Fabric Imports Are Raw Materials, Not ‘Parts of Parts’ of Aircraft Braking Systems, US Says

Replying to an aircraft parts importer’s motion for judgment (see 2403110059) in a case that began in 2017, the government said that the importer's products are raw materials, not parts (Honeywell International Inc. v. U.S., CIT # 17-00256).

At issue are radial, chordal and web nonwoven polyacrylonitrile fabric segments cut to size for use in aircraft brakes. Importer Honeywell argued in its motion for judgment the segments should be classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 8803 for aircraft parts, not heading 6307 for “other” fabrics, as was determined by CBP. But the products are made up of textile articles, so they should be covered under the fabrics heading, the U.S. said.

It said they’re neither “parts,” nor “parts of parts,” because they can’t be used as a part of an aircraft braking system upon importation.

Instead, they’re raw materials that must undergo a “molecular transformation” requiring an “extensive” six-months-long manufacturing process to become carbonized preform, an intermediate product, the government said. It said this is done by Honeywall’s contractor, BAM, in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The contract between the two entities even refers to them as raw materials, it noted. And the cost of the fabric itself is only a fraction of the total cost of the manufacturing process, it said.

It said that at best, the fabric entries are “semi-manufactured products.”

Prior to processing, the government said, the products don’t possess the essential characteristic of aircraft brake parts.

The essential character of the aircraft parts is imparted by their stopping strength, friction capability, energy absorption capability and thermal properties, it said. Before undergoing processing by BAM, it said, the fabric imports have neither.

The U.S. also argued that even if the court does determine that the products are parts of aircraft, heading 6307 is more specific a basket provision than heading 8803. It called the latter tariff provision “extremely broad,” as it covers parts, and parts of parts, of “balloons and dirigibles; gliders, hang gliders and other nonpowered aircraft” as well as of “Other Aircraft (for example, helicopters, airplanes); spacecraft (including satellites) and suborbital and spacecraft launch vehicles.”

And it pushed back on Honeywell’s own “parts” analysis, saying that many of the cases it relied on were grounded in the U.S.’s prior tariff schedule -- the Tariff Schedules of the United States -- not the Harmonized Tariff Schedule.