CAFC Says Locking Pliers Classifiable as Pliers in Tariff Schedule, Says Use Not a Consideration
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on April 8 affirmed a lower court ruling that held locking pliers imported by Irwin Industrial Tool Company are classifiable as pliers, not as wrenches. Though the government contended the locking pliers are best suited for wrenching, the Federal Circuit ruled use should not be a factor in their classification, because the relevant tariff provisions specifically refer by name to hand tools that have the characteristics of pliers and wrenches.
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The tariff headings for pliers and wrenches “are unlike provisions for which we have considered use,” CAFC said. “Neither heading contains terms that we have interpreted to signal use provisions,” such as “of a kind” or “preparations therefor,” it said.
Though CAFC had found use a factor in some “eo nomine” (i.e., by name) tariff provisions in a case involving GRK wood screws (see 14080420), that case was not brought up in the Federal Circuit’s opinion. Judge Jimmie Reyna, who dissented from that opinion and subsequently wrote another limiting its effects (see 1803210069), sat on the three-judge panel that decided this case. The government had raised the GRK case in its arguments before the Court of International Trade (see 1704130035).
“To be sure, design elements for both pliers and wrenches support their specific uses,” the Federal Circuit said. “Wrenches have jaws or sockets, for example, that allow them to be used to hold and turn nuts or fasteners. Similarly, pliers have jaws that allow a user to grasp an object.” But “the language of the particular headings here does not imply that use or design is a defining characteristic,” it said. For example, industry standards describe pliers and wrenches in terms of their physical features, not their use, CAFC said.
Adopting the Court of International Trade’s definitions for wrenches and pliers (see 1709210048), the Federal Circuit found that the locking pliers imported by Irwin are classifiable as pliers under tariff schedule heading 8203.
Wrenches are “a hand tool that has a head with jaws or sockets having surfaces adapted to snugly or exactly fit and engage the head of a fastener (such as a bolt-head or nut) and a frame with a singular handle with which to leverage hand pressure to turn the fastener without damaging the fastener’s head.” Pliers are “a versatile hand tool with two handles and two jaws that are flat or serrated and are on a pivot, which must be squeezed together to enable the tool to grasp an object,” the Federal Circuit said.
The government agreed that under those definitions, Irwin’s locking pliers are classifiable as pliers, not wrenches, the Federal Circuit said.
(Irwin Industrial Tool Company v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 2018-1215, dated 04/09/19, Judges Lourie, Mayer and Reyna)
(Attorneys: Frances Hadfield of Crowell & Moring for plaintiff-appellee Irwin Industrial Tool Company; Matthew Glover for defendant-appellant U.S. government)