HQ 955628: TT Systems, Inc.; Facsimile Switch; Telegraphic Switching Apparatus; Telephone; Switch; HQ 952366

Native CBP ruling rendition. Applicability is fact-specific; modification/revocation relationships and original publisher date are retained. Publisher sentinel year0001 means unknown date, not a historical legal adoption.

                            HQ 955628
                                                               
                        February 25, 1994

CLA-2 CO:R:C:M  955628 MBR

CATEGORY:  Classification

TARIFF NO.:  8517.30.50

Mr. Samuel Zekser
Sobel Shipping Co., Inc.
170 Broadway, Suite 1501
New York, New York 10038-0084

RE:  TT Systems, Inc.; Facsimile Switch; Telegraphic Switching
     Apparatus; Telephone; Switch; HQ 952366

Dear Mr. Zekser:

     This is in reply to your letter on behalf of TT Systems, Inc.,
dated November 19, 1993, to the Regional Commissioner of Customs,
New York, requesting the classification of the "Dedicator Facsimile
Switches," under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United
States (HTSUS).  Your letter was forwarded to this office for
reply.

FACTS:

     The "Dedicator Facsimile Switches," models DLE-100, DLE-200
and DLE-300, are intermediary switching devices that are situated
between a telephone line wall jack and a telephone, a facsimile
(fax), and/or an answering machine.  They are designed to enable
the user to share one telephone line with a telephone, an answering
machine, and a fax machine.  These facsimile switches monitor
incoming calls and automatically switch ths facsimile transmissions
to the fax machine.  Thus, they eliminate the need for a dedicated
phone line for a fax machine.  The DLE-200 is an improved version
of the DLE-100. The DLE-300 provides an added feature of an
additional jack for the connection of a modem.

ISSUE:

     What is the classification of the "Dedicator Facsimile
Switches," under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United
States (HTSUS)?






                               -2-

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

          The General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's) to the HTSUS
govern the classification of goods in the tariff schedule.  GRI 1
states, in pertinent part:

     ...classification shall be determined according to the terms 
    of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes...


     In HQ 952366, dated April 5, 1993, Customs addressed the
classification of two models of similar facsimile switches, called
the "Fax Detector" and the "ExtraLine."  They were designed to
sense a facsimile transmission (telegraphic transmission) and then
to switch that signal to the facsimile machine.  They enable a user
to share one telephone line between a fax machine, a telephone, and
an answering machine.  

     In that decision we cited the Harmonized Commodity Description
and Coding System Explanatory Notes (ENs) to the HTSUS, page 1362,
regarding telegraphic apparatus.  This EN states, in pertinent
part, as follows:

                   (II) TELEGRAPHIC APPARATUS

          This is essentially designed for converting texts or
     images into appropriate electrical impulses, for transmitting
     those impulses, and at the receiving end, receiving these
     impulses and converting them either into conventional symbols 
     or indications representing the text, or into the text image
     itself.

     Although this EN was not necessarily specifically written for
the instant types of telegraphic switching apparatus, we are of the
opinion that the facsimile transmission itself is telegraphic since
text or images are converted into electrical impulses and then
converted back to the text or image at the receiving end.  As the
court has stated, "[i]t must also be remembered that the tariff
statutes were enacted 'not only for the present but also for the
future, thereby embracing articles produced by technologies which
may not have been employed or known to commerce at the time of the
enactment * * *.'" NEC America, Inc. v. United States, 8 CIT 184,
186 (1984), citing Corporacion Sublistatica, S.A. v. United States,
1 CIT 120, 126, 511 F.Supp. 805, 809 (1981);  See also Davis Turner
& Co. v. United States, 45 CCPA 39, 41, C.A.D. 669 (1957). 

     Therefore, since the facsimile transmission is described as
"telegraphic transmission" for tariff purposes, and since the
facsimile switch provides the function of switching the facsimile
transmission, it remains Customs position that facsimile switches
are classifiable under subheading 8517.30.50, HTSUS, which provides
for: "[e]lectrical apparatus for line telephony or telegraphy,

                               -3-

including apparatus for carrier-current line systems: [t]elephonic
or telegraphic switching apparatus: [o]ther."

HOLDING:

     The TT Systems, Inc., "Dedicator Facsimile Switches," model
numbers DLE-100, DLE-200, and DLE-300, are classifiable under
subheading 8517.30.50, HTSUS, which provides for: "[e]lectrical
apparatus for line telephony or telegraphy, including apparatus for
carrier-current line systems: [t]elephonic or telegraphic switching
apparatus: [o]ther."  The rate of duty is 4.7% ad valorem. 

                              Sincerely,





                              John Durant, Director
                              Commercial Rulings Division