HQ 082257: Tariff Classification of Cold Formed Anvil Blanks

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 082257

                                    December 1, 1988


             CLA-2:CO:R:C:G  082257 JAS

             CATEGORY:  Classification

             TARIFF NO.:  674.7080; 8467.92.0090

             Richard E. Toth
             Taurus International Corporation
             P.O. Box 699
             Ramsey, New Jersey 07446

             RE: Tariff Classification of Cold Formed Anvil Blanks

             Dear Mr. Toth:

                 In your letter of May 3, 1988, you inquire as to the
             tariff classification of a cold headed or cold formed part of
             a power impact wrench called an anvil blank.  Our ruling
             follows.

             FACTS:

                 A submitted sample is of an article approximately 2-9/16
             inches long, press forged in the general shape of a T-bolt,
             but with a round upper shaft tapering to a square end.  It
             appears to have first been surface cleaned and then norma-
             lized, which is a heat treatment followed by air cooling
             designed to impart a uniform, relatively fine-grained
             microstructure.  This is the condition of the article as
             imported.  After importation, the shaft is ground to remove
             rust and scale and the wings or ears machined to round the
             edges.  The surface of the blank is then hardened by heating
             it in contact with a high-carbon material in a process called
             carburizing.  The blank is then final cleaned by shot preening
             and pilot holes drilled in each wing.

                 You state that previous entries of this merchandise have
             been classified under the provision for forgings of iron or
             steel, other than alloy iron or steel, not machined, not
             tooled, and not otherwise processed after forging, in item
             606.71, Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS).  How-
             ever, Customs now proposes to classify the anvil blanks as
             parts of hand-directed or hand-controlled tools with pneumatic
             or self-contained non-electric motor, in item 674.70, TSUS,
             dutiable at the rate of 2.5 percent ad valorem.














                                      - 2 -

             ISSUE:

                 Is the anvil blank advanced beyond the forging stage?  If
             so, is it sufficiently identifiable as an unfinished part?

             LAW AND ANALYSIS:

                 Schedule 6, Part 2, Headnote 1, TSUS, which governs
             entries under item 606.71, permits forged articles to be
             further advanced by annealing, tempering, case-hardening, and
             similar heat-treatments, unless the context of the involved
             provision requires otherwise.  The language of item 606.71
             covers only articles which have not been processed after
             forging.  Our courts have held that normalizing is not a
             process incidental to the creation of a forging, but is a heat
             treatment to which forgings are subjected to improve the
             properties of the metal.  Consequently, forgings of iron or
             steel which have been normalized are not classifiable in item
             606.71.

                 There appears to be agreement that after final processing
             in the United States the anvil blanks belong to a class or
             kind of merchandise chiefly used with those hand-directed
             tools classifiable in item 674.70, TSUS.  For Customs pur-
             poses, unless the context requires otherwise, a tariff
             description covers an article whether assembled or not
             assembled, and whether finished or not finished.  Articles
             such as anvil blanks which have been advanced beyond the stage
             of a basic shape or form of iron or steel will be regarded for
             Customs purposes as unfinished articles or as unfinished parts
             of articles, if they have been so far advanced at the time of
             importation as to be clearly dedicated to and commercially fit
             for use only as the article or part intended.  Each case, of
             course, depends on the particular facts involved.  The
             articles here have a uniquely-shaped shank which is circular
             at the top but which tapers to a square bottom.  This design,
             in our opinion, makes the articles commercially unsuitable for
             use as anything else or for being made into anything else.  We
             consider the grinding, machining, carburizing, shot preening
             and drilling to be relatively insubstantial post-importation
             processing operations.

             HOLDING:

                 The anvil blanks in question are unfinished articles for
             tariff purposes, and are classifiable as parts of hand-
             directed or hand-controlled tools with pneumatic or self-
             contained non-electric motor, in item 674.70, TSUS.














                                     - 3 -


                 The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
             Annotated (HTSUSA), is scheduled to replace the TSUS as the
             tariff code of the United States on January 1, 1989.  The
             HTSUSA provision applicable to the anvil blank is subheading
             8467.92.0090, Parts of pneumatic tools for working in the
             hand, dutiable at the rate of 2.5 percent ad valorem.

                 This is Customs current position on the classification of
             the anvil blank.  However, if this provision changes before
             January 1, 1989, this advice may not continue to apply.


                                        Sincerely,



                                        John Durant, Director,
                                        Commercial Rulings Division