Newly Released CBP HQ Rulings for June 24
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated June 24 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):
H325287: Tariff Classification and USMCA Eligibility of Super Glue Imported from Mexico
| Ruling: (1) The retail-packaged super glue will be classified in subheading 3506.10.50. (2) The glue will be ineligible for preferential tariff treatment under the USMCA when imported from Mexico into the United States and entered for consumption. |
| Issues: (1) Whether the retail-packaged super glue will be properly classified under subheading 3506.10.50. (2) Whether the retail-packaged super glue will be eligible for USMCA preferential tariff treatment. |
| Item: Retail-packaged super glue imported from Mexico. A Mexican entity will purchase 20-kilogram containers of Indian-origin glue classified in subheading 3506.91. It will then prepare the glue for retail sale by making the bottle, tip, and cap from U.S.-origin resin. Once the retail bottle is complete, it plans to fill the bottles with the Indian-origin glue and affix U.S.-origin labels. Finally, it plans to place the glue bottles in U.S.-origin retail packaging and place the goods in boxes for shipment to the United States. |
| Reason: The super glue is not “wholly obtained or produced entirely” in Mexico pursuant to GN 11(b)(i) or “produced entirely” in Mexico “exclusively” from originating materials pursuant to GN 11(b)(ii).The retail-packaged super glue does not qualify as “a good produced entirely in the territory of one or more USMCA countries using nonoriginating materials” under GN 11(b)(iii). GN 11(l)(xvi) does not include "repackagining" in its definition of "production," so the glue does not undergo "production" in Mexico. |
| Ruling Date: June 15, 2022 |
H316373: Protest No. 2809-20-105171; Classification of heat exchangers
| Ruling: 8419.50.50, free. “[M]achinery, 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 of 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: Other.” |
| Issue: What is the proper classification of the subject merchandise under the HTSUS? |
| Items: TPN 1093326-00-C and TPN 1093326-99-C are used within a residential scale stationary energy storage system. TPN 1093326-00-C functions as a heat exchanger whereby heated fluid from the battery module heat pipe is interfaced for heat transfer with coolant as it flows through the micro channels cooling the heated fluid from the battery module to ambient temperatures. The coolant flows through a closed loop, and itself is cooled by air flowing through the fins on the side, while the cooled fluid flows back into the battery module in a closed loop.TPN 1096215-00-C and TPN 1478201-00-B are heat exchangers used as part of an alternating current induction electric motor and gear train, which provides motive power to vehicles. TPN 1096215-00-C is specific to Tesla Model 3, while TPN 1478201-00-B is updated architecture from TPN 1096215-00-C and used across all Tesla vehicles.Both parts function by transferring heat from the oil within the drive unit to the vehicle coolant system. The oil flows through sumps inside the drive unit and heats up. This heated oil is then pumped from these sumps in the drive unit into the heat exchangers where the heated oil is interfaced for heat transfer with coolant through separate layers of metal, allowing the heat to be exchanged from the oil to the coolant. The cooled oil is then returned into the drive unit, and the coolant returns to the vehicle coolant system. Both parts are constructed of layers of stamped aluminum with machined aluminum ports (bosses) that are assembled onto the stacked aluminum stampings and then brazed together in an oven. TPN 1125292-00-B is used within the thermal door assembly of a Tesla Powerpack, which is a utility scale stationary storage solution. TPN 1125292-00-B functions as a heat exchanger whereby warm coolant from the battery module is interfaced for heat transfer with refrigerant through separate layers of metal, allowing the heat to be exchanged from the coolant to the refrigerant. Once cooled, the coolant flows back to the coolant loop, while the refrigerant flows back to the condenser loop. |
| Reason: The articles fall within the common meaning of “heat exchanger” and are classified in subheading 8419.50 as “heat exchange units.” As the subject articles do not feature plate fins, classification is proper under subheading 8419.50.50, which provides for “other” heat exchange units. |
| Ruling Date: Aug. 30, 2021 |