Newly Released CBP HQ Rulings for Oct. 2
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated on Oct. 2 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):
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H333725: 46 § U.S.C. 55102; 19 C.F.R. § 4.80b(a); New and Different Product; Proposed Transportation of Gasoline Blendstock
| Ruling: Blends with an alkylate that qualifies as CBOB, RBOB, or finished gasoline before blending, i.e., if the alkylate distillation temperature at 10% evaporated is at 158 deg F or below, will not produce a “new and different” article of commerce. Blends with CatGas that qualifies as CBOB, RBOB, or finished gasoline before blending will not produce a “new and different” article of commerce. Transportation of such merchandise by a non-coastwise-qualified vessel would be in violation of 46 U.S.C. § 55102. Accordingly, the company must test each shipment of the CatGas to ensure it does not qualify as CBOB, RBOB, or finished gasoline (M Grade or V Grade) before shipping and blending in order to avoid violation of 46 U.S.C. § 55102. All other proposed blending operations as described above would result in the creation of new and different product(s) within the meaning of 19 CFR § 4.80b(a). Therefore, the proposed transportation by a non-coastwise-qualified vessel wouldn't violate the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. § 55102. |
| Issue: Whether the proposed blending operations would result in the creation of a “new and different product” within the meaning of 19 C.F.R. § 4.80b(a), such that the proposed transportation by non-coastwise-qualified vessels would not be in violation of 46 U.S.C. § 55102. |
| Item: An unnamed company proposes to transport gasoline components from ports along the Gulf Coast or in Florida to an unnamed marine terminal to an unnamed location aboard foreign-flag vessels. The components may include one or more of the following: heavy naphtha, light naphtha, raffinate, reformate, alkylate, butane, and catalytic-cracked gasoline (“CatGas”). At the foreign terminal, these components will undergo a blending process using the facility’s tank mixing capabilities to produce one or more types of gasoline, such as Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending (“BOB”) (including RBOB, i.e. Reformulated BOB, and CBOB, i.e. Conventional BOB). The Company proposes to then transport the BOB or Finished Gasoline back to the United States by foreign-flag vessels for unloading at ports in the Northeast, along the Gulf Coast, or in Florida. Once returned to the United States, the BOB or Finished Gasoline will undergo no further processing except that RBOB or CBOB will be blended with ethanol as needed to meet U.S. motor gasoline requirements. |
| Reason: See ruling. |
| Ruling Date: Aug. 30, 2024 |
H341222: Request for Reconsideration of NY N299871; Tariff Classification of a Magnetic Assembly from China
| Ruling: CBP affirms NY N299871, dated Sept. 4, 2018. By application of GRIs 1 and 6, the subject merchandise is properly classified in subheading 8483.90.80, which provides for “Transmission shafts (including camshafts and crankshafts) and cranks; bearing housings, housed bearings and plain shaft bearings; gears and gearing; ball or roller screws; gear boxes and other speed changers, including torque converters; flywheels and pulleys, including pulley blocks; clutches and shaft couplings (including universal joints); parts thereof: Toothed wheels, chain sprockets and other transmission elements presented separately; parts: Other: Other.” |
| Issue: Polaris sought reconsideration of NY N299871. |
| Item: Polaris Rare Earth Materials' magnetic assembly, which is installed onto the shaft of a rotor assembly, and once the outer cylindrical magnet is radially magnetized, the inner yoke transmits torque to the rotor shaft. The cylindrically shaped article is used in motor rotors, sensor applications, and holding magnets. |
| Reason: The subject magnetic assembly falls within the scope of heading 8483. The magnetic assembly functions as a power transmitting mechanism. The magnet actuates the yoke and the yoke functions as a mechanical coupling that transmits power to other power transmitting mechanisms, such as a shaft and gear. In addition, the subject magnetic assembly is principally designed and used as a component in a rotor assembly and is neither a part of general use nor provided for more specifically in another tariff provision. The magnetic assembly is an integral component of the rotor assembly. Therefore, the magnetic assembly is classifiable as a “part” under subheading 8483.90.80. |
| Ruling Date: Sept. 26, 2024 |
H334137: Tariff Classification of Rope Coiled Baskets
| Ruling: By application of GRI 1, CBP found that the rope coiled baskets at issue are classified as follows: Basket Style No. 313SNMSTM (size x-large) is classified in subheading 9403.89.60, which provides for “Other furniture and parts thereof: Furniture of other materials, including cane, osier, bamboo or similar materials: Other: Other;" while Basket Style Nos. 33BORST and 313SNMSTM (sizes medium and large) are classified in subheading 6307.90.98, which provides for “Other made up articles, including dress patterns: Other: Other: Other.” |
| Issue: What is the tariff classification of the rope coiled baskets at issue? |
| Item: Rope coiled baskets that are decorative storage baskets designed and intended for use in the home. |
| Reason: Although the rope coiled baskets are comprised of braids classified in heading 5808, which provides in relevant part for “[b]raids in the piece,” CBP noted that the items are baskets (i.e., finished articles constructed from braids, rather than individual braids). Therefore, as finished articles, the baskets are not classifiable in heading 5808. Upon review of the sample and images of the x-large basket, CBP found that the basket is constructed for placing on the floor or ground. Therefore, the x-large basket Style No. 313SNMSTM is classified in heading 9403, and specifically in subheading 9403.89.60, which provides for “Other furniture and parts thereof: Furniture of other materials, including cane, osier, bamboo or similar materials: Other: Other.” But the rope coiled basket Styles No. 33BORST and 313SNMSTM (sizes medium and large) are “made up” within the meaning of Note 7(f) to Section XI because they are assembled by stitching the braids together. As such, they are classified in heading 6307 and subheading 6307.90.98, which provides for “Other made up articles, including dress patterns: Other: Other: Other.” This determination is consistent with other CBP rulings, CBP said. |
| Ruling Date: Sept. 27, 2024 |
H327730: Request for reconsideration of NY N327400; Tariff classification of a teleprompter base from China
| Ruling: CBP affirmed NY N327400. The subject teleprompter base is properly classified by application of GRIs 1, 3(b) and 6 under subheading 7616.99.51, which provides for: “Other articles of aluminum: Other: Other: Other.” |
| Issue: Whether the subject teleprompter base from China is classified under heading 7616, as “other articles of aluminum,” or under heading 8543 as a “part” to “electrical machines and apparatus, having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere” in Chapter 85. |
| Item: Ikan International's teleprompter base, Model PT4200, which is used in professional digital photography and videography. |
| Reason: Simply because an article is “designed and constructed to be used” as support does not necessarily it an “integral, constituent, or component part” of another article. The Court of Customs and Patent Appeals reiterated this point in U.S. v. Willoughby Camera Stores. The subject teleprompter base is not “an integral, constituent, or component part” of a teleprompter under the Willoughby test. The teleprompter base is not essential to the operation or use of the components that make up a teleprompter (i.e., the teleprompter monitor, beamsplitter glass, hood and shroud, and user-provided video camera), and the teleprompter components can function without the base. Just as the typewriter desk’s role was to mount to the typewriter in Willoughby, and just as the “rigid supports” merely attached to and supported the stationary engine in that case, the subject teleprompter base’s function is to mount and support the teleprompter’s components – a function which, alone, does not transform the base into a “part” under the HTSUS. The user-provided video camera (by virtue of it being “user-provided”) would still function as a video camera without the teleprompter base and retain its characteristics as a video camera. Likewise, the monitor would still be a monitor without the base and could still display text without the base. |
| Ruling Date: Sept. 27, 2024 |