HQ 555687: Ice dispenser housing from Mexico; assembly; 19 CFR 10.14, 10.16(a)(c), 10.16(b)(6); 555671; 555533; 555269; 067389.

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 555687

                         April 25, 1991

CLA-2 CO:R:C:S  555687 DSN

CATEGORY:  Classification

TARIFF NO.:  9802.00.80

Mr. Philip Freeman
Cain Custom Brokers, Inc.
421 Texano
P.O. Box 150
Hidalgo, Texas 78557

RE:  Ice dispenser housing from Mexico; assembly; 19 CFR 10.14,
     10.16(a)(c), 10.16(b)(6); 555671; 555533; 555269;
     067389.

Dear Mr. Freeman:

     This is in response to your letter dated June 15, 1990, on
behalf of Whirlpool Corporation, requesting a ruling concerning
the applicability of subheading 9802.00.80, Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), to refrigerator ice
dispenser housings imported from Mexico.  Your request for a
country of origin marking waiver will be the subject of a
separate letter.  We regret the delay in responding.

FACTS:

     According to your submissions, Whirlpool intends to assemble
refrigerator ice dispenser housings in Mexico from U.S.-origin
components.  Upon importation, refrigerator ice dispenser
housings are to be mounted to the front of refrigerator doors.

     You state that in step one of the assembly process, the
pivot bracket, ice door retainer, ice door support assembly and
the torsion spring are placed together on a holding fixture.  A
pivot pin is inserted through holes in the above parts, and then
a retainer pivot pin is snapped onto these parts by hand to hold
the parts together.  This constitutes the "ice door mechanism
assembly".  The next step consists of fastening with two hex
screws the ice door mechanism to a plastic ice housing.

     The third step consists of snapping by hand two bearing
clips into a part referred to as the "ice lever".  The left and
right bearings are attached to the ice lever by hex screws, with
a retaining spring placed over the right bearing.  The ice lever
is then snapped by hand onto a plastic ice door.

     The fourth step consists of attaching the "control mounting
bracket" which includes a wire harness and a grommet, to the ice
housing using a hex screw and placing the wire harness through
the housing and snapping the grommet into its access hole.  Then
a "delay mechanism" is fastened to the ice door by a hex screw.

     The fifth step consists of placing a part referred to as the
"ice guide" over the "ice lever arm" and securing it with a
screw.

     The sixth step consists of turning the ice housing over and
cutting to length a foam gasket and removing the backing from the
glued side.  This gasket is glued around the periphery of the ice
housing approximately one inch from the edge.

     The final step consists of forming an "ice dispenser
heater" with aluminum foil over the ice housing.  The ice
dispenser heater is attached by seven pieces of masking tape.

ISSUE:

     Whether the refrigerator ice housings will qualify for the
partial duty exemption available under subheading 9802.00.80,
HTSUS, when returned to the U.S.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     Subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS, provides a partial duty
exemption for:

     (a)articles 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.

All three requirements of subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS, must be
satisfied before a component may receive a duty allowance.  An
article entered under this tariff provision is subject to duty
upon the full cost or value of the imported assembled article,
less the cost or value of the U.S. components assembled therein,
upon compliance with the documentary requirements of section
10.24, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 10.24).


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

     (t)he components must be in condition ready for assembly
     without further 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.

     Section 10.16(a), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 10.16(a)),
provides that the assembly operation performed abroad may consist
of any method used to join or fit together solid components, such
as welding, soldering, riveting, force fitting, gluing,
laminating, sewing, or the use of fasteners.

     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 operations.  However, any significant process, operation
or treatment whose primary purpose is the fabrication,
completion, physical or chemical improvement of a component
precludes the application of the exemption under subheading
9802.00.80, HTSUS, to that component.  See, 19 CFR 10.16(c).

     Those operations to be performed in Mexico which result in
securely joining components together by gluing, snapping, taping,
screwing, and attachment by grommets are considered acceptable
assembly operations pursuant to 19 CFR 10.16(a) and Headquarters
Ruling Letters (HRLs) 555671 of March 15, 1991, and 555533 of
June 4, 1990.  In addition, the cutting to length of the foam
gasket is considered an operation incidental to assembly pursuant
to 19 CFR 10.16(b)(6); and HRL 555269 of December 20, 1990.
However, if the cutting/trimming operation is more extensive then
merely cutting the foam gasket to a shorter length (i.e., shaving
off corners, trimming edges, or cutting to a distinctive shape),
it is too significant to be considered an incidental operation.
See, 19 CFR 10.16(c)(5) and HRL 067389 of January 28, 1982
(trimming and shaping steel plates into different shapes is not
an acceptable incidental operation).

HOLDING:

     On the basis of the information provided, it is our opinion
that the foreign operations performed on the U.S. components are
proper assembly operations or operations incidental to assembly
pursuant to HTSUS subheading 9802.00.80.  Therefore, an allowance
in duty may be made under this tariff provision for the cost or
value of all U.S. components upon compliance with the documentary
requirements of 19 CFR 10.24.

                              Sincerely,



                              John Durant, Director
                              Commercial Rulings Division