HQ 953355: PRD 1303-91-100348; Ductile Iron Beam Clamps; Malleable Cast-Iron Articles, Item 657.10; Malleable as First Cast, Steel, Schedule 6, Part 2, Subheading B, Headnote 2(g), TSUS; Articles of Iron or Steel

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 953355

                            MAY 10 1993

CLA-2:CO:R:C:M   953355 JAS

CATEGORY:   Classification

TARIFF NO.: 657.25

District Director of Customs
40 South Gay St. 
Baltimore, MD 21202

RE:  PRD 1303-91-100348; Ductile Iron Beam Clamps; Malleable
     Cast-Iron Articles, Item 657.10; Malleable as First Cast,
     Steel, Schedule 6, Part 2, Subheading B, Headnote 2(g),
     TSUS; Articles of Iron or Steel 

Dear District Director:

     This is our decision on Application for Further Review of
Protest No. 1303-91-100348, dated October 10, 1991, filed against
your action in liquidating certain entries of cast iron beam
clamps from Portugal.  The entries were dated January 3, 17, and
23, and April 9, 1988, and were liquidated on August 2, 1991. 
This protest was timely filed on October 10, 1991.

FACTS:

     The articles in question are described on invoices as
castings of ferritic malleable iron, and are designed to function
as reversible beam clamps.  Submitted drawings indicate the beam
clamp castings are of malleable iron with minimum yield strength
of 40,000 pounds per square inch (psi) and minimum tensile
strength of 52,000 psi with 9 percent elongation.  The castings
are held at a temperature of 1750 degrees F for 2 hours, then
dropped to 1450 degrees F then cooled to 1200 degrees F at a rate
of 10-12 degrees per hour, then air cooled.  

     Customs laboratory report 2-88-20269-001, dated May 26,
1988, describes a submitted sample as composed of nodular ductile
iron containing by weight over 0.6 percent copper.

     The merchandise was entered under the provision for cast-
iron articles, malleable, not alloyed, under item 657.10, Tariff
Schedules of the United States (TSUS), dutiable at the rate of
3.1 percent ad valorem.  Based on your conclusion that the
castings were malleable as first cast, and alloyed, you negated
the entered classification and liquidated the entries under the - 2 -

provision for other articles of iron or steel, under item 657.25,
TSUS, dutiable at the rate of 5.7 percent ad valorem.

     The provisions under consideration are as follows:

     657.10   Cast-iron articles, not alloyed: malleable...
              3.1 percent

     657.25   Articles of iron or steel, not coated or 
              plated with precious metal: Other: Other.....
              5.7 percent

ISSUE:

     Whether the beam clamp castings are alloyed cast articles;
     whether they are considered "steel" for tariff purposes

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     An imported article that is described in two or more
provisions of the schedules is classifiable in the provision
which most specifically describes it; but in applying this rule
of interpretation comparisons are to be made only between
provisions of coordinate or equal status, or between coordinate
inferior headings which are subordinate to the same superior
heading.  See General Rule of Interpretation 10(c)(ii), TSUS.

     The term "Steel" is defined as an alloy of iron and carbon
which is malleable as first cast.  See Schedule 6, Part 2,
Subpart B, Headnote 2(g), TSUS.  Steel may contain other elements
but iron must predominate, by weight, over each of the other
elements.  Steel that contains, by weight, over 0.60 percent
copper, among other things is considered an alloy.  The term
"iron or steel" includes alloy iron or steel.  See Schedule 6,
Part 2, Subpart B, Headnote 2(h), TSUS.

     In a letter dated September 29, 1991, protestant merely
states that because the merchandise is a malleable cast-iron
article, item 657.10, TSUS, more accurately describes it than
does the provision in item 657.25.

     Malleable castings are made in a two-step process.  A melt
of malleable grades of pig iron and cast-iron scrap is tapped and
cast into molds.  The addition of copper as an alloy strengthens
the ferrite and enhances the castings' resistance to heat and
corrosion.  When cool, the castings are removed and cleaned, then
placed in an annealing furnace in a second stage process that
leaves a metal similar to soft steel but of much coarser grain
and with less ductility.  Annealing raises the castings' tensile
and yield strengths, increases ductility, and improves
machinability.                - 3 -

     Drawings accompanying this protest describe a heat treatment
that is part of the casting process and is designed to make the
castings more malleable.  Because they are annealed during
casting in a one-step process, the castings are considered
malleable as first cast and must be regarded as steel for tariff
purposes.
     
HOLDING:

     The beam clamp castings are cast-iron articles that are
alloyed and are malleable as first cast.  The beam clamp castings
are considered articles of [iron or] steel classifiable in item
657.25, TSUS.

     The protest should be denied.  A copy of this decision
should be attached to the Customs Form 19, and forwarded to
protestant, through his representative, as part of the notice of
action on the protest.

                              Sincerely,


                              John Durant, Director