H316742

HQ H316742 June 3, 2022 CLA-2 OT:RR:CTF:EMAIN H316742 DSR CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NO.: 8517.62.00 Linda Golf Assistant Center Director U.S. Customs and Border Protection Center of Excellence & Expertise, Consumer Products & Mass Merchandising Center157 157 Tradeport Drive Atlanta, Georgia 30354 RE: Internal advice request; Classification of Echo Show 5, Echo Show 8, and Echo Show 10 Dear Ms. Golf: Pursuant to 19 C.F.R. 177.11, this letter is in reference to a request for internal advice concerning the classification of articles described as the Echo Show 5, Echo Show 8, and Echo Show 10. We have considered the information included with the request, as well as supplemental information provided by the requester on August 12, 2021, and May 17, 2022. Our response follows. FACTS: The merchandise at issue consists of products named Echo Show 5, Echo Show 8, and Echo Show 10. Each product incorporates a main circuit board comprised mainly of an integrated microprocessor, random access memory, and flash drive/memory; a touch screen (to enable visual and touch interactivity); a camera; speakers; and an array of microphones. Those components allow the products to receive and process voice and touch inputs from a user (as well as record and display digital videos and images), and then transmit resultant data (requests) through a user’s connected Wi-Fi router to external servers. The servers interpret the transmitted requests and determine the appropriate signals to transmit back to the Echo Show products that would allow the products to perform myriad tasks that include, but are not limited to, the following: • Answer questions with answers found on the Internet • Place and accept VoIP communication calls with or without video • Stream movies and videos from Amazon or third-party on-demand service providers • Create to-do lists • Control home devices • Receive notifications • Set alarms/timers • Stream music • Play audiobooks • Provide current event updates • Order food • Provide weather forecasts • Provide traffic status The Echo Shows can also transmit control signals received from the external servers to otherwise independent devices that are connected to the same area network as the Echo Shows (and that can process those control signals), such as external speakers, cameras, and “smart” light bulbs and electrical plugs. ISSUE: Are the Echo Show devices classified heading 8518, HTSUS, as loudspeakers, or are they classified in heading 8517, HTSUS, as machines for the reception, conversion and transmission or regeneration of voice, images, or other data, including switching and routing apparatus? LAW AND ANALYSIS: Classification under the HTSUS is determined in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRIs). GRI 1 provides that the classification of goods shall be determined according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative section or chapter notes. If the goods cannot be classified solely based on GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRIs 2 through 6 may then be applied in order. In addition, in interpreting the HTSUS, the Explanatory Notes (ENs) of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System may be utilized. The ENs, although not dispositive or legally binding, provide a commentary on the scope of each heading, and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of the HTSUS. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127 (August 23, 1989). The HTSUS provisions under consideration in this ruling are as follows: 8517 Telephone sets, including telephones for cellular networks or for other wireless networks; other apparatus for the transmission or reception of voice, images or other data, including apparatus for communication in a wired or wireless network (such as a local or wide area network), other than transmission or reception apparatus of heading 8443, 8525, 8527 or 8528; parts thereof: . . . Other apparatus for transmission or reception of voice, images or other data, including apparatus for communication in a wired or wireless network (such as a local or wide area network): . . . 8517.62.00 Machines for the reception, conversion and transmission or regeneration of voice, images or other data, including switching and routing apparatus * * * * 8518 Microphones and stands therefor; loudspeakers, whether or not mounted in their enclosures; headphones and earphones, whether or not combined with a microphone, and sets consisting of a microphone and one or more loudspeakers; audio-frequency electric amplifiers; electric sound amplifier sets; parts thereof: . . . Loudspeakers, whether or not mounted in their enclosures: . . . 8518.21.00 Single loudspeakers, mounted in their enclosures 8518.22.00 Multiple loudspeakers, mounted in the same enclosure * * * As an initial matter, we note that the Echo Show models, and their associated power cords and user manuals, are classified as “sets” pursuant to GRI 3(b), because the Echo Shows, power cords and user manuals are imported packaged together for retail sale and are classifiable in different headings, are “put up together” to enable a user to power and operate the Echo Shows, and are offered for sale directly to purchasers without repacking. See EN (X) to GRI 3(b). There can be no dispute that the Echo Shows impart the essential character of the sets, because they are the dominant component articles in relation to the power cords and user manuals. They are also the reason why a consumer would purchase the sets. Consequently, in accord with GRI 3(b), the sets are classified as if consisting only of the Echo Shows. We also call attention to Note 3 to Section XVI, HTSUS, which contains instructions pertaining to the classification of composite machines. Note 3 to Section XVI, HTSUS, states: Unless the context otherwise requires, composite machines consisting of two or more machines fitted together to form a whole and other machines designed for the purpose of performing two or more complementary or alternative functions are to be classified as if consisting only that component or as being that machine which performs the principal function. The ENs to Section XVI, provide, in relevant part, as follows: (VI) MULTI-FUNCTION MACHINES AND COMPOSITE MACHINES (Section Note 3) In general, multi-function machines are classified according to the principal function of the machine. … Composite machines consisting of two or more machines or appliances of different kinds, fitted together to form a whole, consecutively or simultaneously performing separate functions which are generally complementary and are described in different headings of Section XVI, are also classified according to the principal function of the composite machine. … For the purposes of the above provisions, machines of different kinds are taken to be fitted together to form a whole when incorporated one in the other or mounted one on the other, or mounted on a common base or frame or in a common housing. Here, the Echo Shows’ components (which are in and of themselves “machines”), perform separate but complementary functions described in different headings of Section XVI, HTSUS. The integrated chips and processors receive and process voice and touch commands from a user, and then transmit resultant data requests through a user’s connected Wi-Fi router to AWS servers and servers of third-party on-demand service providers. Those external servers interpret the transmitted requests and send the appropriate data signals back to the Echo Shows, where they are processed by the device’s integrated chips and processors to accomplish a task listed supra or signal an external device to do so. Circuitry within the Echo Shows can convert data into electrical current that is conveyed to the Echo Shows’ incorporated speakers. The incorporated speakers produce sound by converting that electric current into sound waves. The integrated microphone array can receive audible comman

Classification under the HTSUS is determined in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRIs). GRI 1 provides that the classification of goods shall be determined according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative section or chapter notes. If the goods cannot be classified solely based on GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRIs 2 through 6 may then be applied in order. In addition, in interpreting the HTSUS, the Explanatory Notes (ENs) of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System may be utilized. The ENs, although not dispositive or legally binding, provide a commentary on the scope of each heading, and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of the HTSUS. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127 (August 23, 1989). The HTSUS provisions under consideration in this ruling are as follows:8517 Telephone sets, including telephones for cellular networks or for other wireless networks; other apparatus for the transmission or reception of voice, images or other data, including apparatus for communication in a wired or wireless network (such as a local or wide area network), other than transmission or reception apparatus of heading 8443, 8525, 8527 or 8528; parts thereof: . . . Other apparatus for transmission or reception of voice, images or other data, including apparatus for communication in a wired or wireless network (such as a local or wide area network): . . . 8517.62.00 Machines for the reception, conversion and transmission or regeneration of voice, images or other data, including switching and routing apparatus* * * *8518 Microphones and stands therefor; loudspeakers, whether or not mounted in their enclosures; headphones and earphones, whether or not combined with a microphone, and sets consisting of a microphone and one or more loudspeakers; audio-frequency electric amplifiers; electric sound amplifier sets; parts thereof: . . . Loudspeakers, whether or n