The tariff classification of an Automated Passenger Counter – Vehicle Configuration from Canada

NY L82627 March 15, 2005 CLA-2-90:RR:NC:N1:105 L82627 CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NO.: 9029.10.8000 Ms. Sophia Spoltore Milgram Freight Services Ltd. 407, McGill Street, Suite 500 Montreal (Quebec) Canada H2Y 2G7 RE: The tariff classification of an Automated Passenger Counter – Vehicle Configuration from Canada Dear Ms. Spoltore: In your letters dated January 15, 2005 and in November, 2004, for Dilax Systems Inc., you requested a tariff classification ruling. Following our telephone requests, we did receive two diagrams that showed as blank boxes on the attachment to your January 15, 2005 letter. No sample was submitted. Although you did not resubmit either your November letter or its attachments as we requested in our December 15, 2004 letter to you, you did provide answers to the questions we asked about them. The information indicates that your Automated Passenger Counter – Vehicle Configuration is typically installed in public transit vehicles. On each passenger door there is a Door Slave, which determines whether the door is open or closed. If open, active infrared sensors send information to a Door-Controller which determines, basically by first analyzing the raw infrared data and then by subtraction and addition, the number of passengers on the vehicle. It cannot determine or verify any information about the passengers other than their number. Per a diagram this information is sent by cable to the Mainlogger BBM-WEB, which adds both the current time and geographical position data from a GPS chip within it. The GPS receiver is stated to be less than 5% of the BBM-WEB’s cost, and therefore a lesser percent of the whole system, which includes the sensors, etc. The BBM-WEB also has a port to receive odometer information from the vehicle as a backup if the GPS radio signal is not received. The data will then be downloaded via LAN cables to the transit system’s computers when the vehicle returns to the garage. That data is used by the transit system as the basis of reports of passenger volumes and usage at each stop, presumably for determining how to best schedule in the future the number of and the routes of its vehicles. The data can also be used to produce reports independent of passenger usage, such as the vehicle’s speed profile and schedule adherence, but that does appear to be a relatively minor “bonus” since the time and position data is already needed for the relatively difficult task of producing passenger usage reports automatically tied to each stop and time of day. The applicable subheading for a complete Automated Passenger Counter – Vehicle Configuration will be 9029.10.8000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for Revolution counters, production counters, odometers, pedometers and the like. The general rate of duty will be free. 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 J. Sheridan at 646-733-3012. Sincerely, Robert B. Swierupski Director, National Commodity Specialist Division