Classification of Carbon Steel Circles Cut From Steel Sheet; Internal Advice 68/87

HQ 081822 March 14, 1989 CLA2:CO:R:C:G 081822 JAS CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NO.: TSUS 609.14 District Director of Customs 423 Canal Street New Orleans, Louisiana 70130 RE: Classification of Carbon Steel Circles Cut From Steel Sheet; Internal Advice 68/87 With your memorandum of September 1, 1987 (CLA2V:NO: CV:IS KJH), you attached a submission from counsel representing the internal advice applicant. Our ruling follows. FACTS: The carbon steel circles in question, from Brazil, will be further processed after importation into heads or covers, and bottoms for 55gallon steel drums which will be used in the United States to transport merchandise interstate. Flat steel circles are cut or sheared from hot rolled or cold rolled (16 through 24 gauge) carbon steel sheet, ranging in diameter from 25.03 inches to approximately 25.66 inches, and in thicknesses from 0.06 to 0.02 inch. The cost of each circle ranges from $1.10 to $2.00, depending on diameter. After importation, each circle is pressed in the middle to curve convexly from from the center to the edges. Finally, each circle which will serve as a drum head or top must have a hole cut or drilled in its center to permit the attachment of a flange and a removable plug. The internal advice applicant maintains that the provision for other articles of iron or steel, not coated or plated with precious metal, in item 657.25, Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS), represents the proper classification. He argues that the steel circles have been advanced beyond the status of basic shapes and forms because they are made to narrowly defined specifications and, upon importation, are dedicated to and used solely as drum tops and bottoms.   2  You note that although the imported discs are invoiced as drum heads, they are in fact flat circles cut from steel sheets which have not been further advanced. You therefore propose to classify the merchandise as plates, sheets, and strip, of iron or steel, cut, pressed, or stamped to nonrectangular shape, in item 609.14, TSUS. ISSUE: Are the carbon steel circles basic shapes and forms of iron or steel or have they been advanced beyond that stage; are they classifiable as articles of iron or steel? LAW AND ANALYSIS: Initially, there is no issue of whether the steel circles under consideration might be classifiable as unfinished parts for tariff purposes, because the provision for base metal drums, in item 640.30, TSUS, contains no parts proviso. See Schedule 6, Part 2, Headnote 1(iv), TSUS. Substantially similar issues to the ones raised here were addressed by the Court in Commercial Shearing & Stamping Company v. United States, C.D. 4060, aff'd. C.A.D. 1067 (1972). There, the provision for articles of iron or steel, in item 657.20 (now 657.25), TSUS, was compared to the competing provision for angles, shapes, and sections, in item 609.80, TSUS. The merchandise in issue was hemispherical shapes which were found to be chiefly used as end closures or tank heads on metal pressure containers used to store compressed gasses. These articles were made by cutting circles from flat steel plates and cold forming them in a press into hemispherical shapes. The cold forming operation left a horizontal collar or flange around the base of the shapes which was then cut off. In their condition as imported they were ready for use, with no postimportation processing required. The Court rejected plaintiff's argument that the processing of the hemispherical shapes to a point where they possessed the character of the finished article dedicated to a particular use, advanced them beyond the condition of basic shapes. The Court noted that no step required for the creation of a shape can, at one and the same time, be an advancement of the shape under the same classification. Cutting off of the flange was held not to be such an advancement. The Court concluded that the generic term "angles, shapes, and sections, not advanced," was a relatively more specific provision for the hemispherical shapes, in their condition as imported, than was the general provision for articles of iron or steel, not specially provided for.   3  HOLDING: The carbon steel circles under consideration are cut from plates, presumably those conforming to the Schedule 6, Part 2, Subpart B, Headnote 2(g), TSUS, definition of Plates and sheets. The circles are therefore classifiable under the provision for plates, sheets, and strip, all the foregoing, of iron or steel, cut, pressed, or stamped to nonrectangular shape, in item 609.14, TSUS. Sincerely, John Durant, Director Commercial Rulings Division