CIT Finds Battery Powered LED Candles Classifiable as Lamps

Battery powered candles that include light emitting diodes (LEDs) are properly classified under heading 9405 as lamps and lighting fittings, the Court of International Trade said in a Aug. 2 ruling. The decision was the result of a Gerson Company challenge to CBP's classification of the candles after liquidation in heading 9405 during 2009 and 2010. The company contended that the merchandise is better classified in heading 8541 as "Diodes, transistors and similar semiconductor devices; ... light-emitting diodes" or 8543 as "Electrical machines and apparatus, having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter."

The goods are various models of Gerson "candles" and "tea lights" that use battery powered LEDs for illumination, CIT said. Gerson in 2009 at the Port of Kansas City, Missouri, took delivery of the disputed 27 entries, which were liquidated with a 3.9% duty rate in subheading 9405.40.80 as “Lamps and lighting fittings including searchlights and spotlights and parts thereof, not elsewhere specified or included; ... : Other electric lamps and lighting fittings: Other.” The company filed the lawsuit after four protests were denied by CBP, the court said.

The lights fall outside the scope of heading 8541 because of the other components beyond the LEDs, CIT said. "Gerson’s articles are stand-alone items, not components within larger systems, and they perform both decorative and illuminating functions that are beyond those of a semiconductor device or LED, whether or not 'discrete,'” it said. Heading 8543 is also wrong for the lights and Gerson's interpretation was too broad, it said. "While any electric lamp (or electric lighting fitting) may be described as an 'electrical machine' or an 'electrical apparatus' in a hyper-technical sense, the term 'electrical machines and apparatus' is not necessarily read so broadly, in the common and ordinary sense," the court said.

The explanatory notes to chapters 85 and 94 indicate that the Harmonized System "drafters intended for the class or kind of goods comprised of self-contained, independently-used furnishings such as electric household lamps and lighting fittings to be classified" in heading 9405, it said. Also, the lights contained in chapter 85 "either are not designed for, or are not designed exclusively or specifically for, interior illumination," CIT said. Therefore, the classification in 9405.40.80 is correct and the government's request for summary judgment is granted, the court said.

(The Gerson Company v. U.S., Slip Op. 17-96, CIT # 11-00225, dated 08/02/17, Judge Stanceu)

(Attorneys: Ralph Sheppard of Meeks Sheppard for plaintiff The Gerson Company; Amy Rubin for defendant U.S. government)