Oxygen sensors for vehicle exhaust systems classified under measuring or checking instruments, not chemical analysis instruments.

Oxygen sensors imported for automobile exhaust systems were held not to fall under Chapter Heading 9027 because they are detecting devices and do not themselves perform physical or chemical analysis, nor do they match the illustrative measuring or checking instruments listed there. They were treated as components used in apparatus for regulating vehicle motors and ascertaining carburettor settings by analysing exhaust gases, consistent with the HSN Explanatory Notes to Chapter Heading 9031. A cited foreign customs opinion was disregarded as non-binding and factually different, and the earlier Pentax Engineering view supported the conclusion that a sensor by itself is not classifiable under Chapter Heading 9027.

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Issues: Whether oxygen sensors imported for automobile exhaust systems were classifiable under Chapter Heading 9027 as instruments or apparatus for physical or chemical analysis, or under Chapter Heading 9031 as other measuring or checking instruments.

Analysis: Oxygen sensors are detecting devices which do not themselves perform physical or chemical analysis and do not fall within the illustrative items mentioned under Chapter Heading 9027. They also do not answer the description of instruments for measuring or checking viscosity, porosity, expansion, surface tension, heat, sound or light. The sensors were treated as components used in apparatus for regulating vehicle motors and ascertaining carburettor setting by analysing exhaust gases, which is consistent with the HSN Explanatory Notes under Chapter Heading 9031. The cited foreign customs opinion was not binding and concerned different goods. The earlier decision in Pentax Engineering supported the view that a sensor by itself is not classifiable under Chapter Heading 9027.

Conclusion: The goods were not classifiable under Chapter Heading 9027 and were appropriately classifiable under Chapter Heading 9031.

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