us-cbp-cross-rulings-hq-083674•HQ 083674: Control panels/programmable controllers dedicated for use in microwave ovens.
HQ 083674: Control panels/programmable controllers dedicated for use in microwave ovens.
us-cbp-cross-rulings-hq-083674HQ 083674: Control panels/programmable controllers dedicated for use in microwave ovens.Guidance
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 083674
June 22, 1989
CLA-2 CO:R:C:G 083674 KK
CATEGORY: Classification
TARIFF NO: 8537.10.00
Paul S. Anderson, Esq.
Sonnenberg, Anderson, O'Donnell & Rodriguez
Attorneys & Counsellors at Law
200 West Adams Street
Suite 2625
Chicago, Illinois 60606
RE: Control panels/programmable controllers dedicated
for use in microwave ovens.
Dear Sir:
Your letter of January 23, 1989, requesting a binding
ruling under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
Annotated (HTSUSA), regarding the tariff classification of
certain subassemblies dedicated for use in microwave ovens was
referred to this office for a direct reply to you. We have also
received and reviewed your supplemental submission of May 17,
1989.
FACTS:
The subject merchandise consists of a printed circuit board
with several discrete components contained thereon, a power
supply, a clock and a metal portion which is attached to the
circuit board. Both the circuit board and the metal portion are
dedicated solely for use in a microwave oven. The subassembly
contains the components which are essential to the oven's various
programming functions.
ISSUE:
Whether the subject merchandise is properly classifiable in
subheading 8537.10.00, HTSUS, which provides for "[b]oards,
panels . . . for the electrical control or the distribution of
electricity . . . [f]or a voltage not exceeding 1,000 V . . .
[p]rogrammable controllers;" or in subheading 8516.90.20, HTSUS,
which provides for " . . . other electrothermic appliances of a
kind used for domestic purposes . . . parts thereof . . . [p]arts
. . . [o]f . . . ovens."
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LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Classification of merchandise under the HTSUS is governed
by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's). GRI 1 provides
as follows:
The titles of sections, chapters and sub-
chapters are provided for ease of reference
only; for legal purposes, classification
shall be determined according to the terms of
the headings and any relative section or chap-
ter notes and, provided such headings or notes
do not otherwise require, according to the
following provisions.
Section XVI, Note 2, states in pertinent part:
(a) Parts which are goods included in any of
the headings of Chapter 84 and 85 . . . are in
all cases to be classified in their respective
headings;
(b) Other parts, if suitable for use solely or
principally with a particular kind of machine
. . . are to be classified with the machines
of that kind.
Section XVI, (II) Parts, (Section Note 2), states in pertinent
part:
. . . parts which in themselves constitute an
article covered by a heading of this Section
. . . are in all cases classified in their own
appropriate heading even if specially designed
to work as part of a specific machine. This
applies in particular to:
(13) Boards, panels . . . and other
apparatus for electrical control . . .
(heading 85.37).
In accordance with Section XVI, Note 2, if the subject
merchandise is properly described in heading 8537 as "[b]oards,
panels . . . for electrical control," the same falls to be
classified in that heading. Also in accordance with Section XVI,
Note 2, if the subject merchandise is not properly described in
heading 8537, the same falls to be classified as "[p]arts . . .
[o]f . . . ovens" in subheading 8516.90.20, HTSUS.
Importer acknowledges that without the aforementioned metal
portion, the subject merchandise would be properly classifiable
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as "programmable controllers" in heading 8537. Importer further
suggests, that were the aforementioned printed circuit board
imported with a metal portion that functioned merely as
protection for the circuit board itself, the merchandise would
also be classifiable in heading 8537. However, importer contends
that insofar as the metal portion provides safety barriers and
structural integrity for microwave ovens, the articles as
imported are something other than programmable controllers.
We do not disagree with importers contention that
classification in this case ultimately turns on whether the metal
portion effectively takes the subject merchandise out of heading
8537. In this regard, "[i]t is well established that where
merchandise has a single or primary function and an incidental,
subordinate, or secondary function, the merchandise is
classifiable on the basis of its primary design, construction or
function." F.W. Myers, Inc. V. United States, No. 88-78, slip
op. at 14 (CIT, June 16, 1988). The question of whether a given
function is secondary or coequal is one of fact. Tridon, Inc. v.
United States, 5 CIT 167 (1983). Similarly, "an incidental,
subordinate, or secondary function which relates to an article's
predominant use, does not make that article 'more than' the
article named in the tariff provisions." A & A International,
Inc. v. United States, No. 87-117, slip op. at 19 (CIT, October
29, 1987).
In support of the view that the subject articles are "more
than" programmable controllers, importer cites United States v.
The A.W. Fenton Company, Inc., 49 CCPA 46, CAD 794 (1962), a case
in which the court held that an electric motor, in assembled
relationship with a gear assembly and a frame that constituted a
housing for the brushes of a floor polisher, was "more than" a
"motor." In so holding, the court noted at 49 that the article's
"additional features . . . do more than make it a special type of
motor. They dedicate it to one particular use as a part of a
floor polisher. Since it is more than a motor, it is not
properly classifiable as a motor for tariff purposes."
We believe Fenton is readily distinguishable, since in this
case, the metal portion which is attached to the circuit board
does not constitute a feature which dedicates the imported
control panel to one particular use as a part of a microwave
oven. Even without the metal portion, the control panel is
dedicated for use in a microwave oven. While it can be said that
the metal portion is designed to enhance the structural integrity
of the article in which the control panel assembly is
incorporated, it is also the case that the imported assembly is
essentially a control panel attached to a metal frame that
protects the control panel itself, and by definition, the article
in which the control panel assembly is ultimately incorporated.
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In the past, importer has imported printed circuit boards
containing the same component parts contained in the instant
merchandise (except with differently designed metal portions).
These importations were classified as control panels in item
685.90, TSUS. Importer notes that due to certain technological
advances, it has become cost effective to import the printed
circuit boards and the metal portions as assembled units.
Instructive in this regard, was the court's reasoning in
A & A International, Inc. v. United States, No. 87-117, slip op.
(CIT Oct. 29, 1987). In holding that "equalizer/boosters" were
not more than "audio-frequency electric amplifiers," the A & A
International court stated at 21, that "[w]hen the difference in
an article is in the nature of an improvement, and the essential
character is preserved or only incidentally altered, the
statutory designation of the article still applies and determines
its Customs classification."
We also note our ruling April 8, 1986 (554010). In that
ruling, we determined that programmable microprocessor oven
control units with attached metal chassis were properly
classifiable as control panels in item 685.90, TSUS. For
purposes of tariff classification, we do not believe that the
metal chassis in that case differ from the metal chassis in the
instant case.
We disagree, therefore, with importer's assertion that the
"core issue pertains to the reason there is such a mounting of
the panel." Even assuming arguendo, that Customs could from a
practical and administrative standpoint distinguish between metal
chassis designed to provide structural integrity for control
panels of microwave ovens, and metal chassis designed to provide
safety barriers and structural integrity for the microwave ovens
in which said control panels are incorporated, this distinction
would not provide a basis for classifying one type of importation
in heading 8537 and the other in heading 8517. Simply put, such
a distinction would not alter the fact that the essential use of
control panels with attached metal chassis dedicated for use in
microwave ovens, is electrical control of those ovens.
It is our opinion then, that while the attached metal
portions are designed to provide safety barriers and structural
integrity for the microwave ovens in which the control panel
assemblies are incorporated, these functions do not constitute
"co-equal" functions. Rather, these functions fall within the
rule of law set forth above in F.W. Myers -- to wit, "that where
merchandise has a single primary function and an incidental,
subordinate or secondary function, it is classifiable on the
basis of its primary design, construction and function."
Accordingly, by operation of GRI 1, the subject merchandise is
properly classifiable as "[p]rogrammable controllers" in heading
8537, HTSUS.
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HOLDING:
In view of the foregoing, the subject merchandise is
properly classifiable in subheading 8537.10.00, HTSUS, which
provides for "[b]oards, panels . . . for electric control . . .
[f]or a voltage not exceeding 1,000 V . . . [p]rogrammable
controllers," dutiable at the rate of 5.3 percent ad valorem.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division
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