CLA-2 CO:R:C:T 088968 jlj
Mr. Louis Shoichet
Siegel, Mandel & Davidson, P. C.
One Whitehall Street
New York, New York 10004
RE: Classification of a dust cover; Heading 6307; Applicability
of subheading 9802.00.80
Dear Mr. Shoichet:
In your letter of March 4, 1991, you requested a tariff
classification ruling under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the
United States Annotated (HTSUSA) for a textile dust cover
imported from Honduras or Mexico on behalf of your client,
Durafab Inc. of Cleburne, Texas. You also asked whether
subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUSA, would apply to the dust cover.
In addition, you requested information about country of
origin marking requirements for this product. Your marking
questions will be answered in a separate letter to be issued by
the Value and Marking Branch.
You submitted a sample along with your letter. This sample
is being returned to you as you requested.
FACTS:
The merchandise at issue is a dust cover for a respirator
mouthpiece. It is made of 100 percent United States origin
"Tyvek" material. ("Tyvek" is a nonwoven fabric consisting of
spunbonded olefin, a synthetic fiber made by Du Pont.) The dust
cover is designed to protect the mouthpiece component of a
cartridge filter respirator from contamination by dust, dirt or
other airborne contaminants during storage, shipping or handling.
The "Tyvek" material is exported from the United States in
condition ready for assembly, as pre-cut rectangular pieces
measuring approximately 6 inches in length.
The assembly operation consists of folding the material in
half and sewing the two sides together to form a bag. The bag is
then turned so that the seams are on the inside. Elastic is
sewn around the opening of the bag. The assembly process will
take place in Honduras or Mexico.
ISSUES:
(1) What is the HTSUSA classification for the instant
merchandise?
(2) Will the dust covers qualify for the partial exemption
available under subheading 9802.0080, HTSUSA, when returned to
the United States?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Classification of merchandise under the HTSUSA is in
accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRIs), taken
in order. GRI 1 provides that classification shall be according
to the terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter
notes.
The Explanatory Notes are the official international
interpretation of the tariff. The Explanatory Notes to Heading
6307 state that the heading covers made up articles of any
textile material which are not included more specifically in
other headings of Section XI or elsewhere in the Nomenclature.
Note 7(d) of Section XI, HTSUSA, defines "made up" to mean
"cut to size and having undergone a process of drawn thread
work." The instant merchandise is cut to size in the United
States and then exported to Honduras or Mexico, where it is
folded in half and the two sides are sewn together to form a bag.
The bag is then turned inside out, and elastic is sewn around its
opening. In view of this assembly process, the merchandise is
"made up" for purposes of Heading 6307.
The dust cover is not more specifically described elsewhere
in the tariff, therefore it is classified in Heading 6307.
Subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUSA, provides a partial duty
exemption for:
Articles assembled in whole or in part of fabricated
components, the product of the United States, which
were (a) exported in condition ready for assembly
without further fabrication, (b) have not lost their
physical identity in such articles in form, shape, or
otherwise, and (c) have not been advanced in value or
improved in condition abroad except by operations
incidental to the assembly process, such as cleaning,
lubricating and painting.
All three requirements of subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUSA, must be
satisfied before a component may receive a duty allowance. An
article entered under this tariff provision is subject to duty
upon the full cost or value of the imported assembled article,
less the cost or value of the U. S. components therein, upon
compliance with the documentary requirements of section 10.24,
Customs Regulations (10 CFR 10.24).
Section 10.14, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 10.14 (a)),
states in part that:
The components must be in condition ready for assembly
without further fabrication at the time of their
exportation from the United States to qualify for the
exemption. Components will not lose their entitlement
to the exemption by being subjected to operations
incidental to the assembly either before, during or
after their assembly with other components.
Section 10.16 (a), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 10.16 (a)),
provides that the assembly operation performed abroad may
consist of any method used to join or fit together solid
components, such as welding, soldering, riveting, force fitting,
gluing, laminating, sewing or the use of fasteners.
Operations incidental to the assembly process are not
considered further fabrication operations, as they are of a minor
nature and cannot always be provided for in advance of the
assembly operations. However, any significant process,
operation, or treatment whose primary purpose is the fabrication,
completion, physical or chemical improvement of a component
precludes the application of the exemption under subheading
9802.00.80, HTSUSA, to that component. See 19 CFR 10.16 (c).
In the case of the instant merchandise, the operations that
entail sewing the pre-cut U. S. origin "Tyvek" material onto
itself to form a bag and sewing elastic around the opening of the
bag are considered acceptable assembly operations. See 19 CFR
10.16 (a); L'Eggs Products v. United States, Slip Op. 89-5, 13
CIT __, 704 F. Supp. 1127 (CIT 1989), which held that sewing
together the end of a pantyhose tube is considered an acceptable
assembly operation as the thread serves as a joining agent by
joining the tube to itself; and Headquarters Ruling Letter (HRL)
555205 of August 25, 1989, and HRL 555650 of August 8, 1990.
Moreover, folding the "Tyvek" material in half prior to the
assembly operations is considered to be an operation incidental
to assembly. See 19 CFR 10.16 (b) (7) and HRL 555213 of February
21, 1990 (folding greeting cards in half prior to the gluing or
taping of attachments to the card is considered incidental to
assembly). Therefore, we are of the opinion that returned dust
covers for respirator mouth pieces will be entitled to the
partial duty exemption under subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUSA.
HOLDING:
The dust covers are classified under the provision for other
made up articles, including dress patterns: other: other: other,
in subheading 6307.90.9490, HTSUSA, dutiable at the rate of 7
percent ad valorem.
The instant dust covers qualify for the partial duty
exemption available under subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUSA, when
returned to the United States.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division