H343962

H343962 December 1, 2025 OT:RR:CTF:EMAIN H343962 SKK CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NO.: 8543.70.98 Center Director Machinery Center of Excellence and Expertise U.S. Customs and Border Protection 109 Shiloh Dr., Suite 300 Laredo, TX 78045 ATTN: Derrick M. Logan, Import Specialist; Bernard Ash, Supervisory Import Specialist RE: UVC disinfecting device; Application for Further Review of Protest No. 1703-23- 115544. Dear Center Director: This is in response to an Application for Further Review (“AFR”) of Protest No. 1703- 23-115544, filed on April 17, 2023, by Liviliti Health Products Corp (“Protestant”). The AFR is against U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (“CBP”) classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”) of the “Paptizer UVC Sanitizer.” No sample was provided for examination. The AFR was forwarded to this office for review. FACTS: The merchandise at issue in Protest No. 1703-23-115544 is identified as the Liviliti Paptizer UVC1 Sanitizer (“Paptizer”). The primary function of the Paptizer is to sanitize certain medical equipment. The subject device is comprised of a plastic enclosure containing 40 individual UVC LED lights, heating element, temperature sensor, fan, and various control electronics. The Paptizer measures 11.89 x 10.59 x 6.06 inches and weighs 4.29 pounds. Items to be sanitized are placed in the machine’s cavity and subjected to UVC light and heat for the prescribed cycle time. Heat is used to dry items after washing and to maintain optimal conditions (i.e., humidity and temperature) for sanitized storage. 1 UVC LED sanitizers use ultraviolet C (UVC) light to disinfect equipment and other objects. The Paptizer user manual describes the device’s three operating modes as follows:2 • “Fast Sanitize” Mode (cycle time 3 minutes). • “Auto” Mode (cycle time 1-24 hours) “Fast Sanitize” mode followed by 60-minute “Smart Drying” cycle using internal fan and temperature control features. Sensors determine whether additional drying time is needed. Once drying is complete, the Paptizer switches to “Sanitized Storage,” which uses low light UVC LEDs. • “Fast Sanitize + Sanitized Storage” Mode (cycle time 1-24 hours) See https://www.liviliti.com/_files/ugd/2a5b17_f9d44e46778445bcad4d88c487ad2059.pdf (site last visited December 1, 2025). The subject merchandise was entered under heading 8419, specifically subheading 8419. 20.00, HTSUS, which provides for “[M]achinery, plant or laboratory equipment, whether or not electrically heated (excluding furnaces, ovens and other equipment of heading 8514), for the treatment of materials by a process involving a change of temperature such as heating, cooking, roasting, distilling, rectifying, sterilizing, pasteurizing, steaming, drying, evaporating, vaporizing, condensing or cooling, other than machinery or plant of a kind used for domestic purposes; instantaneous or storage water heaters, nonelectric; parts thereof: Medical, surgical or laboratory sterilizers. The subject entries were liquidated on March 17 and March 24, 2023 under heading 8543, specifically subheading 8543.70.98, HTSUS, which provides for “[E]lectrical machines and apparatus, having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof: Other machines and apparatus: Other: Other.” ISSUE: Whether the subject device is properly classified under heading 8419, HTSUS, as an electrical machine for the treatment of materials by a process involving a change of temperature, or under heading 8543, HTSUS, as an electrical machine or apparatus, having an individual function, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter? LAW AND ANALYSIS: This matter is protestable under 19 U.S.C. 1514(a)(2) as a decision on classification. The protest was timely filed on April 17, 2023, within 180 days of liquidation, pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 1514(c)(3). Further Review of Protest No. 1703-23-115544 is properly accorded pursuant to 19 CFR § 174.24(b), as this protest is alleged to involve questions of law or fact that have not been ruled upon by the Commissioner of CBP or his designee or by the customs courts. 2 Modes 2 and 3 are designed for use in clinical settings. 2 Classification under the HTSUS is in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (“GRIs”). GRI 1 provides that the classification of goods will be determined according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative section or chapter notes. If a good cannot be classified solely on the basis of GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRIs 2 through 6 will then be applied in order. GRI 6 provides that classification of goods at the subheading level will be determined according to the terms of those subheadings and any related subheading notes and, mutatis mutandis, to the preceding GRIs on the understanding that only subheadings at the same level are comparable. The following HTSUS provisions are under consideration: 8419 Machinery, plant or laboratory equipment, whether or not electrically heated (excluding furnaces, ovens and other equipment of heading 8514), for the treatment of materials by a process involving a change of temperature such as heating, cooking, roasting, distilling, rectifying, sterilizing, pasteurizing, steaming, drying, evaporating, vaporizing, condensing or cooling, other than machinery or plant of a kind used for domestic purposes; instantaneous or storage water heaters, nonelectric; parts thereof 8543 Electrical machines and apparatus, having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof: Note 2(A)(v) to Chapter 84, HTSUS, provides that heading 8419 does not cover “[M]achinery, plant or laboratory equipment, designed for mechanical operation, in which a change of temperature, even if necessary, is subsidiary.” The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (“ENs”) constitute the official interpretation of the Harmonized System at the international level. While not legally binding, the ENs provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the HTS and are thus useful in ascertaining the proper classification of merchandise. It is CBP’s practice to follow, whenever possible, the terms of the ENs when interpreting the HTSUS. See T.D. 89-90, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989). The EN to heading 84.19 provides, in relevant part: [T]the heading covers machinery and plant designed to submit materials (solid, liquid or gaseous) to a heating or cooling process in order to cause a simple change of temperature, or to cause a transformation of the materials resulting principally from the temperature change (e.g., heating, cooking, roasting, distilling, rectifying, sterilising, pasteurising, steaming, drying, evaporating, vaporising, condensing or cooling processes). But the heading excludes machinery and plant in which the heating or cooling, even if essential, is merely a secondary function designed to facilitate the main mechanical function of the machine or plant, e.g., machines for coating biscuits, etc., with chocolate, and conches (heading 84.38), washing machines (heading 84.50 or 84.51), machines for spreading and tamping bituminous road-surfacing materials (heading 84.79). * * * 3 As heading 8543, HTSUS, provides for “[E]lectrical machines and apparatus, having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof,” the initial determination is whether the subject merchandise is prima facie classifiable in heading 8419, HTSUS. Heading 8419, HTSUS, provides for “[M]achinery, plant or laboratory equipment… for the treatment of materials by a process involving a change of temperature such as … sterilizing….” Note 2(A)(v) to Chapter 84, HTSUS, set forth supra, states that heading 8419, HTSUS, excludes “machinery, plant or laboratory equipment, designed for mechanical operation, in which a change of temperature, even if necessar

This matter is protestable under 19 U.S.C. 1514(a)(2) as a decision on classification. The protest was timely filed on April 17, 2023, within 180 days of liquidation, pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 1514(c)(3). Further Review of Protest No. 1703-23-115544 is properly accorded pursuant to 19 CFR § 174.24(b), as this protest is alleged to involve questions of law or fact that have not been ruled upon by the Commissioner of CBP or his designee or by the customs courts. 2 Modes 2 and 3 are designed for use in clinical settings. 2 

Classification under the HTSUS is in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (“GRIs”). GRI 1 provides that the classification of goods will be determined according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative section or chapter notes. If a good cannot be classified solely on the basis of GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRIs 2 through 6 will then be applied in order. GRI 6 provides that classification of goods at the subheading level will be determined according to the terms of those subheadings and any related subheading notes and, mutatis mutandis, to the preceding GRIs on the understanding that only subheadings at the same level are comparable. The following HTSUS provisions are under consideration: 8419 Machinery, plant or laboratory equipment, whether or not electrically heated (excluding furnaces, ovens and other equipment of heading 8514), for the treatment of materials by a process involving a change of temperature such as heating, cooking, roasting, distilling, rectifying, sterilizing, pasteurizing, steaming, drying, evaporating, vaporizing, condensing or cooling, other than machinery or plant of a kind used for domestic purposes; instantaneous or storage water heaters, nonelectric; parts thereof 8543 Electrical machines and apparatus, having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; parts thereof: Note 2(A)(v) to Chapter 84,