HQ 087408: Finned Copper Tube; Pipe; Gilled; Ridged; Grooved; Hollow Profiles

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 087408

                       September 26, 1990

CLA-2  CO:R:C:G  087408  CMS

CATEGORY: Classification

TARIFF NO.: 7407.10.10

Mr. Richard Carbonaro
Aspen Forwarders & Custom
House Brokers, Inc.
130 Church Street
New York, New York  10007

RE: Finned Copper Tube; Pipe; Gilled; Ridged; Grooved;
    Hollow Profiles


Dear Mr. Carbonaro,

     Your request dated May 25, 1990, on behalf of Wieland
America, Ltd., for a classification ruling on certain finned
tube has been forwarded by the Regional Commissioner of Customs,
New York to Customs Headquarters for a reply.  Our ruling
follows:

FACTS:

     The product brochure submitted with the ruling request
describes the merchandise as "GEWA-H Finned Tubes".  The
tubular articles are made of 100% copper and have a continuous
roll-formed ridge spiraling circumferentially along the external
length of the tube.  The ridges, or "fins", increase the surface
area of the tubes and improve the tubes' thermal transfer
quality.  The tubes have various heating and cooling
applications including use in power plant cooling towers, gas-
fired and condensing boilers, chemical engineering gas heaters
and automotive engine oil and air coolers.

      The tubes are manufactured in lengths up to 12 meters.  The
product brochure states that the tubes are offered in various
fin sizes, ranging in fin height from 10mm to 15mm, fin pitch
from 2.2mm to 5.1mm, and mean fin thickness from approximately
.40mm to .65mm.

                               -2-

ISSUE:

     Is the merchandise classified as copper profiles in Heading
7407, or as copper tubes and pipes in Heading 7411?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     Chapter 74 Note 1(h) defines "[t]ubes and pipes" in
pertinent part as follows:


     (h)  Tubes and pipes

          Hollow products, coiled or not, which have a uniform
          cross section...and which have a uniform wall
          thickness. (emphasis added)


     The tubes under consideration have a uniform cross section.
However, they do not conform to the Chapter 74 Note 1(h)
definition of tubes or pipes because they do not have a "uniform
wall thickness".  The wall thickness for a section of the tube
from which a fin protrudes is substantially larger than the wall
thickness where there is no fin.  Additionally, the sections of
the tube outer surface between the fins are in the shape of a
shallow "U", resulting in a further non-uniform wall thickness.

     The finned tubes meet the definition of copper profiles
defined in Chapter 74 Note 1 (e) which provides in pertinent
part:


     (e)  Profiles

          Rolled, extruded, drawn, forged or formed products,
          coiled or not, of a uniform cross section along their
          whole length, which do not conform to any of the
          definitions of bars, rods, wire, plates, sheets,
          strip, foil, tubes or pipes.


     Further support for the classification of the finned tubes
as copper profiles is found in the Explanatory Notes to Heading
7407.  The Explanatory Notes, p. 1046 provide that Heading 7407
"...covers hollow profiles including finned or gilled tubes and
pipes obtained by extrusion."  The tubes under consideration are
finned tubes.  The American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM)
specifications, B359, p. 574, paragraph 3.1.1.3, defines "tube,
                               -3-

heat exchanger with integral fins" as follows:


     a tube having a series of metallic ribs on the outside
     or inside surface either parallel to the longitudinal
     axis or circumferentially extended from the tube to
     increase the effective surface area for heat transfer
     applications...


The reference to finned tubes in the Explanatory Notes to Heading
7407 is illustrative, not restrictive, and finned tube is not
excluded from Heading 7407 merely because it might not be
obtained by extrusion.   The type of finned tube which is not
classified in Heading 7407, as illustrated by the Explanatory
Notes, p. 1046, is tube "...to which fins or gills have been
attached, e.g., by welding..." (emphasis added).  The fins on
the tubes under consideration are roll-formed.  The tubes are not
similar to tubes to which the fins have been attached, e.g., by
welding.

     The GEWA-H Finned Tubes are classified as copper profiles of
refined copper, in 7407.10.10, HTSUSA.

HOLDING:

     The GEWA-H Finned Tubes are classified as copper profiles of
refined copper, in 7407.10.10, HTSUSA.






                                   Sincerely,






                                   John Durant, Director
                                   Commercial Rulings Division