HQ 951432: Protest No. 3901-91-100227; Hitachi Ltd; Magnetic Bubble Memory; No Principal Use; Electrical Machine N.S.P.F.

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 951432
                                                               
                          July 9, 1992

CLA-2 CO:R:C:M  951432 MBR

CATEGORY:  Classification

TARIFF NO.:  8543.80.90  

District Director
U.S. Customs Service
610 South Canal Street
Chicago, Illinois 60607

RE:  Protest No. 3901-91-100227; Hitachi Ltd; Magnetic Bubble
     Memory; No Principal Use; Electrical Machine N.S.P.F.

Dear Sir:

     This is our response to Protest Number 3901-91-100227, dated
February 26, 1991, and application for further review, regarding
the classification of "Magnetic Bubble Memory," under the
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS).

FACTS:

     The imported merchandise consists of "Magnetic Bubble
Memories."  The submitted literature states that Hitachi magnetic
bubble memories are used as file memory in a wide variety of
applications such as CNC machines (computer numerical control),
electronic switching systems, ECR/POS, PBX, portable computers,
robots, and measuring instruments.  The Hitachi magnetic bubble
memory is incorporated in a wide variety of boards, cassettes,
bubble disks and kits to meet customer demands for a wide range of
applications.  The bubble memory is a rewritable, non-volatile
memory with no moving parts.  The memory is retained even when the
power is turned off.  The bubble memories are comprised of gallium,
gadolinium and garnet (GGG) magnetized wafers.  The substrates are
assembled together in the form of a sandwich.  

     The Computer Glossary, by Alan Freedman (1989) defines "bubble
memory as follows:  "[b]ubble memory is a technology that combines
both semiconductor and magnetic recording methods to create a solid
state storage device.  Like disk and tape, bubble memory holds its
contents without power and is about as fast as a slow hard disk. 
It's used in equipment designed for rugged, heavy duty
applications.  Conceptually, bubble memory can be thought of as a
stationary disk whose bits spin instead of the disk.  Bubble memory
units are only a couple of square inches in size and contain a thin
film magnetic recording layer.  The bits, called bubbles because of 

                            -2-

their globular shape, are electromagnetically generated in circular
strings inside this layer.  In order to read or write the bubbles,
the strings of bubbles are made to rotate past the equivalent of
a read/write head in a disk or tape drive."

ISSUE:

     What is the classification of magnetic bubble memories with
no principal use, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the
United States (HTSUS)?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     The Hitachi magnetic bubble memories at issue are utilized as
memory in a wide variety of applications.  There is no information
regarding the principal use of the bubble memories in any one type
of application.  They are also not dedicated by their design to any
one type of application.  The bubble memories are prima facie
classifiable in a number of headings.  However, many of those
classifications would require a principal use with a specific type
of merchandise.  There is no such principal use, as defined in the
Additional U.S. Rules of Interpretation 1(a), which states: 

     1.   In the absence of special language or context which
          otherwise requires-- 

          (a)  a tariff classification controlled by use (other
               than actual use) is to be determined in accordance
               with the use in the United States at, or immediately
               prior to, the date of importation, of goods of that
               class or kind to which the imported goods belong,
               and the controlling use is the principal use. 

     The protestant argues that bubble memories are hybrid
integrated circuits classifiable in subheading 8542.20.00, HTSUS. 
The Legal Notes to chapter 85 require the following in order to be
classifiable under the provision for hybrid integrated circuits:

5. For the purposes of headings 8541 and 8542:

(b)  "Electronic integrated circuits and microassemblies" are:

     (ii)      Hybrid integrated circuits in which passive elements
               (resistors, capacitors, interconnections, etc.)
               obtained by thin- or thick-film technology and
               active elements (diodes, transistors, monolithic
               integrated circuits, etc.) obtained by semiconductor
               technology, are combined to all intents and purposes
               indivisibly, on a single insulating substrate
               (glass, ceramic, etc.).  These circuits may also
               include discrete components.

                               -3-

     Representatives of Hitachi Ltd. state that the instant
merchandise does not contain any active elements.  Therefore, the
magnetic bubble memories are not classifiable in heading 8542,
HTSUS.

     Upon importation, the bubble memories were classified in
subheading 8543.80.90, HTSUS, which provides for: "[e]lectrical
machines and apparatus, having individual functions, not specified
or included elsewhere in this chapter: [o]ther machines and
apparatus: [o]ther."  The importer argues that the bubble memory
"contains no moving parts and therefore cannot be considered to be
a finished electrical product or apparatus...."  However, the
Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory
Notes (ENs) to heading 8543, page 1402, in pertinent part state:

     Most of the appliances of this heading consist of an assembly
     of electrical goods or parts (valves, transformers,
     capacitors, chokes, resistors, etc.) operating wholly
     electrically.  However, the heading also includes electrical
     goods incorporating mechanical features provided that such
     features are subsidiary to the electrical function of the
     machine or appliance.

     There is no requirement that there be "moving parts" present
for classification in heading 8543, HTSUS.  As the ENs delineate,
heading 8543 may include mechanical features, provided that they
are subsidiary.  Therefore, the Hitachi magnetic bubble memories
are classifiable in subheading 8543.80.90, HTSUS.

HOLDING:

     The Hitachi magnetic bubble memories are classifiable as
entered in subheading 8543.80.90, HTSUS, which provides for:
"[e]lectrical machines and apparatus, having individual functions,
not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter: [o]ther
machines and apparatus: [o]ther." 

     The protest should be denied 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
                              Commercial Rulings Division