Request for Reconsideration of HQ H243584; Tariff Classification of a Radiator Assembly and WHL Radiator

U.S. Customs and Border Protection HQ H304963 January 4, 2021 CLA-2 OT:RR:CTF:EMAIN H304963 JDK CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NO(s).: 8419.50.10 Jeremy Ross Page Page Fura, P.C. 939 W. North Avenue Chicago, IL 60642 RE: Request for Reconsideration of HQ H243584; Tariff Classification of a Radiator Assembly and WHL Radiator Dear Mr. Page, This is in response to your letter, dated June 14, 2019, submitted on behalf of DENSO International America, Inc. (DIAM) requesting reconsideration of Headquarters Ruling Letter (HQ) H243584, dated May 9, 2016. In HQ H243584, United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) classified the Radiator Assembly and WHL Radiator under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Upon review of HQ H243584, we have determined the ruling to be correct. We accordingly affirm the ruling. The instant merchandise is described in HQ H243584 as follows: Both the Radiator Assembly (DENSO model # 422133-15813J) and WHL Radiator (DENSO model # 422135-04803J) are described as a radiators used on John Deere® front-end loaders and bulldozers. They are composed of 80% aluminum, 10% plastic, and 10% steel, with the fins being of braised aluminum. In your reconsideration request, you further described the merchandise as follows: [C]onstructed of thin aluminum fins that have been brazed to flattened aluminum tubes and integrated into the wheel loader’s engine compartment. The radiators provide a traditional cooling function…gauge the temperature of the engine and release coolant to ensure there is no engine over-heat. The released coolant absorbs the excess heat and is then recycled through the radiator where the heat is released as the coolant traverses the radiator chamber. Once cooled, the coolant is ready for subsequent use in maintaining proper heat control. For more detail, based off the drawings provided, the subject merchandise consist of rectangular shaped apparatus with five rows of tubing, an inlet and an outlet. As the coolant flows through the tubing, the brazed aluminum fins transfer heat from the coolant to the air flowing through the radiator. In HQ H243584, CBP classified the Radiator Assembly and WHL Radiator in subheading 8419.50.10, HTSUS, 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 in 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: Heath exchange units; Brazed aluminum plate-fin heat exchangers….” Classification under the HTSUS is determined 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. Note 2 to Section XVI, HTSUS, provides for, in pertinent part: Subject to note 1 of this section, note 1 to chapter 84 and note 1 to chapter 85, parts of machines…are to be classified according to the following rules: Parts which are goods included in any of the headings of chapter 84 or 85…are in all cases to be classified in their respective headings; Other parts, if suitable for use solely or principally with a particular kind of machine, or with a number of machines of the same heading (including a machine of heading 84.79 or 85.43) are to be classified with the machines of that kind or in heading 84.09, 84.31, 84.48, 84.66, 84.73, 85.03, 85.22, 85.29 or 85.38 as appropriate. However, parts which are equally suitable for use principally with the goods of headings 85.17 and 85.25 to 85.28 are to be classified in heading 85.17…. Notwithstanding the fact that Note 2, supra, governs the classification of parts within Section XVI, HTSUS, and Note 2(a) contemplates that certain parts themselves constitute goods (i.e. machines) of the headings within the section, you assert that the subject Radiator Assembly and WHL Radiator are classified in heading 8431, HTSUS, which provides for “Parts suitable for use solely or principally with the machinery of headings 8425 to 8430....” Moreover, you assert that the Radiator Assembly and WHL Radiator should not be considered “machinery”. Radiators are a type of heat exchange unit. Heat exchange units consist of finned tubing and parts designed to transmit heat energy. They are indeed machines. For example, in HQ H276289, the air-cooled heat exchanger, whose configuration is similar to the subject radiators where air travels over finned tubes to lower the temperature of the fluid traveling through the finned tubes and the finned tubes release heat, CBP classified the merchandise in subheading 8419.50, HTSUS. The subject Radiator Assembly and WHL Radiator are likewise goods of heading 8419, HTSUS, and classified under heading 8419, HTSUS, pursuant to Note 2(a) to Section XVI, HTSUS. Therefore, HQ H243584 is affirmed. Accordingly, the subject Radiator Assembly and WHL Radiator remain classified in heading 8419, HTSUS, specifically in subheading 8419.50.10, HTSUS, as “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 in 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: Heat exchange units; Brazed aluminum plate-fin heat exchangers…” Sincerely, Craig T. Clark, Director  Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division