CIT Rules Electrical Laser Levels are not Surveying Equipment
In Agatec Corp. v. U.S., the Court of International Trade granted summary judgment to the government, agreeing that Customs correctly classified imported electrical laser levels used in construction projects and in landscaping of houses and small buildings in HTS 9031, a provision that covers "Measuring and checking instruments, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapteretc."
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Agatec argued that their imported laser levels, which emit horizontal or vertical beams of light to allow the user to locate level and plumb, were electrical surveying equipment, and as such would be correctly classified under HTS 9015, a provision that covers "Surveying ..., instruments and appliances etc." In support of this position, Agatec relied on an earlier CIT decision, in which the Court ruled that a specialized laser camera system used to measure topography and create images was both a surveying device and an optical instrument classified under 9015.
Customs relied upon a classification ruling letter issued in 2001 to another company covering an "electro-mechanical pendulum based leveling system." In that ruling, Customs determined that the leveling system was a device used for determining or adjusting something to a horizontal surface and classifiable under HTS 9031. The CIT noted that while it is not bound by any Customs ruling or interpretation, they may, in some circumstances, "claim respect" by the Court. In this instance, however, the CIT declined to accord deference to Customs' ruling letter, stating that while the items in both cases were similar, they were not identical, and that "it is inappropriate to apply Customs' findings in one highly fact-specific classification ruling to a different product."
The CIT then considered whether the equipment under consideration qualified as surveying equipment. The Court noted that every definition of surveying equipment referred to "the 'earth's surface' as a benchmark for the surveying measurements." The CIT found, however, that "Agatec's laser levels operate chiefly in a construction environment, and are not principally measuring positions relative to the earth's surface." The CIT stated that based on the product's "principal use," it was "obvious that Agatec's laser levels [were] not 'surveying' instruments." The CIT found that the equipment did, however, qualify as "measuring or checking instruments" and were thus properly classifiable under HTS 9031.49.9000.
CIT Slip Op. 07-92 (dated 06/06/07) available at http://www.cit.uscourts.gov/slip_op/Slip_op07/07-92%20revised.pdf