Oct. 30 CBP Bulletin Proposes to Modify, Revoke Rulings on Recycling Plant, Wood Chipping Machines
In the Oct. 30 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 58, No. 43), CBP published proposals to revoke ruling letters concerning a plastic recycling plant and wood chipping/shredding machines.
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Comments on Proposal Due Nov. 30
CBP said consideration will be given to any written comments received by Nov. 30 before taking these actions. In addition, any party that has received a ruling or decision on the merchandise that is subject to the proposed revocations or modifications, or any party involved with a substantially identical transaction, should advise CBP by the date that written comments on the proposed ruling are due. (An importer's failure to advise CBP of such rulings, decisions or substantially identical transactions may raise issues of reasonable care on the part of the importer or its agents for importations after the effective date of the final decision in this notice.)
Proposal
CBP is proposing to revoke or modify the rulings below, and any rulings on these products that may exist but have not been specifically identified. CBP also is proposing to revoke any treatment it has previously accorded to substantially identical transactions.
Plastic Recycling Plant
| Items: A plastic recycling plant assembled in a foreign-trade zone, which will be entered into the U.S. upon completion of the assembly process. Once assembled and operational, the plant will recycle post-consumer and post-industrial plastics with high levels of polyethylene terephthalate by refining and reclaiming chemical products such as polymer-grade ethylene glycol (EG) and dimethyl terephthalate (DMT). The plant is an integrated combination of 12 units consisting of individual components connected by piping, wiring and structural steel and operating in a continuous flow. |
| Current: 8419.89.95, which provides for “Machinery, plant or laboratory equipment, whether or not electrically heated (excluding furnaces, ovens and other equipment of heading 8514), for the treatment of materials by a process involving a change of temperature such as heating, cooking, roasting, distilling, rectifying, sterilizing, pasteurizing, steaming, drying, evaporating, vaporizing, condensing or cooling, other than machinery or plant of a kind used for domestic purposes; instantaneous or storage water heaters, nonelectric; parts thereof: Other machinery, plant or equipment: Other: Other: Other.” |
| Proposed: It is now CBP’s position that the subject plastic recycling plant consists of two functional units, both of which are properly classified under heading 8419. However, one of the functional units that make up the recycling plant is properly classified under subheading 8419.89.95, supra, and the other is properly classified in subheading 8419.40.00, which provides for “Machinery, plant or laboratory equipment, whether or not electrically heated (excluding furnaces, ovens and other equipment of heading 8514), for the treatment of materials by a process involving a change of temperature such as heating, cooking, roasting, distilling, rectifying, sterilizing, pasteurizing, steaming, drying, evaporating, vaporizing, condensing or cooling, other than machinery or plant of a kind used for domestic purposes; instantaneous or storage water heaters, nonelectric; parts thereof: Distilling or rectifying plant.” |
| Reason: There is also no dispute that the mixed plastics feed unit and the dissolver unit are classified in subheading 8419.89.95. However, the spray tower unit, crystallization unit and filtration unit are also classifiable under subheading 8419.89.95, because they contribute to a function other than distillation. Meanwhile, the DMT refining unit, methanol refining unit, low boiler column unit, and EG refining unit contribute together to the function of distillation. The DMT refining unit distills crude DMT into polymer-grade DMT. The methanol refining unit is a distillation column where methanol is separated from the EG as vapor and fed back to the methanol storage unit. Moreover, the EG refining unit distills the concentrated crude EG to produce polymer-grade EG. The liquid bottoms from the lower boiler column unit flow into a distillation column with multiple trays. As the DMT refining unit, methanol refining unit, lower boiler column unit and EG refining unit contribute to the function of distillation, they are classifiable under subheading 8419.40. |
| Proposed for revocation: HQ H322641, dated Nov. 9, 2023 |
| Proposed new ruling: HQ H336949 |
Wood Chipping/Shredding Machines
| Items: Electrically powered machines designed to chip and shred small pieces of garden debris and cuttings. Model GS70014 and QS70020 are both corded devices that are designed for use in home gardens (N114998); 300K Posch Professional Shredder, model numbers B6, B7 and Z, which are to be used for grinding garden clippings, leaves, small branch prunings, plant prunings, end-of-season plantings and the like (N807222); Industrial Wood Chipper Model 4 and the Model 6 (N801876); three tractor implements that mulch, shred or backhoe (N297986); the Patu model DC65 woodchipper (N897172) |
| Current: 8436.80.0090, which provides for “Other agricultural, horticultural, forestry, poultry-keeping or bee-keeping machinery, including germination plant fitted with mechanical or thermal equipment; poultry incubators and brooders; parts thereof: Other machinery: Other.” |
| Proposed: 8436.80.00, which provides for “Other agricultural, horticultural, forestry, poultry-keeping or beekeeping machinery, including germination plant fitted with mechanical or thermal equipment; poultry incubators and brooders; parts thereof: Other machinery: Forestry Machinery.” |
| Reason: The subject wood chipping/shredding machines (WCSMs) mechanically convert wood logs and branches into wood chips or strips. Wood chips have a variety of uses, including being placed in planting areas and around trees to inhibit weed growth, regulate soil temperatures and retain water within the soil. Thus, the WCSMs use and manage forest resources and, in turn, are forestry machines and are properly classified under heading 8436 as forestry machines. Heading 8436 supports this classification by explicitly stating “[m]achines for chip ping branches, twigs, etc.,” are classified therein. While the subject rulings all properly classify WCSMs under subheading 8436.80.00, each ruling incorrectly classified WCSMs under statistical reporting number 8436.80.0090, HTSUSA, which is for “Other.” Given CBP's finding that WCSMs are forestry machines, the correct statistical reporting number is 8436.80.0020, which is for “Forestry machinery." |
| Proposed for revocation: NY N114998, dated Aug. 5, 2010; NY 807222, dated March 23, 1995; NY 801876, dated Sept. 19, 1994 |
| Proposed for modification: NY N297986, dated July 17, 2018; NY 897172, dated May 2, 1994 |
| Proposed new ruling: HQ H307394 |