Protest 1001-95-110855; mounts for telescopic sights ; HRLs087590, 088704

HQ 959098 July 30, 1996 CLA-2 RR:TC:MMC 959098 MMC CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NO.: 9013.90.20 Port Director U.S. Customs Service Building # 77 Jamaica, NY 11430 RE: Protest 1001-95-110855; mounts for telescopic sights ; HRLs 087590, 088704 Dear Port Director: The following is our response to Protest 1001-95-110855 concerning your actions in classifying and assessing duty on mounts for telescopic sights used with various models of "air gun" scopes, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Literature containing pictures of the subject articles was submitted for our review. FACTS: The subject mounts for telescopic sights are identified as the C mount part 230 0575 and the two piece C mount, part 230 0595. The subject devices are secured to an air gun and have a vice-like apparatus in which a telescopic sight is placed. The subject mounts are used with models 300, 400, 450, 500, 550, 650EP and 700EP of air gun sights. Protestant was directed to enter the mounts under subheading 9013.90.20, HTSUS, as parts and accessories for telescopic sights for rifles. Protestant asserts that the mounts are classifiable under subheading 9013.90.40, HTSUS, as other parts and accessories, because they are mounted on sights used for air guns. Protestant asserts that air guns are not considered rifles for tariff purposes. The entries were liquidated on September 29, 1995. A protest was timely filed on December 22, 1995. ISSUE: Whether an air gun is considered a rifle for tariff purposes? Whether telescopic sight mounts are classifiable as either parts or accessories of telescopic sights for rifles? LAW AND ANALYSIS: The classification of merchandise under the HTSUS is governed by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's). GRI 1, HTSUS, states, in part, that "for legal purposes, classification shall be determined according to terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes...." Chapter 90, HTSUS, provides for optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus; parts and accessories thereof. Heading 9013 provides for liquid crystal devices not constituting articles provided for more specifically in other headings; lasers, other than laser diodes; other optical appliances and instruments, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts and accessories thereof. In an effort to determine the classification of an article, the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (ENs) may be consulted. The ENs, although not dispositive nor legally binding, provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the HTSUS and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of these headings. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128, (August 23, 1989). EN 90.13, p. 1478-1480, states, in pertinent part, that: ...This heading also includes: ...(5) Telescopic sights for weapons, refracting or reflecting, presented separately; optical devices suitable for use with arms and mounted thereon or presented with the firearms on which they are designed to be mounted, are classified with the arm, see Note 1 (d) to Chapter 93... ...PARTS AND ACCESSORIES ...parts and accessories of apparatus or appliances of this heading remain classified here. As the subject articles are the mounts upon which optical devices for weapons will be secured, they are either parts or accessories and the heading describes them. GRI 6 provides that for legal purposes, the classification of goods in the subheadings of a heading shall be determined according to the terms of those subheadings and any related subheading notes and, mutatis mutandis, to the above rules, on the understanding that only subheadings at the same level are comparable. For the purposes of this rule, the relative section, chapter and subchapter notes also apply, unless the context otherwise requires. As the mounts are considered either parts or accessories to telescopic sights, they are described by subheading 9013.90, which provides for liquid crystal devices not constituting articles provided for more specifically in other headings; lasers, other than laser diodes; other optical appliances and instruments, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts and accessories thereof: Parts and accessories. The subheadings under consideration are as follows: 9013.90 Liquid crystal devices not constituting articles provided for more specifically in other headings; lasers, other than laser diodes; other optical appliances and instruments, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts and accessories thereof 9013.90.20 Of telescopic sights for rifles 9013.90.40 Other The issue of whether an air gun is considered a rifle for tariff purposes was addressed in Headquarters Ruling Letter (HRL) 088704, dated May 28, 1991, wherein it states that: An air rifle is described as "a rifle using compressed air or gas to propel a pellet or B-B from its barrel." C. Mueller & J. Olson, Small Arms Lexicon and Concise Encyclopedia (1968). See also Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary (1984). This description supports the meaning of the term "rifle" as used in the text of the HTSUSA.... Accordingly it is our view that the term rifle as used with in subheading 9013.10.10, HTSUSA, encompasses both rifles which operate by the firing of an explosive charge and ones which operate by compressed air or gas. See also HRL 087590 dated November 9, 1990. The word "rifle" for heading 9013 purposes includes both air and explosive propelled rifles. As such, the mounts are classified as parts and accessories of telescopic sights for rifles under subheading 9013.90.20. HOLDING: The protest should be DENIED. The mounts are classifiable under subheading 9013.90.20, HTSUS, as parts and accessories of telescopic sights for rifles. In accordance with section 3A(11)(b) of Customs Directive 099 3550-065, dated August 4, 1993, Subject: Revised Protest Directive, this decision should be mailed by your office to the Protestant no later than 60 days from the date of this letter. Any reliquidation of the entry in accordance with this decision must be accomplished prior to the mailing of the decision. Sixty days from the date of this decision, the Office of Regulations and Rulings will take steps to make the decision available to Customs personnel via the Customs Rulings Module in ACS and to the public via the Diskette Subscription Service, Freedom of Information Act and other public access channels. Sincerely, John Durant, Director Tariff Classification Appeals Division