Internal Advice Request No: 10/020; Tariff classification of a metal dome assembly for use in a cellular telephone

HQ H112602 August 27, 2010 CLA-2 OT:RR:CTF:TCM H112602 EG CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NO.: 8538.90 U.S. Customs and Border Protection Area Port Director 605 West 4th Ave., Suite 230 Anchorage, AK 99501 Attn: Karen Beaudin, Import Specialist RE: Internal Advice Request No: 10/020; Tariff classification of a metal dome assembly for use in a cellular telephone Dear Area Port Director: This letter is in reply to your memorandum dated May 19, 2010. Your memorandum forwarded a request for Internal Advice, initiated by a letter dated April 16, 2010 from LG Electronics Alabama, Inc. (LG). This Internal Advice Request pertains to the tariff classification of a metal dome assembly, Model No. ADCA 0058901, imported by LG. LG imported the subject entries from 2007 to 2009. A sample was forwarded to this office. FACTS: The metal dome assembly is a thin sheet of white plastic measuring roughly 4.3 cm x 2.2 cm. The plastic sheet is embedded with eleven metal circles, or domes. The metal dome assembly is imported for use in cellular telephones. LG provided schematics which show that the metal dome assembly will lie between a keypad and a printed circuit board when the cellular telephone is fully assembled. The subject keypad includes keys with arrows pointing up, down and to the sides. These keys are used for scrolling on the cellular telephone screen. The metal domes on the assembly will complete an electrical circuit between contacts located on the printed circuit board when the cellular phone user pushes the buttons on the keypad. In this way, the printed circuit board will communicate which key has been pushed. The LG schematic indicates that the electrical circuit generated between the keys, metal dome assembly and the printed circuit board will be between 2.6 - 3.7 volts. Without the metal dome assembly, no electrical connection could be made between the open contact points on the printed circuit board. In its request for Internal Advice, LG takes the position that the metal dome assembly has been correctly classified from 2007-2009 in subheading 8517.70 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which covers, in pertinent part, “[t]elephone sets, including telephones for cellular networks or for other wireless networks; . . . ; parts thereof: parts.” In your memorandum, you state that the metal dome assembly should be classified under subheading 8538.90, HTSUS, which covers “Parts suitable for use solely or principally with the apparatus of heading 8535, 8536 or 8537; Other.” ISSUE: Is the metal dome assembly classifiable under subheading 8517.70, HTSUS as part of a cellular telephone, or under 8538.90, HTSUS as a part suitable for use solely or principally with the apparatus of heading of 8535, 8536, or 8537, HTSUS? LAW AND ANALYSIS: Classification under the HTSUS is made in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRIs). GRI 1 provides that the classification of goods shall be determined according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative section or chapter notes. In the event that the goods cannot be classified solely on the basis of GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRIs 2 through 6 may then be applied in order. The following 2009 HTSUS provisions under consideration are: 8517 Telephone sets, including telephones for cellular networks or for other wireless networks; . . . parts thereof: 8517.70 Parts. * * * 8535 Electrical apparatus for switching or protecting electrical circuits, or for making connections to or in electrical circuits (for example, switches, fuses, lightning arresters, voltage limiters, surge suppressors, plugs and other connectors, junction boxes), for a voltage exceeding 1,000 V. * * * 8536 Electrical apparatus for switching or protecting electrical circuits, or for making connections to or in electrical circuits (for example, switches, fuses, lightning arresters, voltage limiters, surge suppressors, plugs and other connectors, junction boxes), for a voltage not exceeding 1,000 V; connectors for optical fibers, optical fiber bundles or cables. * * * 8537 Boards, panels, consoles, desks, cabinets and other bases, equipped with two or more apparatus of heading 8535 or 8536, for electric control or the distribution of electricity, including those incorporating instruments or apparatus of chapter 90, and numerical control apparatus, other than switching apparatus of heading 8517. * * * 8538 Parts suitable for use solely or principally with the apparatus of heading 8535, 8536 or 8537. Other. * * * LG cites Note 2(b) to Section XVI, HTSUS, which states in pertinent part that “…parts, if suitable for use solely or principally with a particular kind of machine, or with a number of machines of the same heading . . . are to be classified with the machines of that kind or in heading 8409, 8431, 8448, 8466, 8473, 8503, 8522, 8529 or 8538 as appropriate.” LG asserts that the metal dome assembly is suitable for use solely or principally with cellular telephones of heading 8517, HTSUS. LG concludes that the metal dome assembly must be classified as a part of a cellular telephone under heading 8517, HTSUS. However, LG’s analysis skips Note 2(a) to Section XVI, HTSUS, which must be applied to the metal dome assembly’s classification before Note 2(b) can be applied. Legal Note 2 to Section XVI, HTSUS, provides, in relevant part: Subject to note 1 to this section, note 1 to chapter 84 and note 1 to chapter 85, parts of machines (not being parts of the articles of heading 8484, 8544, 8545, 8546 or 8547) are to be classified according to the following rules: (a) Parts which are goods included in any of the headings of Chapter 84 or 85 (other than headings 8409, 8431, 8448, 8466, 8473, 8487, 8503, 8522, 8529, 8538 and 8548) are in all cases to be classified in their respective headings[.] Therefore, if a heading in Chapter 84 or 85, HTSUS, provides for a good then the good is classifiable under that heading, instead of under a heading for the larger machine of which it is a component. First we will examine the metal dome assembly in light of heading 8538, HTSUS. Heading 8538, HTSUS, provides for “[p]arts suitable for use solely or principally with the apparatus of heading 8535, 8536 or 8537.” Heading 8536, HTSUS provides, in pertinent part, for “[e]lectrical apparatus for . . . making connections to or in electrical circuits (for example, switches, fuses, lightning arresters, voltage limiters, surge suppressors, plugs and other connectors, junction boxes), for a voltage not exceeding 1,000 V.” The term “switch” is not defined in the tariff. When a tariff term is not defined by the HTSUS or its legislative history, “the term’s correct meaning is its common meaning.” Mita Copystar Am. v. United States, 21 F.3d 1079, 1082 (Fed. Cir. 1994). The common meaning of a term used in commerce is presumed to be the same as its commercial meaning. Simod Am. Corp. v. United States, 872 F.2d 1572, 1576 (Fed. Cir. 1989). To ascertain the common meaning of a term, a court may consult “dictionaries, scientific authorities, and other reliable information sources” and “lexicographic and other materials.” C.J. Tower & Sons v. United States, 673 F.2d 1268, 1271 (CCPA 1982); Simod, 872 F.2d at 1576. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the term “switch” as “a device for making, breaking, or changing the connections in an electrical circuit”. See www.merriam-webster.com. The website of Best Technology Co., Ltd., a metal dome array and assembly manufacturer, describes metal dome assemblies as “a kind of [plastic] sheet that carries metal dome contacts . . . [and] is applied to [printed circuit boards] to function as switches of mobile phones.” See http://www.metal-domes.com/product-dome-array.htm. An article is to be classified according to its condition as imported. See XTC Products, Inc. v. United States, 771 F. Supp. 401, 405 (1991); see also United States v. Citroen, 223 U.S. 407 (1911). LG imports the metal dome assembly alone and unattached to the keypad or printed circuit board. The metal dome assembly is not a switch by itself. It is a sheet of metal switch contacts. Therefore, the metal dome assembly is a part of a switch assembly. Switches under 1,000 volts are classified under heading 8536, HTSUS. When LG attaches the metal dome assembly to the keypad and printed circuit board, the assembled product will include eleven momentary contact switches. As such, the assembled product can be classified under heading 8537, for “…other bases, equipped with two or more apparatus of heading 8535 or 8536, for electric control or the distribution of electricity.” Thus, the metal dome assembly can be classified under heading 8538, HTSUS, which provides for “[p]arts suitable for use solely or principally with the apparatus of heading 8535, 8536 or 8537.” The metal dome assembly may also be classified under heading 8517, HTSUS, which provides, in pertinent part for “[t]elephone sets, including telephones for cellular networks or for other wireless networks; . . . parts thereof.” Applying Note 2(a) to Section XVI, HTSUS, heading 8538, HTSUS, will prevail because the heading includes the metal dome assembly. We do not need to proceed to Note 2(b), as LG argues, to classify the metal dome assembly as a part of a cellular telephone in heading 8517, HTSUS. HOLDING: By application of GRI 1 and Note 2(a) to Section XVI, the subject metal dome assembly is classifiable in heading 8538, HTSUS. It is specifically provided for in subheading 8538.90.80, HTSUS, which provides for “[p]arts suitable for use solely or principally with the apparatus of heading 8535, 8536 or 8537: other: other: other.” The column one, general rate of duty is 3.5 percent ad valorem in the 2009 HTSUS. Duty rates are provided for your convenience and subject to change. The text of the most recent HTSUS and the accompanying duty rates are provided on the World Wide Web at www.usitc.gov. You are to mail this decision to the internal advice requester no later than 60 days from the date of the decision. At that time, the Office of International Trade, Regulations and Rulings, will make the decision available to CBP personnel, and to the public on the CBP Home Page on the World Wide Web at www.cbp.gov, by means of the Freedom of Information Act, and other methods of public distribution. Sincerely, Myles B. Harmon, Director Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division