trimmers assembled in Mexico from 
U.S.-made components.

FACTS:

     Components for a string trimmer are exported to Mexico 
for assembly operations which result in a finished unit.  In 
these operations, a metal tube used as a handle is cut to a 
length of 44 inches, deburred, and after removal of the sharp 
edges is bent to approximately a 55 degree angle one foot from 
one end.   The bending of the tubular handle is required so 
that when the trimmeris held in the hand and operated to cut 
grass or weeds, the cutter head is horizontal to the ground. 
You contend that the bending is merely an adjustment in the 
shape of the tubing required by the assembly and, therefore, 
is incidental thereto.   The other assembly operations appear 
to qualify as either assembly steps or incidental to this
processing.

ISSUE:

     Does the bending of the tubing constitute an operation
incidental to assembly so as to qualify this component for an
allowance in duty under subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS?
                              - 2 -


LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     Subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS,  provides a partial duty
exemption for articles assembled abroad in whole or in part of
fabricated components of U.S.  origin with no operations 
performed thereon except the joining of the components and
operations incidental thereto.   The U.S. components must be
exported in condition ready for assembly without further
fabrication, and cannot lose their physical identity in the
assembled article by change in form, shape or otherwise.  Duty 
is assessed on the full appraised value of the imported 
merchandise less the cost or value of the U.S.-made 
components, upon compliance with the documentation 
requirements of section 10.24, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 
10.24).

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

     [t]he components must be in condition ready for 
     assembly without luther 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.

Operations incidental to the assembly process are not 
considered further fabrication operations, as they are of a 
minor nature and cannot always be provided for in advance of 
the assembly operation.   Examples of operations considered
incidental to the assembly process are delineated at section
10.16(b), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 10.16(b)).   One of these
examples provides for "[a]djustments in the shape or form of a
component to the extent required by the assembly being 
performed abroad."

     However, 19 CFR 10.16(c) provides that any significant
process, operation, or treatment other than assembly whose 
primary purpose is the fabrication, completion, 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.

     In Samsonite Corporation v. United States,  12 CIT 
702 F.Supp. 908 (1988), aff'd, 8 Fed. Cir. __, 889 F.2d 1074
(1989), the court held that the bending of U.S. steel strips 
to form the frames for luggage did more than "adjust" the 
article; it created the component to be assembled, the essence
                              - 3 -

of which was its configuration.   The court stated that the 
statute and attendant regulations do not cover a process which 
is as necessary to the fabrication of the component as it is 
to the subsequent assembly thereof.   Thus,  it was held that 
the steel strips were not exported in condition ready for 
assembly without further fabrication,  as required by the 
statute.

     As in the Samsonite case, the metal tubes in this case 
are straight when exported and are not capable of immediately
entering into the assembly process as exported, but require 
the bending operation (in addition to the cutting-to-length and
deburring operations) before assembly can begin.   In our 
opinion, bending the tube is more than an "adjustment" of the
component; it is a continuation of the fabrication of the tube
component, begun in the U.S., and is necessary to the 
completion of the component to be assembled.   In support of 
this conclusion, see Headquarters Ruling Letters (HRL's) 
554962 dated May 15,  1989  (the heating and bending of a pre-
cut metal tube into a spiral configuation prior to its
incorporation into a range heating element constitute a 
further fabrication), and 555290 dated April 17, 1990 (a U.S.
plastic tube component of a sports bottle which was heated and 
bent abroad prior to its assembly was not exported in condition
ready for assembly without further fabrication).

HOLDING:

     The cutting, deburring and bending of metal tubing for a
string trimmer to fit the contour required for optimum use in 
the device constitute a further fabrication of the component
abroad.   Therefore, no allowance in duty may be made under
subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS, for the cost or value of the 
metal tubing.   However, allowances in duty may be under this
tariff provision for the cost or value of the U.S. components
(other than the tubing) which are merely assembled abroad to 
create the string trimmer, upon compliance with the 
documentation requirements of 19 CFR 10.24.

                              Sincerely,


                              John Durant, Director
                              Commercial Rulings Division