Application for Further Review of Protest No 530123109507; Classification of removable cart shelves
Active· CBP ruling HQ H338600· Issued 2025-10-15
Ruling text
H338600
October 15, 2025
OT:RR:CTF:EMAIN H338600 PF
CATEGORY: Classification
TARIFF NO.: 9403.99.90
Center Director Consumer Products and Mass Merchandising Center of Excellence and Expertise U.S. Customs and Border Protection 157 Tradeport Dr. Atlanta, GA 30354 Attn: Neil M. Cohen, Supervisory Import Specialist RE: Application for Further Review of Protest No: 530123109507; Classification of removable cart shelves Dear Center Director: This is our decision regarding an Application for Further Review (AFR) of Protest No. 530123109507 filed on November 9, 2023, on behalf of Vista Retail Solutions LLC (Protestant) contesting U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) classification of removable cart shelves in heading 8716, HTSUS. The subject merchandise was entered on March 19, 2023 and classified under heading 9403, HTSUS.1 CBP liquidated the entry on November 10, 2023 and classified the merchandise under subheading 8716.90.50, HTSUS. Protestant asserts that the merchandise is properly classified in heading 9403, HTSUS, and specifically subheading 9403.20, HTSUS, which provides for “Other furniture and parts thereof: other metal furniture.” FACTS: The products at issue are removable cart shelves for use exclusively with mobile commercial carts for temporary store displays. The products measure 48"and 60" in length and 16" in width. The shelves are connected to the bar of the U-boat handle of the cart with a simple 1 We note that this protest also pertains to another entry, dated August 16, 2022. However, since the Center did not deny the protest with respect to this entry, this ruling only addresses the entry dated March 19, 2023.
slip over connection and are constructed of metal with non-stick bands. The carts contain locking castors to facilitate ease of movement and stationary positioning. The carts do not have handles or a means of securing items. The carts, which can fit up to two removable cart shelves, are used as retail displays for food, nursery and other household consumer products. They can be used both inside and outside the store. ISSUE: Whether the removable cart shelves are classified under heading 8716, HTSUS, or heading 9403, HTSUS. LAW AND ANALYSIS: Initially, we note that the matter is protestable under 19 U.S.C. § 1514(a)(2) and (5) as a decision on classification and reliquidation of entries. The protest was timely filed, within 180 days of liquidation. 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. 530123109507 is properly accorded to Protestant pursuant to 19 C.F.R. § 174.24(a) because the decision against which the protest was filed is alleged to be inconsistent with a previous CBP decision concerning substantially similar merchandise. Classification under the HTSUS is made in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRls). 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. In the event that the goods cannot be classified solely on the basis of GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRls 2 through 6 may then be applied in order. The HTSUS headings under consideration are: 8716 Trailers and semi-trailers; other vehicles, not mechanically propelled; and parts thereof: * * * 9403 Other furniture and parts thereof: Note 3 to Section XVII provides, in pertinent part: References in chapters 86 to 88 to “parts” or “accessories” do not apply to parts or accessories which are not suitable for use solely or principally with the articles of those chapters. Note 2 to chapter 94 states, in pertinent part, that “[t]he articles (other than parts) referred to in headings 9401 to 9403 are to be classified in those headings only if they are designed for placing on the floor or ground.” Statistical note 2 to chapter 94 states, in pertinent part: … the term “boltless or press-fit steel shelving units prepackaged for sale” refers to 2
steel shelving in which the steel vertical and horizontal supports lock together to form the frame for the shelving unit and are assembled primarily without the use of nuts and bolts or screws. Boltless steel shelving includes rivet shelving, welded frame shelving, slot and tab shelving, and punched rivet (quasi-rivet) shelving but does not include wall- mounted shelving or wire shelving units in which a wire deck and wire horizontal supports are integrated into a single piece. The Explanatory Notes (ENs) to the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System represent the official interpretation of the tariff at the international level. While neither legally binding nor dispositive, the ENs provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the HTSUS and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of these headings. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989). The EN to heading 8716, HTSUS, in relevant part, provides: This heading covers a group of non-mechanically propelled vehicles other than those of the preceding headings) equipped with one or more wheels and constructed for the transport of goods or persons. . . . The vehicles of this heading are designed to be towed by other vehicles (tractors, lorries, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, etc.), to be pushed or pulled by hand, to be pushed by foot or to be drawn by animals. . . . (B) Hand- or foot-propelled vehicles. This group includes: (1) Trucks and trolleys of various kinds including those specialised for use in particular industries (in the textile or ceramic industries, in dairies, etc.). (2) Wheelbarrows, luggage-trucks, hopper-trucks and tipping-trucks. (3) Food carts, buffet trolleys (other than the type falling in heading 94.03), of a kind used in railway stations. (4) Hand-carts, e.g., for waste disposal. The General EN to Chapter 94, HTSUS, clarifies the term “furniture” as follows: Any “movable” articles (not included under other more specific headings of the Nomenclature), which have the essential characteristic that they are constructed for placing on the floor or ground, and which are used, mainly with a utilitarian purpose, to equip private dwellings, hotels, theatres, cinemas, offices, churches, schools, cafés, restaurants, laboratories, hospitals, dentists’ surgeries, etc., or ships, aircraft, railway coaches, motor vehicles, caravan-trailers or similar means of transport. (It should be noted that, for the purposes of this Chapter, articles are considered to be “movable” furniture even if they are designed for bolting, etc., to the floor, e.g., chairs for use on ships). Similar articles (seats, chairs, etc.) for use in gardens, squares, promenades, etc., are also included in this category. The EN to heading 9403, HTSUS, provides, in relevant part: This heading covers furniture and parts thereof, not covered by the previous heading. It includes furniture for general use…other shelved furniture…and also furniture for special uses. 3
The heading includes furnitures for: (5) Shops, stores, workshops, etc., such as: counters; dress racks; shelving units; compartment or drawer cupboards; cupboards for tools , etc.; special furniture (with cases or drawers) for printing works. PARTS This Chapter only covers parts, whether or not in the rough, of the goods of headings 94.01 to 94.03 and 94.05, when identifiable by their shape or other specific features as parts designed solely or principally for an article of those headings. They are classified in this Chapter when not more specifically covered elsewhere. Pursuant to Note 3 to Section XVII, which includes Chapter 87, the threshold question is whether the subject shelves are not suitable for use solely or principally with the articles of those chapters. Specifically, we must first consider whether the shelves are not suitable for use solely or principally with a vehicle of heading 8716, HTSUS. Heading 8716, HTSUS, provides for “[t]railer and semi-trailers; other vehicles, not mechanically propelled; and parts thereof.” EN 87.16 further clarifies that the heading covers non-mechanically propelled vehicles equipped with one or more wheels and constructed for the transport of goods or persons. In this case, the cart shelves are used exclusively with mobile carts for temporary store displays. The mobile carts are not principally designed for the transport of goods or persons. The carts are used for storage and retail displays for food, nursery and other household consumer products inside and outside of a store. Although the carts can move, they have no means of securing items, nor do they have a handle for maneuverability. As a result, any “transport function” of the carts is subsidiary to their display and storage function. In view of the foregoing, the cart shelves are not suitable for use solely or principally with an article of heading 8716, HTSUS and are not classifiable in heading 8716, HTSUS. Therefore, the cart shelves are excluded from classification in heading 8716, HTSUS by operation of Note 3 to Section XVII. Since the cart shelves are not classifiable in heading 8716, HTSUS, we will consider whether they are classifiable in heading 9403, HTSUS, as “[o]ther furniture and parts thereof.” The HTSUS does not define “furniture” for tariff classification purposes, beyond establishing that it must be designed for placement on the floor or ground. See The Container Store v. United States, 800 F. Supp. 2d 1329, 1335 (CIT 2011). However, the EN to chapter 94 provides that furniture may include “movable furniture” that is used “mainly with a utilitarian purpose.” In view of this, the courts have held that portable articles are classifiable as furniture in heading 9403, HTSUS, so long as their predominant functions are utilitarian, in that they lend themselves to particular uses, rather than decorative or ornamental. See The Pomeroy Collection, Ltd. v. United States, 893 F.Supp.2d 1269, 1283-85 (CIT 2013) (citing Furniture Import Corp., v. United States, 56 Cust. Ct. 125, 133 C.D. 2619 (1966)). Consistent with these principles, CBP has classified various portable structures in heading 9403, HTSUS, as furniture where they perform utilitarian functions by, for example, displaying or securing lights, retail products, or other non-decorative objects. See, e.g., Headquarters Ruling Letter (HQ) 964916, dated July 27, 2002 (classifying wooden screens used as partitions in subheading 9403.60.80, HTSUS, as other wooden furniture); New York Ruling (NY) I89667, dated January 9, 2003 (classifying pop-up 4
display structure with light fixtures in subheading 9403.20.00, HTSUS, as other metal furniture); NY B80536, dated December 31, 1996, and NY 809309, dated April 17, 1995 (both classifying inflatable trade show display booth and office workstation designed to display products in subheading 9403.70.80, HTSUS, as other plastic furniture). The subject removable cart shelves, which are solely designed for use with commercial carts and for mobile metal store display carts, fall within the definition of furniture” and are classified in heading 9403, HTSUS, the provision which provides for racks, display cases and shelves.2 The carts contain locking castors to facilitate ease of movement and stationary positioning. The carts are used as retail displays for food, nursery and other household consumer products. They can be used both inside and outside the store. On their own, however, the removable cart shelves are not designed for placement on the floor or ground and do not provide utilitarian value in and of themselves. Consequently, the removable cart shelves cannot be described as other metal furniture of subheading 9403.20, HTSUS. We therefore must consider whether the cart shelves are “parts” of furniture. Here, the subject removable shelves are principally designed to be used with carts for storage and display of articles in and outside of a store. The shelves are connected to the bar of the U-boat handle of the cart with a simple slip over connection and are constructed of metal with non-stick bands. Once installed, they enable the cart to function as a display for food, nursery, or other household consumer products. Therefore, the removable shelves are parts of a cart, as noted above, are furniture within the meaning of heading 9403, HTSUS. In view of the foregoing, the subject merchandise is classified in subheading 9403.99.90, HTSUS. This finding is consistent with prior CBP rulings, including NY N329052, dated November 4, 2022 (classifying an aluminum wall for a data rack cabinet in heading 9403.99.90). HOLDING: By application of GRIs 1 and 6, the removable cart shelves are classified under subheading 9403.99.90, HTSUS, which provides for “Other furniture and parts thereof: Parts: Other: Other: Other.” The general, column one rate of duty is Free. This ruling does not address the applicability of any additional duties that may apply to the goods discussed herein. Likewise, duty rates are provided for your convenience and are subject to change. The text of the most recent HTSUS and the accompanying duty rates are provided at www.usitc.gov. Since reclassification as indicated above would result in the same rate of duty as claimed, you are instructed to ALLOW the protest as it relates to the entry discussed herein. 2 This is consistent with other rulings classifying substantially similar goods. See NY N233415, dated October 16, 2012 (classifying rolling metal racks, referred to as food service carts in heading 9403, HTSUS); NY N337081, dated January 3, 2024 (classifying a cardboard collection cart in heading 9403, HTSUS). 5
You are instructed to notify the Protestant of this decision no later than 60 days from the date of this decision. Any reliquidation of the entry or entries in accordance with the decision must be accomplished prior to this notification. Sixty days from the date of the decision, the Office of Trade, Regulations and Rulings will make the decision available to CBP personnel and the public on the Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) at https://rulings.cbp.gov/, or other methods of public distribution.
Sincerely,
for Yuliya A. Gulis, Director Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division 6
Source: rulings.cbp.gov — ruling H338600, retrieved 2026-10-12T05:48:33Z, republished verbatim. This digest is informational; only CBP issues binding rulings.