HQ 952159: EMK Mimic Display Boards; Electric Sound or Visual Signalling Apparatus; Indicator Panels; LEDs

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 952159
                                                               
                         October 8, 1992

CLA-2 CO:R:C:M  952159 MBR

CATEGORY:  Classification

TARIFF NO.:  8531.20.00; 8531.80.00

Mr. Ed Baker
A.N. Deringer, Inc.
30 West Service Road
Champlain, New York 12919-9703

RE:  EMK Mimic Display Boards; Electric Sound or Visual Signalling
     Apparatus; Indicator Panels; LEDs

Dear Mr. Baker:

     Your letter of June 15, 1992, has been forwarded to our office
for a reply.  You have requested classification of the EMK Mimic
Display Board, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United
States (HTSUS).

FACTS:

     The EMK Mimic Display Boards are installed in control rooms
to signal the status of industrial process control systems, monitor
the traffic of train or subway systems, or to monitor a power
plant's distribution. 

ISSUE:

     Whether the EMK Mimic Display Boards are classified in heading
8531, HTSUS, which provides for "Electric sound or visual
signaling apparatus (for example, bells, sirens, indicator panels,
burglar or fire alarms)...," or in heading 8543, HTSUS, which
provides for "Electrical machines and apparatus, having individual
functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter"?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     The classification of merchandise under the HTSUS is governed
by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's).  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..."


                               -2-

     Heading 8531, HTSUS, provides for: "[e]lectric sound or visual
signalling apparatus (for example, bells, sirens, indicator panels,
burglar or fire alarms), other than those of heading 8512 or 8530."

     The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System
Explanatory Notes (ENs) to heading 8531, HTSUS, state:

     With the exception of signalling apparatus used on cycles or
     motor vehicles (heading 85.12) and that for traffic control
     on roads, railways, etc. (heading 85.30), this heading covers
     all electrical apparatus used for signalling purposes, whether
     using sound for the transmission of the signal (bells,
     buzzers, hooters, etc.) or using visual indication (lamps,
     flaps, illuminated numbers, etc.), and whether operated by
     hand (e.g., door bells) or automatically (e.g., burglar
     alarms).

     Regarding the ENs, the court in Rico Import Co. v. United
States, Slip Op. 92-146 (1992), cited "The Joint Committee on the
Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act" which recognized the CCC's
Explanatory Notes to the Harmonized System as the CCC's official
interpretation of the Harmonized System.  See 23 Cust. Bull. 379,
380-81, T.D. 89-80 (1989).  The Joint Committee stated that the
Explanatory Notes, while drafted subsequent to the Harmonized
System and not considered binding on the contracting parties, are
nevertheless "useful in ascertaining the classification of
merchandise under the system." Id. at 381.

     In HQ 086032, dated January 17, 1990, we held that a message
display center which operated on a computer program to generate
full color animation, graphics, and text, designed to convey
substantive messages, was properly classifiable under subheading
8543.80.90, HTSUS, which provides for electrical apparatus having
an individual function, not provided for elsewhere.  In that
decision, we stated that: 

     Nevertheless, the message display centers perform a function
     which is different than that of signalling equipment. 
     Although the instant merchandise can flash graphics or
     animation to call attention to the display, its primary
     purpose is to convey a substantive message; this function is
     more than that of signalling equipment which is designed to
     provide a signal to a viewer who normally will instantaneously
     understand the meaning of the signal.

     The instant EMK Mimic Display Boards are not principally used
to convey substantive messages through text.  They are signalling
equipment which is designed to provide a signal to a viewer who
normally will instantaneously understand the meaning of the signal.
Therefore, it is Customs position that the EMK Mimic Display Board
is properly classifiable under heading 8531, HTSUS, which provides
for "electrical sound or visual signalling apparatus."
                              -3- 

HOLDING:

     The EMK Mimic Display Boards utilizing LED indicators are
properly classifiable under subheading 8531.20.00, HTSUS, which
provides for: "[e]lectric sound or visual signalling apparatus (for
example, bells, sirens, indicator panels, burglar or fire alarms),
other than those of heading 8512 or 8530: [i]ndicator panels
incorporating liquid crystal devices (LCD's) or light emitting
diodes (LED's)."  The rate of duty is 2.7 percent ad valorem. 
However, if the provisions of the United States - Canada Free Trade
Agreement are met, the rate of duty is Free.

     The EMK Mimic Display Boards utilizing incandescent indicators
are properly classifiable in subheading 8531.80.00, HTSUS, which
provides for: "[e]lectric sound or visual signalling apparatus (for
example, bells, sirens, indicator panels, burglar or fire alarms),
other than those of heading 8512 or 8530: [o]ther apparatus."  The
rate of duty is 2.7 percent, ad valorem.  However, if the
provisions of the United States - Canada Free Trade Agreement are,
the rate of duty is .5 percent, ad valorem.

                              Sincerely,





                              John Durant, Director