Temperature Screening Devices With IR Cameras Are 'Thermometers,' CBP Rules
Temperature screening devices that include infrared cameras are properly classified as thermometers rather than digital cameras, other optical appliances, or instruments measuring or checking quantities of heat, CBP found in a recently released headquarters ruling that instructed the port to grant an importer's protest.
Infrared Cameras filed the protest against CBP's classification of temperature screening devices it imported in May 2020. The devices are designed to provide readings of human body temperatures via non-contact face scans. They consist of an infrared camera, which provides a thermal image of a human subject; a visual imaging camera, which provides a visual image; and a temperature reference source, which delivers a consistent output of temperature as a reference point.
The infrared camera firmware converts infrared sensor data from the camera into a numerical body temperature value. The device will then trigger an alarm if it detects an elevated body temperature. The facial recognition firmware must detect a human face before it can provide a temperature reading and cannot provide a temperature reading if a human face is not present.
The devices were entered under the duty-free Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 9025.19.80 as “other" thermometers. CBP liquidated one entry under the duty-free subheading 9027.50.80 as “instruments and apparatus for measuring or checking quantities of heat, sound or light (including exposure meters) ... using optical radiations (ultraviolet, visible, infrared)," and Section 301 subheading 9903.88.01, which carried an additional 25% duty. CBP liquidated the remaining four entries under subheadings 9013.80.90 as “other" optical appliances, dutiable at 4.5%, along with subheading 9903.88.01 with another 25%.
CBP found the devices constituted composite machines, as they consisted of multiple machines that perform complementary functions, and that the machines worked in concert to carry out the principal function of providing a body temperature reading of a subject. Therefore, the devices must be classified as if they consisted only of the component that provided a body temperature reading of a subject: the infrared camera, the agency said.
CBP found that the infrared camera's firmware "acts as a thermometer by converting infrared sensor data from the camera into a numerical body temperature value." Because the complete composite devices must be classified as if consisting only of thermometers, CBP concluded that the entire device must be classified as a thermometer under HTS heading 9025.
In its ruling, CBP noted that Statistical Note 2 to Chapter 90 said that “For the purposes of statistical reporting number 9025.19.8010, ‘clinical infrared thermometers’ are devices designed to be used to check the body temperatures of humans and animals.” CBP found that the devices met the description of "clinical infrared thermometers" and were therefore excluded from Section 301 duties and secondary HTS subheading 9903.88.12.