The tariff classification of an automatic garment retrieval system from Italy

NY C86945 May 15, 1998 CLA-2-84:RR:NC:1:103 C86945 CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NO.: 8428.39.8000; 8479.89.9797; 8524.99.6000 Mr. Steven M. Phillips Arizona Custom Drycleaner 8711 E. Pinnacle Peak Road, Suite 373 Scottsdale, AZ 85255 RE: The tariff classification of an automatic garment retrieval system from Italy Dear Mr. Phillips: In your letter dated April 13, 1998 you requested a tariff classification ruling. The Battista automatic garment retrieval system allows retail customers to pick-up their garments from a dry cleaning establishment twenty-four hours per day. The system basically consists of a conveyor which stores and delivers the garments, an automated door through which the garments are retrieved, software, and a computer based control system (the control system will be purchased in the United States and not imported with the balance of the system). When the garments to be cleaned are initially brought by the customer to the store, the customer's credit card is scanned by a bar code reader. The operator also manually enters data relating to the garments, such as quantity, price, and type of cleaning, into the control system. The system then prints out a customer receipt as well as bar coded markers which are affixed to each garment for identification. After the garments have undergone the desired cleaning, the bar code marker on each garment is scanned and the garments are hung in a compartment on the conveyor. The operator then manually enters the garment's conveyor position into the control system. After being bagged, the garments remain on the conveyor until the customer returns to the store. When the customer inserts his credit card into a reader in the automatic door, the control system tells the conveyor how far to move so that the compartment containing the appropriate garments lines up with an extractor unit. The extractor places the garments onto a slide rail leading to the door area. The transparent window in the door then automatically lowers, allowing the customer to reach in and retrieve the garments. The applicable subheading for the conveyor will be 8428.39.8000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for other lifting, handling, loading or unloading machinery: other continuous-action elevators and conveyors, for goods or materials: other: other. The rate of duty will be 0.4 percent ad valorem. The applicable subheading for the automatic retrieval door will be subheading 8479.89.9797, HTS, which provides for machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere (in chapter 84): other machines and mechanical appliances: other: other: other: other. The rate of duty will be 2.7 percent ad valorem. Finally, the applicable subheading for the floppy discs containing the software for the system will be 8524.99.6000, HTS, which provides for records, tapes and other recorded media for sound or other similarly recorded phenomena...: other: other: other: for reproducing representations of instructions, data, sound, and image, recorded in a machine readable binary form, and capable of being manipulated or providing interactivity to a user, by means of an automatic data processing machine; proprietary format recorded media. The rate of duty will be 1.3›/m2 of recording surface. This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177). A copy of the ruling or the control number indicated above should be provided with the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If you have any questions regarding the ruling, contact National Import Specialist Alan Horowitz at 212-466-5494. Sincerely, Robert B. Swierupski Director, National Commodity Specialist Division