December 10, 2009 CBP Bulletin Notice on Classification of Auxiliary Vehicle Heater Unit

Proposed revocation of rulings; proposed revocation of treatment. CBP is proposing to revoke two rulings on the classification of auxiliary vehicle heater units. Additionally, CBP proposes that this notice covers any rulings on this merchandise that may exist but have not been specifically identified. CBP is also proposing to revoke any treatment it has previously accorded to substantially identical transactions.

CBP states that any party who has received an interpretive ruling or decision on the merchandise that is subject to the proposed revocations, or any party involved with a substantially identical transaction, should advise CBP by January 11, 2010, the date that written comments on the proposed ruling are due. Furthermore, CBP states that an importer's failure to advise CBP of such rulings, decisions, or substantially identical transactions may raise issues of reasonable care on the part of the importer or its agent for importations subsequent to the effective date of the final decision in this notice.

Auxiliary vehicle heater units. The merchandise in NY J88055 is an auxiliary heater for an automobile. The heater unit is a self-contained steel heating device mounted on the wheel well inside the engine compartment. The unit circulates and heats engine coolant to preheat the engine and passenger compartment prior to driving in cold weather. The unit includes control electronics, a pump, and a combustion and heat exchange chamber. The merchandise in NY 859202 is the "Thermo Star" vehicle heater system, an auxiliary heating system used to heat and regulate heated coolant flow to a truck's cab, engine and fuel tank. The system does not rely upon the vehicle's engine for its source of heat. The complete system consists of the boxed unit with heater control module, cab mounted thermostat and function control panel, fuel metering pump with fuel filter, pickup pipe and fuel lines, solenoid control valve with check valve, exhaust pipe, wiring harness and installation kit and mounting hardware.

Both of these units operate by drawing fuel from the vehicle's tank into the combustion chamber. Simultaneously, the pump circulates cold engine coolant into the combustion chamber where a heat exchanger heats it. The hot coolant is circulated back through the vehicle's engine and HVAC heat exchanger. A blower circulates air over the HVAC heat exchanger, where it is then warmed, and the heated air is blown into the passenger compartment.

CBP is proposing to issue HQ 065718 and HQ 065720, in order to revoke NY J88055 and NY 859202, and reclassify the auxiliary vehicle heater units under HTS 8419.50.50 as "heat exchange units: other," rather than under HTS 7322.90.00 as "air heaters not electrically heated, incorporating a motor-driven fan or blower."

CBP proposes this change as a correction based largely on the Explanatory Notes (ENs). The Explanatory Note to heading 7322 provides that an "air heater" transfers the heat given off by combustion gases passing through it to air traveling along its outer surface. The vehicle's HVAC system then distributes the heated air through the vehicle. By comparison, the Explanatory Note to heading 8419 explains that heading 8419 excludes air heaters and hot air distributors covered by heading 7322 and covers machinery and plant designed to submit materials (solid, liquid and gaseous) to a heating or cooling process in order to cause a simple change in temperature. Here, the subject heater does not transfer heat via its heat exchanger to any air traveling along its surface, as required by heading 7322. Instead, the heater directly submits the vehicle's engine coolant to a heating process by circulating the coolant through the heater's combustion chamber, where the coolant is heated by a heat exchanger. The hot coolant is then re-circulated through the vehicle's engine and HVAC heat exchanger to preheat the engine and distribute heated air to the vehicle's passenger compartment. Thus, it is now the position of CBP that the heaters are classified as heat exchangers in heading 8419.

CBP now proposes that by application of GRI 1, the auxiliary vehicle heater units are classifiable under subheading 8419.50.50 which provides for "machinery, plant or laboratory equipment, whether or not electrically heated for the treatment of materials by a process involving a change in temperature such as heating: Heat exchange units: Other."

Proposed: 8419.50.50, duty-free; Current: 7322.90.00, duty-free

December 10, 2009 CBP Bulletin (Vol. 43, No. 50) available athttp://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/legal/bulletins_decisions/bulletins_2009/