Section 301 Investigation: China's Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology 

Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation - Form to Request Exclusion of Product 

When submitting a product exclusion request using this form, enter the specified 

information in the following fields and explain the basis and rationale for your statements. 

By completing this form, you certify that the information provided is complete and 

correct to the best of your knowledge. 

1. Indicate whether the comment contains business confidential information (BCI), is a public 

document, or is a public version of a BCI document. 

1Public Document 

2. Please provide a complete and detailed description of the product of concern: 

The Braeburn 2200NC Model is a 5-2 (weekday or weekend) day programmable wall mounted thermostat to control 

heat and air conditioning in the home. It can be either hard wired or battery operated This model is compatible with 

conventional systems with up to two stages of heating and one stage of cooling, and heat pump systems with one 

compressor and up to one auxiliary state; and 250mv — 750my millivolt heating systems The thermostat has a bright 

blue backlit display and retains memory settings with temporary program override and programmable extended hold 

mode. This model has setting retention, adjustable temperature differential, and adaptive recovery mode along with a 

ir/C* switch The products dimensions are 3 72" x 4 75" x 1.12" 

3. 10-digit HTSUS item number* for product you wish to address in this product exclusion request: 

*Use numerical characters only with no special characters (example: 1023456789). For help in finding 

the HTSUS item nurnber associated with your product, see https://hts.usitc.gov/ 

9032100030 

4. Requestor Information 

Requestor Name (Last, First): 

Organization Name: 

Glenn Moore 

Braebum Systems LLC 

Note: Representatives submitting on behalf of an organization must enter information below. 

Requestor Representative: Adrienne Braumiller, Esq., Braumiller Law Group, PLLC 

5. Requestor's relationship to the product: 'Importer 

6. Does this submission in regulations.govinclude additional attachments? 

YES 

7. Please indicate whether any additional attachment contains business confidential 

information (BCI), is a public document, or is a public version of a BCI document. 

Public Document 

VERSION 1 CONTINUED BELOW 1 
B. Is this product, or a comparable product, available from sources in the United States?: 

NO 

9. Is this product, or a comparable product, available from sources in third countries?: 

'YES 

10. Please provide the value and quantity (with units) of the Chinese-origin product of concern 

that you purchased for each calendar year specified. Limit this figure to the products 

purchased by your firm (or by members of your trade association) alone. Please provide 

estimates if precise figures are unavailable. 

2017 Value: $227,778.24 2017 Quantity: 20,496 

2016 Value: $283,487.04 2016 Quantity: 25,824 

2015 Value: $337,559.04 2015 Quantity: 30,912 

11. Please provide information in support your request, taking account of the instructions 

provided in Section B of the Federal Register notice (note: text entered below can extend 

beyond the apparent size of this box). 

The submitter certifies that information provided is cornplete and correct to the best of his or 

her knowledge. Please see attached letter. 

VERSION 1 END 
B RAUMI LLE 

A IIIMIL" 

AMA LAW GROUP, PLLC 

INTERNATPONAL TRADE LAW 

Submitted Via WVVW.Requlations.Gov 

September 25, 2018 

Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, U.S. Trade Representative 

Office of the United States Trade Representative 

600 17th Street NW, Room F516 

Washington, DC 20508-0001 

RE: USTR 2018-00025; Request for Exclusion from the Determination of Action Pursuant 

to Section 301: China's Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, 

Intellectual Property, and Innovation Tariff Under Harmonized Tariff Code 

(HTS) 9032.10.0030 

Dear Ambassador Lighthizer, 

This request for exclusion is submitted pursuant to Federal Register notice published on July 11, 

20181, establishing the process to submit exclusion requests from tariffs applied to U.S. imports 

pursuant to the Determination of Action Pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974: China's 

Acts, Policies and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property and Innovation. 

We hereby respecffully request that the wall mounted thermostats imported by Braeburn Systems 

LLC (Braeburn or the Company), under HTS code 9032.10.0030 be excluded from the additional 

25% tariff imposed on this HTS code pursuant to Section 301. 

Explained below are the reasons why the thermostats meet the elements in the Federal Register 

notice to be excluded from the additional tariff under Section 301. 

1. Distinquished from other products in the 8-digit HTS code 

The subject thermostats are classified under HTS 9032.10.0030, "Thermostats; for air 

conditioning, refrigeration or heating systems; wall-mounted". The 8-digit code is only for 

"Thermostats; for air conditioning, refrigeration or heating systems". Accordingly, the subject 

thermostats, Braebum's Builders Value Series Model 2200NC, differ from other thermostats in 

this general 8-digit classification as these thermostats may only be mounted on walls. The product 

is distinguished from the 8-digit tariff description, as it is a 5-2 (weekday or weekend) day 

programmable wall mounted thermostat to control heat and air conditioning in the home. It can 

be either hard wired or battery operated. This model is compatible with conventional systems with 

up to two stages of heating and one stage of cooling, and heat pump systems with one 

compressor and up to one auxiliary state; and 250my - 750my millivolt heating systems. The 

thermostat has a bright blue backlit display and retains memory settings with temporary program 

override and programmable extended hold mode. This model has setting retention, adjustable 

temperature differential, and adaptive recovery mode along with a F/C° switch. The products 

dimensions are 3.72" x 4.75" x 1.12. See Attachment A for a description of the thermostat. 

2. The thermostats are currently only available from China 

Braeburn Systems LLC has established a strong relationship with its manufacturer in China. The 

manufacturer produces the thermostats according to Braebum's strict specifications and quality 

1 83 Fed. Reg. 32181 — 32184 (July 11, 2018). 

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control measures. Braeburn has now created a long standing, dependable relationship with this 

supplier as it has been working with this Chinese manufacturer for 17 years. In fact, the Chinese 

supplier, Computime Group Limited, is a 27% member of Braeburn Systems LLC. However, all 

products manufactured are under Braeburn's protected intellectual property. Generally, only 10% 

of the north American thermostat market is produced in the U.S., Canada, and countries other 

than China and Mexico. Accordingly, there are very few U.S. producers available that could 

produce Braeburn's thermostats and the cost would be much higher, in addition to the cost of 

changing sourcing. Although the thermostats could be made by entities in Mexico, to suddenly 

change Braeburn's sourcing to another country would take at least 9-12 months to establish the 

process and educate the new manufacturer on Braeburn's strict standards. Braebum has over 40 

different room thermostat variations. The Company can only move 5 to 8 models at a time due to 

constraints on engineering and manufacturing resources. This would require the entire effort of 

the Company to initiate and bring to a successful conclusion. Costs associated with moving 

production could be as high as $500,000 depending on need for new tooling, test fixtures or other 

related equipment to facilitating production at the new facility. 

In the meantime, Braeburn would be paying an additional 25% to import the thermostats thereby 

adding immensely to the company's cost. In total, Braeburn only imports approximately 

$1,200,000 to $1,900,000 per year of the subject thermostats from China. This imported value 

represents an insignificant amount of the $50 billion in imported goods from China that the Section 

301 tariffs are intended to address. Further, Braeburn is a small sized business, employing directly 

about 23 people. The additional burden of paying these tariffs for its imports is disproportionate 

to the size of the Company. The additional duties represent a heavy burden on Braeburn's ability 

to absorb the additional financial impact and still retain its level of economic viability. 

3. Severe economic burden to Braeburn and U.S. interests 

These thermostats represent one of the Company's most imported and highest-selling lines. To 

levy this large of an additional cost to the product translates to an additional cost of $2.5 million 

for every $10 million in material purchases on Chinese manufactured room thermostats. This 

would basically eliminate Braeburn's net income on the entire product offering for the entire period 

the tariffs are in effect. Further, the additional tariffs would severely curtail the Company's ability 

to develop new products, generate new proprietary intellectual property, source new customers, 

and maintain existing large volume customers. Eventually this would lead to reduction of the 

Company's SG&A budgets, elimination of numerous jobs, and reduction in its overall company 

footprint to offset the tariff impact. A truly "American made" company would suffer due to 

imposition of the additional tariffs. 

4. Relevance to "Made in China 2025" program 

The thermostats manufactured by the Chinese factory are made according to Braeburn's own 

proprietary specifications and patented technology. The patent for this thermostat was approved 

in 2006 and is attached to this request. See Attachment B. Braebum has experienced no breach 

of its intellectual property rights from this factory in its history of operation, and the Company 

would instantly lodge a complaint if such violation were identified. As the intellectual property is 

owned exclusively by Braeburn, it is not transferring any IP to the Chinese factory. There is no 

forced transfer of technology, which transfer is the focus of the Section 301 tariffs as discussed 

Page 2 

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WWW.BRAUM1LLERLAW.COM 
in the Section 301 report from the USTR.2. Further, the thermostats are not one of the ten 

industries which are the focus of the "2025" program. Rather, these industries include: 

(1) advanced information technology; (2) robotics and automated machine tools; 

(3) aircraft and aircraft components; (4) maritime vessels and marine engineering equipment; (5) 

advanced rail equipment; (6) new energy vehicles; (7) electrical generation and transmission 

equipment; (8) agricultural machinery and equipment; (9) new materials; and (10) 

pharmaceuticals and advanced medical devices 

There is accordingly no direct link between these relatively low volume imports of the thermostats, 

and the goals of the Section 301 tariffs to address the targeted industries in the "China 2025" 

program. 

Additionally, there is no joint venture between the two companies, and all intellectual rights are 

owned by Braeburn Systems LLC, a U.S. company. Braeburn's business relationship is not 

subject to any Chinese administrative policies which require the transfer of its intellectual property 

in any manner. Thus, penalizing a U.S. company whose intellectual rights are already protected 

by forcing it to pay additional duties does not further the U.S. government's policy regarding the 

"Made in China" initiative. In fact, the relationship between the Section 301 tariff goals and the 

actual impact in this instance is nonexistent. Applying the Section 301 tariff to the imports of the 

thermostats by Braeburn does not serve the purpose of the Section 301 goals but in fact 

contravenes the goals. 

In light of the above, Braeburn sincerely requests that its thermostat Braeburn's Builders Value 

Series Model 2200NC be granted an exclusion of the 25% Section 301 tariff. Importation of this 

product does not undermine the U.S. government policy toward the "Made in China 2025" 

program and would only be detrimental to the economic viability of this small sized U.S. company. 

Braeburn certifies that information provided is complete and correct to the best of his or her 

knowledge. 

Best regards, 

Digitally dgned by Adrienne Adrienne Braumiller 

DN.orr=Adrierroe Braumiller, 

o=Braumiller Law Group, PLLC, ou, 

Braurniller cemuasil=adrienne@braumillerlaw.com, 

Date: 2018.09.25 102g06 -05GO' 

Adrienne Braumiller, Partner. 

Trade Counsel for Braeburn Systems LLC 

2United States Officer of the Trade Representative "Findings of the Investigation into China's Acts, Policies, 

and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation Under Section 301 of 

the Trade Act of 1974, (Mar. 22, 2018); also found at: 

https://ustr.govisites/defaultifiles/Section%20301%2OFINAL.PDF. 

Page 3 

! • . TOCAS 75251 Oft-0140 348-9306 FAX (DM 71)-9304 T k.tRI-E (14)ii stm/ 

WWW.BRAUMILLERLAW.COM 
ATTACHMENT A 
Braeburn 

2200NC Up to 2 Heat / 1 Cool 

Conventional or Heat Pump 

5-2 Day Programmable Thermostat 

DAY 

It n n 

I L 'LI LI 

NEAT 

ILI 

• 

S YS TEM 

COOL OFf. I1E,AT EVERRROG NOLO 

FAN 

RETURN DAY/TIME AUTO ON 

0 0 3 

.erwACTUAL SIZE 

Features 

• 5-2 Day Separate Weekend / 

Weekday Programming 

• Bright Blue Display Backlight 

• Adjustable Temperature Limits 

• Hardwire or Battery Powered 

• Permanent Memory Retains Settings 

• Filter Check Monitor 

• Adjustable Temperature Differentials 

• Adaptive Recovery Mode (ARM-) 

• F° / C° Switch 

• Meets Energy Aware® Guidelines* 

2

YEAR , \ 

LIMITED 

WARRANTY 

• Low Battery Indicator 

• Separate 0 & B Terminals 

• Auxiliary Heat Status Indicator 

• ESD Guard-Electronic Circuitry 

• Compressor Short Cycle Protection 

• Temporary Program Override 

• Programmable Extended Hold Mode 

• Front Access Reset Button 

• Mounts to Horizontal Box 

BUILDER 

SERIES 

FREE Contractor Branding! Visit braeburnonline.com 

*As a licensee in the Energy Aware Programmable Thermostat Program, Braeburn Systems LLC has determined 

that this product meets the NEMA Energy Aware efficiency specifications for programmable thermostats. Visit 

www.getenergyaware.comfor more information. 

Toll-Free 866.268.5599 (U.S.) +1.630.844.1968 (Outside the U.S.) 
Y1 E/W1 G W2 

24 Volt AC Roversing Valve 

Transformer Heat Active 

0 

4 4 ' 

Revers ng Valve 

Cool Active 

Trans ormer 

Common 

Conven ional / 

Emergency Heat 

2nd S age Heat / 

Aux liary Heat 

Compressor Fan 

Control 

Braeburn 

Terminal 

Designations 

Architectural Specifications 

The digital programmable thermostat shall be a Braeburno model number 2200NC, 3.72" high x 4.75" wide x 1.12" deep, powered independently with 

either 24 Volt AC or with two "AV alkaline batteries (3.0 Volt DC). The thermostat shall be compatible with multi-stage conventional or heat pump 

systems with up to two stages of heating and one stage of cooling. The thermostat shall have a bright blue backlight display, front loading battery door 

and separate sub-base for trouble free installation. Temperature control range shall be between 45° and 90° F (7° and 32° C), accuracy of +/- 1° F 

(+/- .5° C), humidity range between 5% and 95% relative humidity. The thermostat shall include non-volatile memory to retain all user and program 

settings, adjustable temperature limits, filter check monitor, adaptive recovery mode (ARMn"), separate heating and cooling set point program times and 

temperatures, and auxiliary heat indicator. Thermostat shall have low battery indication and a front reset button will return user settings to default values 

when pressed. The thermostat can be mounted to a horizontal junction box. Meets Energy Aware® Guidelines. 

Product Specifications 

Dimensions: 3.72" x 4.75" x 1.12" 

Electric Rating: 24 Volt AC (18-30 Volt AC) 

1 amp maximum load per terminal 

4 amp total maximum load (all terminals) 

AC Power: 18-30 Volt AC 

DC Power: 3.0 Volts DC 

(2 "AN Alkaline batteries included) 

Compatibility: Conventional systems with up to two stages 

of heating and one stage of cooling; Heat 

pump systems with one compressor and 

up to one auxiliary stage; 250mv - 750mv 

millivolt heating systems 

Control Range: 450 to 90° F (7° to 32° C) 

Display Range: 40° to 99° F (5° to 37° C) 

Accuracy: +/- 1° F (+/- .5° C) 

Temperature 

Differential: 1st Stage - .5°, 1°, or 2° F (0.2°, 0.5°, or 1° C) 

2nd Stage - 2°, 3°, 4°, 50

, or 6° F 

(1°, 1.5°, 2°, 2.5°, or 3° C) 

Storage Temperature: 14° to 140° F (-10° to 60° C) 

Operating Humidity: 5% to 95% Relative Humidity 

Terminations: R, 0, B, C, Yl, E/W1, G, W2 

FREE Contractor Branding Available! 

Visit our website (www.braeburnonline.com) for more information, contact your 

local distributor or call our sales department toll-free at 866.268.5599 (U.S.), 

+1.630.844.1968 (Outside the U.S.). 

Shipping Information 

INDIVIDUAL CARTON 

Dimensions: 3 75" x 5.5" x 1 4" 

Weight: .45 lbs. 

MASTER CARTON 

Quantity: 12 

Dimensions: 9" x 4.25" x 11.5" 

Cubic Feet: .25 

Weight: 5.7 lbs. 

Braeburn 2200NC Replaces* 

Honeywell' TH2210, T8011, T8024 

Emerson" 1F72-151, 1F73-174 

'Verify specific application requirements 

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 

Accessories 

2950 Universal Wall Plate (6.5'' x 6.5" x .125) 

5970 Universal Thermostat Guard 

Date: 

Job Name: 

Location: 

Contractor: 

Engineer: 

Model No.: 

Submitted By: 

Submitted For Approval: Record: 

Braeburn Systems LLC • 2215 Cornell Avenue • Montgomery, IL 60538 • Toll-Free 866.268.5599 (U.S.) +1.630.844.1968 (Outside the U.S.) 

—• 

_ 

©2015 Braebuin Systems LLC• All Rights Reserved• 2200NC-300-07 
ATTACHMENT B 
111 I111111!(

!11,1.)11,11 11 11111 1111 

• Uqifrrii 1;ent 4 i-•;; 7, 2 7 . %8 

3,loore Date of Patent: f:* Aug. 29, 2006 

t5.4 OPENED mom., 2000 THERMOSTAT 

iftlenler (Glynn Mfiore. 11.10lilpiliciy. IL (US) 

(72.i Assiunce• nraehown SvcÌeurc 1J.C. h.lonigomer!;. 

IL MS( 

Vl lenn: 14 Years 

Primal). I.:Amalie,- Aritoioe 1). Dirk is 

(74) A wiraoy. :Non. l)r Firm flillis V. Allen. 

(371 (TA1M 

1 he nrnamenlal design for an opened «wile{ 2001) thermostat. Lli him n. 

113ESCRIN lt" 

(21 ) Appl. N(..: 29/240,2(13 116. i is a perspective vie..v rd the present opened model 

2000 

(2:1 riled; Oct. 0, 211115 Fici 2 is a front of the prisent opened model 200) 

t 1..0t• (i) (1. .. 10-04 thenntistat tfvsigit: 

(521 11.1.S. 1)111/50 116.1 is a iit4hi side icc. of the present (Toiled 11U-del 2111K1 

1$) 1it.lil tif Classification Search • 1,10!46 ihermostai design: 

236.46 1 ..47. -19 ?.. 51. g4. 4014155 11( 4 I.:: a leli side view of Ihe present opened mock) 20011 

Ihermtslal design: See application lile for compleie scarch history. 

F. is a top i ies eJ lhe present ccr..1]01 (wick( 200n 

References Cited illetiitïial deApn: 

116. 11 is a bunom N iet. cul ihe present opened model 2001) 

1:.S, PA-11:N l DOCIiikinNITS iberineKtai desien: and. 

flee. 11 »in 50 11(i. 7 is a rear vivw Ihe preseill opened model 201)0 

Anthorn el a I. 1)10 ihennosizil &sip 

'tinhorn ot ;t1 ))lCi41) 

einxi by examiner I Claim, 2 Drawing Sheets 

DiNfi950 i 12 1,),r7 

1)-1i7.N2 I N • 5 2002 

1)-r11.114 S 2 2001