The tariff classification of semi-finished steel balls fromJapan

NY 860061 FEB. 25, 1991 CLA-2-84:S:N:N1:102 860061 CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NO.: 8482.91.0010 Mr. Robert S. Lawson Thomson Precision Ball Company, Inc. 37 Mill Street P.O. Box 68 Unionville, CT 06085 RE: The tariff classification of semi-finished steel balls from Japan Dear Mr. Lawson: In your letter dated December 5, l990 you requested a tariff classification ruling. ABEX, Inc., a subsidiary of Thomson Industry, produces ultra-high precision balls for use in ball screws and linear ball bushings. The anti-friction balls which your company imports are nominally ground "finished" grade quality suitable for use in ABEC 1 type bearings. However, in your application they are, in their imported condition, unsuitable for their intended end use. The imported steel balls serve more as semi-finished product than as ready-to-use parts. You state that the balls are purchased oversized to allow for further heat treatment, grinding, finish grinding, rough lapping and finish lapping operations. Finished products supplied to ABEK customers are, on the average, 33 times more precise than that which is imported. The applicable subheading for the imported antifriction steel balls will be 8482.91.0010, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for precision alloy steel balls for ball bearings. The rate of duty will be 4.9 percent ad valorem. It is the opinion of this office that the steel balls imported by your company would be considered "semi-ground" for the purposes of the current Department of Commerce anti-dumping investigation on ball and roller bearings. As such they would be exempt from the payment of dumping margins per the exclusions to this order, as published in the Federal Register of May 15, l989. Should you desire an actual scope determination on the applicability of this dumping investigation to your imported merchandise, please write directly to the Office of Compliance, Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Section 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177). A copy of this ruling letter should be attached to the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If the documents have been filed without a copy, this ruling should be brought to the attention of the Customs officer handling the transaction. Sincerely, Jean F. Maguire Area Director New York Seaport