> HQ 966034
>
> February 4, 2003
>
> CLA-2 RR:CR:GC 966034 AML
>
> **CATEGORY:** Classification
>
> **TARIFF NO.:** 7226.92.70
>
> Port Director
>
> U.S. Customs Service
>
> #1 La Puntilla
>
> San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901
>
> **RE:** Protest 4909-02-100054; "Sensorvac" steel product
>
> Dear Port Director:
>
> This is in response to protest 4909-02-100054, filed by a customs
> broker on behalf of Sensormatic Electronics Corporation, against your
> tariff classification of a "Sensorvac", part number 3200-0320-01,
> under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS).
> Technical literature and printed digital images were submitted for our
> examination.
>
> **FACTS**:
>
> The article at issue, referred to as the Sensorvac, is described as an
> alloy steel strip imported in coil form and measuring 0.046
> millimeters ("mm") in thickness and 6 mm in width. The Sensorvac is
> produced by melting, several stages of intermediate annealing, several
> stages of hot and cold rolling, heat treating and slitting to the
> required thickness. The protestant alleges that the articles are
> classifiable under subheading 7226.92.70, HTSUS, which provides for
> flat-rolled products of other alloy steel, of a width less than 600
> mm, not further worked and than cold rolled (cold-reduced), other, of
> a width less than 300 mm, of a thickness not exceeding 0.25 mm, other.
>
> The articles were entered on February 27, 2002, and the entries were
> liquidated on May 24, 2002, with classification (based upon method of
> manufacture; see the Customs Forms ("CF") 29 and 6445) under
> subheading 7228.60.80, HTSUS, which provides for other bars and rods
> of other alloy steel; angles, shapes and sections, of other alloy
> steel; hollow drill bars and

rods, of alloy or non-alloy steel, other bars and rods, cold formed. The
protest was filed on August 21, 2002.

**ISSUE**:

Whether the articles are classified under subheading 7226.92.70, HTSUS,
which provides for flat-rolled products of other alloy steel, of a width
less than 600 mm, not further worked and than cold rolled
(cold-reduced), other, of a width less than 300 mm, of a thickness not
exceeding 0.25 mm, other; or under subheading 7228.60.80, HTSUS, which
provides for other bars and rods of other alloy steel; angles, shapes
and sections, of other alloy steel; hollow drill bars and rods, of alloy
or non-alloy steel, other bars and rods, cold formed?

**LAW AND ANALYSIS**:

Initially, we note that the protest was timely filed (*i.e*., within 90
days after but not before the notice of liquidation; see 19 U.S.C.
§1514(c)(3)(A)) and the matter protested is protestable (see 19 U.S.C.
§1514(a)(2) and (5)).

Merchandise imported into the United States is classified under the
HTSUS. Tariff classification is governed by the principles set forth in
the General Rules of Interpretation (GRIs) and, in the absence of
special language or context that requires otherwise, by the Additional
U.S. Rules of Interpretation. The GRIs and the Additional U.S. Rules of
Interpretation are part of the HTSUS and are to be considered statutory
provisions of law for all purposes.

GRI 1 requires that classification be determined first according to the
terms of

the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative section or chapter
notes and, unless otherwise required, according to the remaining GRIs
taken in order. GRI 6 requires that the classification of goods in the
subheadings of headings shall be determined according to the terms of
those subheadings, any related subheading notes and *mutatis mutandis*,
to the GRIs. Further, only those subheadings at the same level of
indentation are comparable.

The HTSUS provisions under consideration are as follows:

7226 Flat-rolled products of other alloy steel, of a width of less than
600 mm:

> Other:

7226.92 Not further worked than cold-rolled (cold-reduced):

Other:

Of a width less than 300 mm:

> 7226.92.70 Of a thickness not exceeding 0.25 mm.
>
> \* \* \*
>
> 7228 Other bars and rods of other alloy steel; angles, shapes and
> sections, of other alloy steel; hollow drill bars and rods, of alloy
> or non-alloy steel:

![](media/image1.png){width="0.3125in"
height="1.0416666666666666e-2in"}7228.60 Other bars and rods:

Other:

7228.60.80 Cold-formed.

The Harmonized Commodity Description And Coding System Explanatory Notes
(ENs) constitute the official interpretation of the Harmonized System.
While not legally binding on the contracting parties, and therefore not
dispositive, the ENs provide a commentary on the scope of each heading
of the Harmonized System and are thus useful in ascertaining the
classification of merchandise. Customs believes the ENs should always be
consulted. See T.D. 89-80, published in the *Federal Register* August
23, 1989 (54 FR 35127, 35128).

Heading 7226 is in Section XV, HTSUS, which provides for base metals and
articles thereof. The General ENs to Section XV provide, in pertinent
part, that:

> This Section covers base metals (including those in a chemically pure
> state) and many articles thereof. A list of goods of base metal not
> covered by this Section is reproduced at the end of this Explanatory
> Note.
>
> \* \* \*
>
> Each of the Chapters 72 to 76 and 78 to 81 covers particular unwrought
> base metals and products of those metals such as bars, rods, wire or
> sheets, as well as articles thereof, except certain specified articles
> of base metal which, without regard to the nature of the constituent
> metal, are classified in Chapter 82 or 83, these Chapters being
> limited to the specified articles.

Chapter 72, Note 1(k), defines flat-rolled products in part as
including:

> Rolled products of solid rectangular (other than square)
> cross-section, which do not conform to the definition at (ij) \[which
> provides for semi-finished products\] above in the form of:
>
> \- coils of successively superimposed layers, or
>
> -straight lengths, which if of a thickness less than 4.75 mm are of a
> width measuring at least ten times the thickness or if of a thickness
> of 4.75 mm or more are of a width which exceeds 150 mm and measures at
> least twice the thickness.
>
> Flat-rolled products include those with patterns in relief derived
> directly from rolling (for example, grooves, ribs, chequers, tears,
> buttons, lozenges) and those which have been perforated, corrugated or
> polished, provided that they do not thereby assume the character of
> articles or products of other headings.

As indicated in the "facts" above, the Sensorvacs were classified under
heading 7228, HTSUS, based upon the conclusion that the articles were
not derived from a rolling method of manufacture. In its submission, the
protestant, through technical literature, demonstrates that the
Sensorvac is produced by one hot and two cold rolling processes. Given
that heading 7226 provides for flat-rolled articles of steel and that
the unrefuted evidence presented demonstrates that the Sensorvacs are
manufactured by the rolling process, we conclude that the articles are
classifiable under heading 7226, HTSUS.

Subheading 7226.92, HTSUS, provides for such material that is not
further worked (see the definition of the term of art "further worked"
as interpreted by United States Court of International Trade in
*Winter-Wolff, Inc., v. United States*, 996 F. Supp.1258, 1264 (1998).
There, the CIT determined, based upon common meaning gleaned from
dictionary definitions, that the definition of "further worked", for
purposes of classification within the HTSUS, "amounts to the following:
to form, fashion, or shape an existing product to a greater extent."
[*Id*.]{.underline}). As the articles are imported in coils and have not
been further worked within this definition, we conclude that the
articles are classifiable under this subheading.

This determination comports with New York Ruling Letter D89149, dated
March 25, 1999, which classified a similar article that was produced by
a rolling process under heading 7226, HTSUS.

**HOLDING**:

The Sensorvacs described above are classified under subheading
7226.92.70, HTSUS, which provides for flat-rolled products of other
alloy steel, of a width less than 600 mm, not further worked and than
cold rolled (cold-reduced), other, of a width less than 300 mm, of a
thickness not exceeding 0.25 mm, other.

The protest should be **GRANTED**. In accordance with Section 3A(11)(b)
of Customs Directive 099 3550-065, dated August 4, 1993, Subject:
Revised Protest

Directive, you are to mail this decision, together with the Customs Form
19, to the

protestant no later than sixty (60) days from the date of this letter.
Any reliquidation of the entry or entries in accordance with the
decision must be accomplished prior to mailing the decision.

Sixty (60) days from the date of the decision, the Office of Regulations
and Rulings will make the decision available to Customs personnel, and
to the public on the

Customs Home Page on the World Wide Web at *www.customs.gov*, by means
of the Freedom of Information Act, and other methods of public
distribution.

> Sincerely,

Myles B. Harmon, Director

> Commercial Rulings Division