HQ 951432

July 9, 1992

CLA-2 CO:R:C:M 951432 MBR

CATEGORY: Classification

TARIFF NO.: 8543.80.90

District Director

U.S. Customs Service

610 South Canal Street

Chicago, Illinois 60607

RE: Protest No. 3901-91-100227; Hitachi Ltd; Magnetic Bubble

Memory; No Principal Use; Electrical Machine N.S.P.F.

Dear Sir:

This is our response to Protest Number 3901-91-100227, dated

February 26, 1991, and application for further review, regarding

the classification of \"Magnetic Bubble Memory,\" under the

Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS).

FACTS:

The imported merchandise consists of \"Magnetic Bubble

Memories.\" The submitted literature states that Hitachi magnetic

bubble memories are used as file memory in a wide variety of

applications such as CNC machines (computer numerical control),

electronic switching systems, ECR/POS, PBX, portable computers,

robots, and measuring instruments. The Hitachi magnetic bubble

memory is incorporated in a wide variety of boards, cassettes,

bubble disks and kits to meet customer demands for a wide range of

applications. The bubble memory is a rewritable, non-volatile

memory with no moving parts. The memory is retained even when the

power is turned off. The bubble memories are comprised of gallium,

gadolinium and garnet (GGG) magnetized wafers. The substrates are

assembled together in the form of a sandwich.

The Computer Glossary, by Alan Freedman (1989) defines \"bubble

memory as follows: \"\[b\]ubble memory is a technology that combines

both semiconductor and magnetic recording methods to create a solid

state storage device. Like disk and tape, bubble memory holds its

contents without power and is about as fast as a slow hard disk.

It\'s used in equipment designed for rugged, heavy duty

applications. Conceptually, bubble memory can be thought of as a

stationary disk whose bits spin instead of the disk. Bubble memory

units are only a couple of square inches in size and contain a thin

film magnetic recording layer. The bits, called bubbles because of

-2-

their globular shape, are electromagnetically generated in circular

strings inside this layer. In order to read or write the bubbles,

the strings of bubbles are made to rotate past the equivalent of

a read/write head in a disk or tape drive.\"

ISSUE:

What is the classification of magnetic bubble memories with

no principal use, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the

United States (HTSUS)?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

The Hitachi magnetic bubble memories at issue are utilized as

memory in a wide variety of applications. There is no information

regarding the principal use of the bubble memories in any one type

of application. They are also not dedicated by their design to any

one type of application. The bubble memories are prima facie

classifiable in a number of headings. However, many of those

classifications would require a principal use with a specific type

of merchandise. There is no such principal use, as defined in the

Additional U.S. Rules of Interpretation 1(a), which states:

1\. In the absence of special language or context which

otherwise requires\--

\(a\) a tariff classification controlled by use (other

than actual use) is to be determined in accordance

with the use in the United States at, or immediately

prior to, the date of importation, of goods of that

class or kind to which the imported goods belong,

and the controlling use is the principal use.

The protestant argues that bubble memories are hybrid

integrated circuits classifiable in subheading 8542.20.00, HTSUS.

The Legal Notes to chapter 85 require the following in order to be

classifiable under the provision for hybrid integrated circuits:

5\. For the purposes of headings 8541 and 8542:

\(b\) \"Electronic integrated circuits and microassemblies\" are:

\(ii\) Hybrid integrated circuits in which passive elements

(resistors, capacitors, interconnections, etc.)

obtained by thin- or thick-film technology and

active elements (diodes, transistors, monolithic

integrated circuits, etc.) obtained by semiconductor

technology, are combined to all intents and purposes

indivisibly, on a single insulating substrate

(glass, ceramic, etc.). These circuits may also

include discrete components.

-3-

Representatives of Hitachi Ltd. state that the instant

merchandise does not contain any active elements. Therefore, the

magnetic bubble memories are not classifiable in heading 8542,

HTSUS.

Upon importation, the bubble memories were classified in

subheading 8543.80.90, HTSUS, which provides for: \"\[e\]lectrical

machines and apparatus, having individual functions, not specified

or included elsewhere in this chapter: \[o\]ther machines and

apparatus: \[o\]ther.\" The importer argues that the bubble memory

\"contains no moving parts and therefore cannot be considered to be

a finished electrical product or apparatus\....\" However, the

Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory

Notes (ENs) to heading 8543, page 1402, in pertinent part state:

Most of the appliances of this heading consist of an assembly

of electrical goods or parts (valves, transformers,

capacitors, chokes, resistors, etc.) operating wholly

electrically. However, the heading also includes electrical

goods incorporating mechanical features provided that such

features are subsidiary to the electrical function of the

machine or appliance.

There is no requirement that there be \"moving parts\" present

for classification in heading 8543, HTSUS. As the ENs delineate,

heading 8543 may include mechanical features, provided that they

are subsidiary. Therefore, the Hitachi magnetic bubble memories

are classifiable in subheading 8543.80.90, HTSUS.

HOLDING:

The Hitachi magnetic bubble memories are classifiable as

entered in subheading 8543.80.90, HTSUS, which provides for:

\"\[e\]lectrical machines and apparatus, having individual functions,

not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter: \[o\]ther

machines and apparatus: \[o\]ther.\"

The protest should be denied in full. A copy of this decision

should be attached to the Customs Form 19 and provided to the

protestant as part of the notice of action on the protest.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director

Commercial Rulings Division