H332589

H332589 August 15, 2025 OT:RR:CTF:CPMMA H332589 NAH CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NOs.: 3926.30.50; 7318.22.00; 7415.21.00; 7907.00.60; 9405.91.30 Center Director Industrial and Manufacturing Materials Center of Excellence and Expertise U.S. Customs and Border Protection 726 Exchange Street, Suite 400 Buffalo, NY 14210 Attn: Roger Tsui, Import Specialist RE: Request for Further Review of Protest No. 3901-19-101591; Tariff classification of the light fixtures for certain recreational vehicles (“RVs”) Dear Center Director, This is in reply to the Application for Further Review (“AFR”) of Protest No. 3901-19- 101591, filed on May 22, 2019, on behalf of Patrick Industries Inc. dba Gustafson Lighting (“Protestant”), contesting U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (“CBP”) classification of various light fixture components for certain recreational vehicles (“RV(s)”) under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”). The subject merchandise arrived in one entry at the Port of Chicago, IL, on November 26, 2017. The entry liquidated on November 23, 2018, under subheadings 3926.30.5000, HTSUSA (“Annotated”); 7020.00.6000, HTSUSA; and 8302.30.6000, HTSUSA. Protestant asserts that all of the subject merchandise should have been classified under subheading 8512.90.6000, HTSUSA, which provides for “Electrical lighting or signaling equipment (excluding articles of heading 8539), windshield wipers, defrosters and demisters, of a kind used for cycles or motor vehicles; parts thereof: Parts: Of lighting equipment: Other.” CBP disagrees. FACTS: The articles at issue are nine components for lighting fixtures purportedly intended for use in RVs. By model number and description, the nine components are the following: • GS12139TY – The Protestant describes this article as “a decorative half ball finial used to tighten down glass or fabric shade.” The article is a brass half-ball roughly under half in inch in height and roughly three quarters of an inch in diameter. The article is internally threaded, and the threading is accessed from the flat face. The Protestant provided a picture of the article alone and affixed to a threaded fixture. • GS12374TY – The Protestant describes this article as a “decorative 5/16 [inch] hex back plate finial. A fixture base will mount over top of a back plate strap and then is tightened over a stud from backplate to hold fixture to wall.” The article is of zinc. The article has a rounded top and six flat sides in a hexagonal shape. The bottom is flat with a round opening in the center that allows access to a threaded interior. The article is roughly under a half inch in height and roughly three tenths of an inch to one third of an inch in diameter. • GS12200TY – The Protestant describes this article as a “decorative top cap used to aid a finial to tighten down glass or fabric shade.” The article is of shaped steel with a three- hundredths of an inch in thickness. The article is round and just under two inches in diameter and roughly half an inch in height. The article has a second raised circle in the center that is roughly an inch and a half in diameter and tapers towards the top with the diameter contracting to roughly between one and one-third to one and four-tenths of an inch. There is under half an inch hole in the center. The interior is hollow, and the bottom is open. • GS16101 – The Protestant describes this article as a “10 [inch] white marble acrylic lens to mount over a wall sconce base.” The article is of opaque white acrylic. It is a rectangular shape with dimensions roughly of 10 by 6.85 inches. The rectangle is bent into concave shape along its short edge. A hole is drilled at the center and one inch from the short edge for mounting. • GSM1078 – The Protestant describes this article as a “10.5 [inch] white marble acrylic lens with metal decorative cover-mounts over a wall sconce base.” The article is of opaque white acrylic. It is a rectangular shape with dimensions roughly of 10.5 by 3.3 inches. The rectangle is bent into concave shape along its short edge. A decorative rectangular grate of steel sits roughly centered on the acrylic lens. The steel grate is roughly 6.13 by 4.74 inches. • GS9107 – The Protestant describes this article as “egg shaped white swirl glass shade- houses incandescent or LED socketry and bulbs.” The article is pressed glass with an opaque, white-swirl finish. The glass is shaped into a hollow cone with the larger opening roughly 3.4 inches in diameter and the smaller side roughly 2.02 inches in diameter. The height is roughly 4.5 inches. The smaller side has a hole in the face that is roughly 1.05 inches in diameter. • GS9159 – The Protestant describes this article as “brown tortoise shell hand blown art glass shade-houses [for] incandescent or LED socketry and bulbs.” The article is pressed glass with an opaque, grey tortoise shell finish. The glass is shaped into a hollow cone with the larger opening roughly 4.75 inches in diameter and the smaller side roughly 2 inches in diameter. The height is roughly 5.2 inches. The smaller side has a hole in the face that is roughly 0.6 inches in diameter. 2 • GSG2010 – The Protestant describes this article as an “8 [inch] dome white swirl glass with center hole.” The article is pressed glass with an opaque white swirl finish. The glass is shaped into a shallow bowl that is roughly 8.625 inches in diameter and has a small hole in the base that is roughly 0.44 inches in diameter. The height of the bowl is roughly 2.9 inches. The glass is around 0.2 inches thick. • GSG2074 – The Protestant describes this article as an “8 [inch] dome white swirl glass with center hole.” The article is pressed glass with an opaque white swirl finish. The glass is shaped into a shallow bowl that is roughly 9.25 inches in diameter and has a small hole in the base that is roughly 0.44 inches in diameter. The height of the bowl is roughly 2 inches. The glass is around 0.2 inches thick. The Protestant alleges that “Gustafson sells only to the RV market, and designs, tests, and supports the use of its products in RVs only.” Further, Protestant states “six of the parts are used exclusively, and three of the parts overwhelmingly predominantly [sic], in 12-volt applications, i.e., for extra-low voltage lighting used in vehicles.” The Protestant filed this Protest and AFR on May 22, 2019, asserting that all of the subject merchandise should have been classified under subheading 8512.90.6000, HTSUSA, which provides for “Electrical lighting or signaling equipment (excluding articles of heading 8539), windshield wipers, defrosters and demisters, of a kind used for cycles or motor vehicles; parts thereof: Parts: Of lighting equipment: Other.” ISSUE: Whether the subject articles are properly classified under heading 8512, HTSUS. LAW AND ANALYSIS: Initially, we note that the matter is protestable under 19 U.S.C. § 1514(a)(2) as a decision on classification. The protest was timely filed, within 180 days of liquidation for entries made on or after December 18, 2004. See Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2004, Pub. L. 108-429, § 2103(2)(B)(ii), (iii) (codified as amended at 19 U.S.C. § 1514(c)(3) (2006)). Further review of Protest No. 3901-19-101591 is properly accorded pursuant to 19 C.F.R. § 174.24(b) because the decision against which the protest was filed is alleged to be inconsistent with rulings by CBP and involve questions of law or fact which have not been ruled upon by the Customs courts. Classification of goods under the HTSUS is governed by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI). GRI 1 provides that classification shall be determined according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative section or chapter notes. In the event 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. The 2017 HTSUS subheadings

Initially, we note that the matter is protestable under 19 U.S.C. § 1514(a)(2) as a decision on classification. The protest was timely filed, within 180 days of liquidation for entries made on or after December 18, 2004. See Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2004, Pub. L. 108-429, § 2103(2)(B)(ii), (iii) (codified as amended at 19 U.S.C. § 1514(c)(3) (2006)). Further review of Protest No. 3901-19-101591 is properly accorded pursuant to 19 C.F.R. § 174.24(b) because the decision against which the protest was filed is alleged to be inconsistent with rulings by CBP and involve questions of law or fact which have not been ruled upon by the Customs courts. Classification of goods under the HTSUS is governed by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI). GRI 1 provides that classification shall be determined according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative section or chapter notes. In the event 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. The 2017 HTSUS subheadings under consideration are the following: 3 

 3926 Other articles of plastics and articles of other materials of headings 3901 to 3914: … 7318 Screws, bolts, nuts, coach screws, screw hooks, rivets, cotters, cotter pins, washers (including spring washers) and similar articles, of iron or steel: … 7415 Nails, tacks, drawing pins, staples (other than those of heading 8305) and similar articles, of copper or of iron or steel with heads of copper; screws, bolts, nuts, screw hooks, rivets, cotters, cotter pins, washers (including spring washers) and similar articles, of copper: … 8302 Base metal mountings, fittings and similar articles suitable for furniture, doors, staircases, windows, blinds, coachwork, saddlery, trunks, chests, caskets or the like; base metal hat racks, hat-pegs, brackets and similar fixtures; castors with mountings of ba