Backup Power Cable Importer Brings Another Classification Case to CIT
Cable importer Cyber Power Systems brought two more classification disputes to the Court of International Trade April 28 (see 2504010067 and 2305170023 (Cyber Power Systems (USA) Inc. v. United States, CIT # 21-00199).
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This time, it said it's challenging the classifications, first, of imports of backup power cables for a “wide range of electrical and electronic products,” including home entertainment and gaming systems after being assessed Section 301 duties.
The importer said CBP classified three of its backup power cable models under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 8504.40.7018 and a fourth under subheading 8504.40.7012. Subheading 8504.40 covers power supplies for automatic data processing machines, as well as products “suitable for physical incorporation into automatic data processing machines” such as printers, copiers, fax machines, monitors or projectors.
It said the goods instead should have been classified under heading 8504, which covers electrical transformers, static converters and inductors and their parts. That would mean the products meet an exclusion from Section 301 tariffs for power supplies under the heading.
Second, it said it's challenging the classification of its “wall plugs,” which are “wall-mounted receptacle[s]” with two USB ports, six NEMA 5-15R plugs and a metal oxide varistor serving as surge protection.
CBP classified the products under heading 8537, which covers apparatus that combine two or more products of heading 8536. Heading 8536 covers “[e]lectrical apparatus for switching or protecting electrical circuits, or for making connections to or in electrical circuits (for example, switches, relays, fuses, surge suppressors, plugs, sockets, lamp-holders and other connectors, junction boxes), for a voltage not exceeding 1,000 V; connectors for optical fibers, optical fiber bundles or cables.”
Normally, circuit breakers combined with wall plugs are classified under heading 8537 because both circuit breakers and plugs fall under heading 8536, it said. But, in this case, its products’ surge protection comes from metal oxide varistors. CBP classifies these varistors under heading 8533, not 8536.
The agency has previously found that the combination of metal oxide varistors and plugs or sockets is classified under heading 8536, it said, calling those products composite goods and classifying them according to the part that imparted their essential character.