National Oilwell Varco Request for Internal Advice; 19 C.F.R. § 177.11; Tariff Classification of PFT Hub and Cap System
Active· CBP ruling HQ H342446· Issued 2025-03-11
Ruling text
H342446
March 11, 2025
OT:RR:CTF:CPMMA H342446 CMD
CATEGORY: Classification
TARIFF NO.: 7307.93.3040, 7326.90.8688
Center Director Machinery Center of Excellence & Expertise U.S. Customs and Border Protection 109 Shiloh Drive, Suite 300 Laredo, TX 78045 Attn: Adrian Gonzalez, Jr., Import Specialist RE: National Oilwell Varco: Request for Internal Advice; 19 C.F.R. § 177.11; Tariff Classification of PFT Hub and Cap System Dear Center Director, This is in response to the internal advice request, dated July 31, 2024, initiated by Roberts & Kehagiaras LLP, on behalf of National Oilwell Varco, L.P. (“NOV” or “Requestor”), concerning the tariff classification of a “PFT Hub and Cap System.” FACTS: Counsel for the Requestor described the merchandise subject to this request for internal advice as follows: The merchandise at issue is part of the Yale® Closures line of products, consisting of a buttwelded hub and a threaded cap (the “PFT Hub and Cap System”) which is used in oil field applications to facilitate inspections or cleaning of piping systems, pig traps, and 1
pressure vessels. The PFT Hub and Cap System is capable of horizontal, vertical, or angled installations. The PFT Hub and Cap System is comprised of a Hub (a fitting with a blank end on one side and a threaded end on the other), a Cap which is attached to the Hub with a swing arm which is then secured to the Hub via matching threads, a pressure safety device (as required by ASME BPVC Section VIII Div 1 UG 351), and an O-ring. The merchandise may come hinged or without hinges. To install, the Hub is butt welded to the end of a pipe or pressure vessel, and the Cap is connected to the Hub via the swing arm, which is then threaded onto the end of the Hub. The threaded Cap can include additional features such as a chain, swivel, hinging arms, and bleeder ports with instruments. The System is delivered unassembled to a given job site. Counsel for NOV also provided information on the Hub and Cap System, including marketing material for the line of “Yale Quick Opening Closures,” which included diagrams and dimension data; a sample entry packet; invoices from the manufacturer; and a mill report from the manufacturer. The provided chemical analysis indicates that the hub and cap system is made of nonalloy steel. After a request from CBP, NOV later provided additional information on the manufacture and installation of the Hub and Cap System, which includes diagrams and pictures of the product in use. The manufacturing process of the hub and cap system includes machining of the raw forging. ISSUE: Whether the Hub and Cap System is classified in subheading 7307.93.3040, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (“HTSUSA”), which provides for “Tube or pipe fittings (for example, couplings, elbows, sleeves), or iron ot steel: Other: Butt welding fittings: With an inside diameter of less than 360 mm: Of iron or nonalloy steel: Other,” or in subheading 7326.90.8688, HTSUSA, which provides for “Other articles of iron or steel: Other: Other: Other: Other.” LAW AND ANALYSIS: Classification under the HTSUS is determined in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (“GRI”). 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 GRIs 2 through 6 may then be applied in order. GRI 6 requires that the classification of goods in the subheadings of headings shall be determined according to the terms of those subheadings, any related subheading notes and to GRIs 1 through 5. The HTSUS provisions under consideration here are as follows: 2
7307 Tube or pipe fittings (for example, couplings, elbows, sleeves), or iron ot steel: Other: 7307.93 Butt welding fittings: With an inside diameter of less than 360 mm: 7307.93.30 Of iron or nonalloy steel: 7307.93.3040 Other 7326 Other articles of iron or steel: 7326.90 Other Other 7326.90.86 Other 7326.90.8688 Other The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (“ENs”) constitute the “official interpretation of the Harmonized System” at the international level. See 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (Aug. 23, 1989). 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. Id. The ENs for heading 7307 state, in relevant part, the following: This heading covers fittings of iron or steel, mainly used for connecting the bores of two tubes together, or for connecting a tube to some other apparatus, or for closing the tube aperture. This heading does not however cover articles used for installing pipes and tubes but which do not form an integral part of the bore (e.g., hangers, stays and similar supports which merely fix or support the tubes and pipes on walls, clamping or tightening bands or collars (hose clips) used for clamping flexible tubing or hose to rigid piping, taps, connecting pieces, etc.) (heading 73.25 or 73.26)(Emphasis in original). The connection is obtained: - By screwing, when using cast iron or steel threaded fittings; - or by welding, when using butt-welding or socket-welding steel fittings. In the case of butt-welding, the ends of the fitting and of the tubes are square cut or chamfered; - or by contact, when using removable steel fittings. This heading therefore includes flat flanges and flanges with forged collars, elbows and bends and return bends, reducers, tees, crosses, caps and plugs, lap joint stub?ends, fittings for tubular railings and structural elements, off sets, multi?branch pieces, couplings or sleeves, clean out traps, nipples, unions, clamps and collars. The ENs for heading 73.26 state: 3
This heading covers all iron or steel articles obtained by forging or punching, by cutting or stamping or by other processes such as folding, assembling, welding, turning, milling or perforating other than articles included in the preceding headings of this Chapter or covered by Note 1 to Section XV or included in Chapter 82 or 83 or more specifically covered elsewhere in the Nomenclature. Pipe fittings are not explicitly defined in the HTSUS. The ENs to heading 7307 give some context when they explain that the heading covers fittings which are mainly used for connecting two tubes together, connecting a tube to another apparatus, or for closing the tube aperture. CBP has also defined a pipe fitting as “a small part used to join, adjust, or adapt other parts, as in a system of pipes.” See Headquarters Ruling Letter (HQ) H213699, dated July 26, 2013; HQ H076723, dated November 24, 2010. The ENs for heading 7326 make clear that the provision is a “basket” provision1, meaning that if an article is classifiable in a proceeding provision of chapter 73, it may not be classified in heading 7326. Therefore, if the Hub and Cap System meets the definition of a pipe fitting, then it is classified in heading 7307 and cannot be classified in heading 7326, HTSUS. The cap and hub system makes up a single pipe fitting consisting of two pieces, with the purpose of closing the aperture of a pipe. The hub and the cap combine to perform the intended function of the article and neither can be used separately to close the aperture of the pipe. The hub and cap system meets the definition of a pipe fitting, because once the hub and cap system is welded into place, the system is attached to the pipe and closes the aperture of the pipe. Additionally, the ENs for heading 7307 explicitly include caps as pipe fittings. Therefore, because the hub and cap system meets the definition of a pipe fitting in contexts where it is attached to a pipe, it is classified in heading 7307, HTSUS, according to the principles of GRI 1. Because the two pieces form a single pipe fitting and, when combined, function together, the two pieces function as a single article, and thus no essential character analysis is necessary. In their request for internal advice, NOV also asked for the classification of the hub and cap system when not connected to a pipe, i.e., when intended for connection to a “pressure vessel.” In New York Ruling Letter (“NY”) F87760, dated August 2, 2000, CBP classified a quick opening closure in statistical reporting number 7326.90.8586, HTSUSA, which provides for other articles of iron or steel, other.2 The closure resembled a hatch door and provided access to pipeline pig traps, filters, coalescers, separators and pressure vessels. This construction is similar to that of the hub and cap system and would perform a similar function when attached to a pressure vessel. If the intended use of the hub and cap system at issue here is not to be attached to a pipe, then it is, by definition, not a pipe fitting because it does not connect two ends of pipe, 1 Heading 7326, HTSUS, is a general heading or basket provision, as evidenced by the word “other.” See The Item Company v U.S., 98 F. 3d 1294, 1296 (CAFC 1996). Classification of imported merchandise in a basket provision is only appropriate if there is no tariff category that covers the merchandise more specifically. See EM Industries v. U.S., F. Supp. 1473, 1480 (1998) (“Basket’ or residual provisions of HTSUS headings . . . are intended as a broad catch-all to encompass the classification of articles for which there is no more specifically applicable subheading.”). 2 Statistical reporting number 7326.90.8588 in the 2000 version of the HTSUSA is 7326.90.8688 in the 2025 version of the HTSUSA. 4
nor does it close the aperture of a pipe. Because the hub and cap system cannot be a pipe fitting in this context, GRI 1 prevents its classification in heading 7307, HTSUS. Because there is no other appropriate heading for the hub and cap system when not attached to a pipe, then it must be classified in the basket provision for other articles of iron or steel, heading 7326, HTSUS. The non-pipe fitting use of the hub and cap system would fall into heading 7326, HTSUS, because it is not more specifically provided for in the HTSUS. In such instance, the hub and cap system is classified in subheading 7326.90.8688, HTSUSA. HOLDING: By application of GRIs 1 and 6, the Hub and Cap System is classified in heading 7307, HTSUS when intended to be attached to a pipe, and specifically in subheading 7307.93.3040, HTSUSA, which provides for “Tube or pipe fittings (for example, couplings, elbows, sleeves), or iron ot steel: Other: Butt welding fittings: With an inside diameter of less than 360 mm: Of iron or nonalloy steel: Other.” The 2025 column one general duty rate is 6.2%. When not intended to be attached to a pipe, the hub and cap system is classified in heading 7326, HTSUS, and specifically in subheading 7326.90.8688, HTSUSA, which provides for “Other articles of iron or steel: Other: Other: Other: Other.” The column one general duty rate is 2.9%. You are to mail this decision to the requestor no later than 60 days from the date of the decision. At that time, the Office of Trade, Regulations and Rulings will make the decision available to CBP personnel and to the public on the Customs Rulings Online Search System (“CROSS”), at https://rulings.cbp.gov/, and other methods of public distribution.
Sincerely,
Yuliya A. Gulis, Director Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division 5
Source: rulings.cbp.gov — ruling H342446, retrieved 2026-10-12T05:48:37Z, republished verbatim. This digest is informational; only CBP issues binding rulings.