Organization Name:

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

Requestor Representative:

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.

3.

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

4.

5. Requestor's relationship to the product:

CONTINUED BELOW

*

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 number associated with your product, see https://hts.usitc.gov/

1

7.

6. Does this submission in regulations.gov include additional attachments?

Please indicate whether any additional attachment contains business confidential

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

VERSION 1

Requestor Information

Requestor Name (Last, First):

PUBLIC VERSION
END 2

8. Is this product, or a comparable product, available from sources in the United States?:

VERSION 1

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).

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

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.

2016 Value:

2015 Value:

2017 Value:

2016 Quantity:

2015 Quantity:

2017 Quantity:

PUBLIC VERSION
1700 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Washington, DC 20006-4706

(202) 737-0500 (telephone)

(202) 626-3737 (fax)

www.kslaw.com

Stephen J. Orava 

Direct Dial: (202) 661-7937 

sorava@kslaw.com

October 8, 2018

VIA REGULATIONS.GOV

The Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer

United States Trade Representative

Office of the U.S. Trade Representative 

600 17th Street, N.W.

Washington, DC 20508

Docket No. USTR–2018–0025 

PUBLIC VERSION

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

Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation / Request For 

Exclusion From Additional Duties 

Dear Ambassador Lighthizer:

Honeywell International Inc. (“Honeywell”) files this request for exclusion from 

additional duties for certain microbridge board mount airflow sensors imported from China. 

This request is being made pursuant to the procedures announced on July 11, 2018.1

 

Honeywell is a U.S. manufacturer of a variety of products, ranging from HVAC 

accessories and work wear, to advanced aerospace technology. Honeywell operates production 

facilities in Georgia, South Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington, 

and it employs 46,000 people in the United States. 

1 Procedures to Consider Requests Exclusion of Particular Products From the Determination of 

Action Pursuant to Section 301: China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, 

Intellectual Property, and Innovation, 83 Fed. Reg. 32181 (July 11, 2018).

PUBLIC VERSION
The Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer 

October 8, 2018 

Page 2 

Honeywell invents and manufactures technologies that address some of the world’s most 

critical challenges around energy, safety, security, productivity and global urbanization. It prides 

itself in being at the forefront of blending physical products with software to support connected 

systems that improve homes, buildings, factories, utilities, vehicles and aircraft, and that enable a 

safer, more comfortable and more productive world. Honeywell’s solutions enhance the quality 

of life of people around the globe and create new markets and even new industries. 

Honeywell requests an exclusion from additional duties (effective from July 6, 2018 until 

one year after the publication of the exclusion determination) for imports of microbridge board 

mount airflow sensors from China. The microbridge board mount airflow sensors imported by 

Honeywell are not manufactured in the United States, and components with the unique 

combination of characteristics comparable to Honeywell’s microbridge board mount airflow 

sensors are not available anywhere in the world. Access by to Honeywell’s components gives 

customers a competitive advantage in their U.S. manufacturing and in their U.S. exports around 

the world. The additional details requested by your office are provided below. 

I. IDENTIFICATION OF THE PRODUCT SUBJECT TO THE EXCLUSION

REQUEST – MICROBRIDGE BOARD MOUNT AIRFLOW SENSORS

A. General Description

The product for which exclusion is requested is microbridge board mount airflow 

sensors. These sensors are used in a variety of medical and industrial applications to measure air 

or gas flows in items such as gas metering and leak detection equipment and respirators and 

anesthesia delivery equipment. 

This group of sensors all function using the same basic physical principle of heat transfer 

and employing a silicon chip design to detect the flow, amount, and direction of gases. 

PUBLIC VERSION
The Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer 

October 8, 2018 

Page 3 

The fundamental sensor element in these products is a monocrystalline silicon 

semiconductor wafer manufactured using semiconductor technology. Employing 

microelectronic mechanical systems sensing ("MEMs") technology, the sensors detect air flow 

over the free hanging bridge through the heat transfer that occurs over the self heating die.

These monocrystalline silicon semiconductor wafers are manufactured in the United States, and 

Honeywell retains control of this technology. Honeywell ships these wafers to China for 

packaging, an important but less technologically sophisticated process than producing the 

wafers. As a general matter, packaging a wafer allows the sensor technology to connect to and 

be integrated into a variety of products and systems through the addition of pins, threaded 

housings, and the like. 

These sensors are designed to be mounted on printed circuit boards (“PCBs”) or can be 

remounted remotely in the case of the Zephyr highflow series or AWM700 and AWM5000 

series. These sensors also consume relatively small amounts of electrical power. These products 

are designed for use in environments that do not involve extremes in conditions, such as 

temperature and corrosiveness. 

These sensors are compliant with RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) regarding 

maximum levels of 10 substances, such as lead and cadmium, and REACH (Regulation for 

Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals) in the European Union. 

These sensors are described in further detail in Honeywell’s Airflow Sensors Line Guide 

(https://sensing.honeywell.com/honeywell-sensing-airflow-sensors-line-guide-008150-7-

en2.pdf). 

PUBLIC VERSION
B. Specific Description For Customs Purposes

The following product description may be used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection 

(“CBP”) to administer the exclusion:

Microbridge board mount airflow sensors utilizing the physical 

principle of heat transfer and employing a silicon chip design to 

detect the flow, amount, and direction of gases. These sensors may 

only be mounted on printed circuit boards (PCBs). These sensors 

are compliant with RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) 

regarding maximum levels of 10 substances such as lead and 

cadmium and REACH (Regulation for Registration, Evaluation, 

and Authorization of Chemicals) in the European Union. 

C. The Applicable HTSUS 10-Digit Subheading

The microbridge board mount airflow sensors subject to this exclusion request fall within 

the 10-digit HTSUS subheading 9026.80.2000. This subheading provides for electrical 

instruments and apparatus for measuring or checking liquids or gases. 

II. COMPARABLE MICROBRIDGE BOARD MOUNT AIRFLOW SENSORS ARE

NOT AVAILABLE IN THE UNITED STATES OR FROM THIRD COUNTRIES

The Microbridge board mount airflow sensors are unique to Honeywell and produced

specifically to Honeywell’s rigorous standards and proprietary requirements. These Microbridge 

board mount airflow sensors are not commodity goods, and precise substitutes are not produced 

anywhere else in the world. As noted above, the underlying sensor technology is manufactured 

by Honeywell in the United States to the company’s proprietary standards and packaged to 

Honeywell’s specifications in China. Other companies manufacture sensors that are functional 

substitutes in a general sense only. 

PUBLIC VERSION

The Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer 

October 8, 2018 

Page 4
III. IMPOSITION OF ADDITIONAL DUTIES ON MICROBRIDGE BOARD

MOUNT AIRFLOW SENSORS WOULD CAUSE SEVERE ECONOMIC HARM

TO HONEYWELL AND TO ITS CUSTOMERS

 The imposition of additional duties would cause severe economic harm to Honeywell 

and its many U.S. customers in a multitude of industries, including those producing products for 

domestic and export sale. Honeywell alone would face millions of dollars in additional costs, 

and increased prices from the additional duties would undermine the competitive advantage of 

Honeywell’s U.S. manufacturer customers in the U.S. and critical export markets. Many of 

those U.S. manufacturers are already vulnerable because of unfairly traded imports and Chinese 

industrial policies. The imposition of additional duties will undermine U.S. industries’ access to 

high quality microbridge board mount airflow sensors necessary to preserve and increase their 

competitive advantage. Thus, imposition of the additional duties on imports of microbridge 

board mount airflow sensors from China would cause severe economic harm to both Honeywell 

and its numerous U.S. customers in a variety of industries. 

IV. AN EXCLUSION FOR MICROBRIDGE BOARD MOUNT AIRFLOW SENSORS

WOULD NOT UNDERMINE THE OBJECTIVES OF THE SECTION 301

ACTION

USTR should grant an exclusion for Honeywell’s microbridge board mount airflow

sensors because an exclusion for this product would not undermine the objectives of the Section 

301 action. The Section 301 action is aimed, in part, at combatting forced technology transfer of 

industrial significant technologies from U.S. companies to Chinese entities. With respect to the 

manufacture of Honeywell’s microbridge board mount airflow sensors, no advanced technology 

or technical know-how has been transferred outside Honeywell. The valuable technology and 

intellectual property involved in the design and manufacture of the silicon wafer remain 

PUBLIC VERSION

The Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer 

October 8, 2018 

Page 5
controlled by Honeywell, and imposition of additional tariffs on microbridge board mount 

airflow sensors would not impact China’s technology transfer practices. 

V. THE MICROBRIDGE BOARD MOUNT AIRFLOW SENSORS ARE NOT

STRATEGIC TO CHINA’S “MADE IN CHINA 2025” OR OTHER INDUSTRIAL

PROGRAMS

The specific products requested to be excluded are not strategic to the Made in China

2025 initiative or other Chinese industrial programs. The imposition of additional tariffs now on 

the microbridge board mount airflow sensors would not impact in any material way China’s 

policies, and such policies are more likely to be affected, if at all, by sustained, comprehensive, 

and multilateral efforts. Imposition of additional tariffs would, however, have a significant 

detrimental impact on Honeywell and its customers. Accordingly, increased tariffs would not 

alter Chinese policies, would increase Honeywell’s costs, and would decrease its competitive 

position. 

VI. CBP CAN READILY ADMINISTER THE EXCLUSION FOR MICROBRIDGE

BOARD MOUNT AIRFLOW SENSORS

CBP would be able to administer the requested exclusion because the microbridge board

mount airflow sensors are identified on documentation that does or can accompany the entry, 

which identify the components listed above. 

VII. IMPORT DATA APPLICABLE TO MICROBRIDGE BOARD MOUNT

AIRFLOW SENSORS

Please see the table below for quantity and value data for imports of microbridge board

mount airflow sensors originating from China over the past three years. 

PUBLIC VERSION

The Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer 

October 8, 2018 

Page 6
Year Quantity Value

2015 [ ] $[ ] 

2016 [ ] $[ ] 

2017 [ ] $[ ] 

VIII. CONCLUSION

For all of the above reasons, we request an exclusion from additional duties on imports of

the above-described microbridge board mount airflow sensors from China. Please contact us if 

you have questions about this submission. 

Respectfully submitted,

Stephen J. Orava 

Partner 

PUBLIC VERSION

The Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer 

October 8, 2018 

Page 7 
CERTIFICATION 

I, Robert Robinson of Honeywell International Inc., certify that the information 

contained in this submission is accurate and complete to the best ofmy knowledge. I also 

certify that disclosure of the information marked "business confidential" would endanger 

trade secrets or profitability, and that the information would not customarily be released to 

the public.

Date: __ O_c._+ __ 5_+e. __ .Q_o_1 __ %"_

PUBLIC VERSION