HQ 953744: Protest No. 2809-89-000932; Flyback Transformer; General Headnote 10(ij); 685.04

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 953744
                          May 17, 1993


CLA-2 CO:R:C:M 953744 DWS

CATEGORY: Classification

TARIFF NO.: 676.54

District Director
U.S. Customs Service
555 Battery Street
P.O. Box 2450
San Francisco, CA 94126

RE: Protest No. 2809-89-000932; Flyback Transformer; General
    Headnote 10(ij); 685.04

Dear District Director:

     The following is our decision regarding the request for
further review of Protest No. 2809-89-000932 concerning your action
in classifying and assessing duty on flyback transformers under the
Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS).

FACTS:

     The merchandise consists of flyback transformers.  A flyback
transformer is a transformer which performs two distinct functions,
as a rectifier and as a transformer.  It supplies the direct
current (DC) necessary to operate a cathode ray tube and it
supplies the alternating current (AC) to the yoke so that an
electronic gun can scan the face of a cathode ray tube.  The
flyback transformer has a power handling capacity of under 1 KVA. 
It is specifically designed for and can only be used with a
computer monitor.

     The merchandise was entered under item 676.54, TSUS, as parts
of automatic data processing machines.  However, the entry was
liquidated on March 17, 1989, under item 685.04, as parts of
television apparatus.  The protest was timely filed by the
protestant on May 8, 1989.

     The items under consideration are as follows:

     676.54: [p]arts of automatic data-processing machines and   
             units thereof, other than parts incorporating a
             cathode ray tube.

     Goods classifiable under this provision receive duty free
     treatment.

     685.04: [t]elevision apparatus, and parts thereof:          
             [t]elevision receivers and parts thereof: [n]ot having 
             a picture tube: [o]ther: [o]ther.

     The general, column one rate of duty is 3.9 percent ad
     valorem.

ISSUE:

     Whether the flyback transformers are classifiable under item
676.54, TSUS, as parts of automatic data processing machines, or
under item 685.04, TSUS, as parts of television apparatus?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     General headnote 10(ij) states that:

     a provision for "parts" of an article covers a product solely
     or chiefly used as a part of such article, but does not     
     prevail over a specific provision for such part.

     It has been argued that, based upon rulings classifying
certain flyback transformers used in television monitors under item
685.04, flyback transformers are a class or kind of articles
chiefly used as parts of television apparatus.

     The subject flyback transformer is only used in computer
monitors.  It is incapable of any other use.  Therefore, it is our
position that the subject flyback transformer is not in the class
or kind of merchandise chiefly used in television apparatus.  It
is solely used as a part of an automatic data processing machine.

     Therefore, under general headnote 10(ij), TSUS, the flyback
transformer is classifiable under item 676.54, TSUS, as a part of
an automatic data processing machine.

HOLDING:

     The flyback transformers are classifiable under item 676.54,
TSUS, as parts of automatic data processing machines.

     The protest should be granted in full.  A copy of this
decision should be attached to the Customs Form 19 and provided to
the protestant as part of the notice of action on the protest.

                           Sincerely,



                           John Durant, Director