CLA-2 OT:RR:CTF:TCM H011956 KSH
TARIFF NOS.: 4412.29.3670; 4418.72.9000
Port Director
Bureau of Customs and Border Protection
24735 E. 76th Avenue
Suite 100
Denver, CO 80249
RE: Internal Advice 08/001; Classification of “Admonter Natural Floors.”
Dear Sir:
This ruling is in response to a request for Internal Advice initiated by Moye White LLP, on behalf of their client, Arrigoni Wood Flooring. At issue is the proper classification of wood flooring panels, classified at the time of entry in heading 4409, of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”), which provides for “Wood (including strips and friezes for parquet flooring, not assembled) continuously shaped (tongued, grooved, rebated, chamfered, V-jointed, beaded, molded, rounded, or the like) along any of its edges, ends or faces, whether or not planed, sanded, or finger-jointed.” U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) classified the product in heading 4412, HTSUS, which provides for “Plywood, veneered panels and similar laminated wood.” The request for internal advice is sought based on the importer’s disagreement with CBP’s classification. The importer asserts that proper classification is in heading 4409, HTSUS, or heading 4418, HTSUS.
FACTS:
The merchandise at issue is identified as “Admonter Natural Floors.” It is a wood flooring panel which is approximately 19 mm thick and 158 mm wide. It consists of a veneer face, a lumber strips core and a veneer back. The grains of the successive layers are at an angle to each other. The veneer face and back
measure approximately 4 mm thick. The core layer is spruce and measures approximately 11-13 mm in thickness. It is tongue and grooved on the edges and ends. The possible wood species for the face and back, which are always the same wood species, are spruce, larch, Siberian larch, pine, ash, maple, oak, cherry, walnut, robinia and beech.
ISSUE:
Whether the wood flooring is classifiable under heading 4409, HTSUS, heading 4412, HTSUS, or heading 4418, HTSUS.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Classification of goods under the HTSUSA is governed by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI). GRI 1 provides that classification shall be determined according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative section or chapter notes. In the event that the goods cannot be classified solely on the basis of GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRI may then be applied.
The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (EN), constitute the official interpretation of the Harmonized System at the international level. While neither legally binding nor dispositive, the EN provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the HTSUSA and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of the headings. See T.D. 89-80. 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (Aug. 23, 1989).
Heading 4409 provides for “Wood (including strips and friezes for parquet flooring, not assembled) continuously shaped (tongued, grooved, rebated, chamfered, V-jointed, beaded, molded, rounded, or the like) along any of its edges, ends or faces, whether or not planed, sanded, or finger-jointed.”
Counsel argues that the imported wood flooring panels fall squarely within the tariff provisions for “wood flooring” and that it is specially designed, manufactured and dedicated to be used only as wood flooring.
We agree with counsel that the merchandise at issue is flooring. However, we disagree that the “assembled” flooring is classified in heading 4409, HTSUS.
In Boen Hardwood Flooring, Inc. v. United States, 196 F. Supp 2d. 1331, (2002), reversed on other grounds, 357 F.3d 1262, the Court of International Trade addressed the classification of laminated flooring claimed to be classified in subheading 4409.29.50, HTSUS. In that decision, the court stated:
The suggested characterization, “wood flooring,” does not appear in heading 4409, HTSUS; rather, it is a subheading listed under heading 4409. Heading 4409, HTSUS, mentions only shaping operations, and it is clear from the Chapter Note and Explanatory Note that merchandise falling under heading 4412, may have been subjected to any of these shaping operations. Id. at 1342.
Heading 4409, HTSUS, addresses only shaping and planing operations, while heading 4412, HTSUS, encompasses products which have been subjected to lamination operations as well as shaping processes. Heading 4409, HTSUS, therefore does not provide a complete and accurate description of the subject merchandise.
Furthermore, 44.09 EN exclusion (b) states that heading 4409 excludes:
Wood which has been mortised or tenoned, dovetailed or similarly
worked at the ends and wood assembled into panels being builders’
carpentry or joinery (e.g., parquet flooring panels made up from
parquet flooring blocks, strips, etc., whether or not on a support of one
or more layers of wood) (heading 44.18).
The product at issue is assembled wood panels. As such, the flooring cannot be classified in heading 4409, HTSUS.
Counsel alternatively argues that the flooring is classified under heading 4418, HTSUS, as parquet panels. Heading 4418, HTSUS, provides for “Builders’ joinery and carpentry of wood, including cellular wood panels and assembled parquet panels; shingles and shakes.”
Neither the legal text nor the EN define or describe the term “parquet”. Under these circumstances, a term should reflect its common meaning which is normally the same as that which is used in trade. When used in the nomenclature a term usually reflects its common meaning.
The Explanatory Notes to heading 4418, HTSUS, state, in pertinent part:
* * * * * *
This heading also covers parquet strips, etc., assembled into panels or tiles, with or without borders, including parquet panels or tiles consisting of parquet strips assembled on a support of one or more layers of wood. These panels or tiles may be tongued and grooved at the edges to facilitate assembly.
In the Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary OnLine (www.Merriam-WebsterOnLine.com), the term “parquet” is defined as “a patterned wood surface (as flooring or paneling)”. In The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Ed. (1989), Clarendon Press, Oxford, page 251, the term “parquet” is defined as follows:
Parquet: 1. A flooring, spec. a wooden flooring composed of pieces of wood, often of different kinds, arranged in a pattern;
In The Complete Dictionary of Wood (1989) Dorset Press, “parquet” is defined as:
surfaces formed of small pieces of varied coloured woods, and usually in geometrical designs. Often applied to floors.
These definitions are reflected in various industry definitions. At Wood Floors OnLine (www.woodfloorsonline.com) we find the following definition:
PARQUET - A patterned floor.
Similarly, we find the following description and definition of parquet flooring at Weldon Flooring Ltd. (www.weldon.co.uk/parquetry.htm):
The term parquet originated in France and was first used to describe the raised area behind a balustrade which consisted of a more elaborate floor.
The definition of parquet is "flooring of thin hardwood laid in patterns on a wooden sub floor”.
Excerpts from the American Heritage Talking Dictionary (1997) read:
par·quet
n. 1. A floor made of parquetry. 2. The art or process of making
parquetry.
par·quet·ry
n.pl. par·quet·ries. Inlay of wood, often of different colors, that is worked into a geometric pattern or mosaic and is used especially for floors.
The Wood Flooring Manufacturers Association, at their website, www.nofma.org, defines the term parquet flooring as follows:
Parquet Flooring – Mosaic hardwood flooring patterns made of small
size flooring units. Patterns may be rectangular, square, or of irregular
shapes which abut to form a floor covering.
The Hardwood Information Center website, www.hardwoodinfo.com, states that hardwood flooring comes in three basic types:
STRIP flooring accounts for the majority of installations. Strips usually are 2-1/4 inches wide, but also come in widths ranging from 1-1/2 inches to 3-1/4 inches. They are installed by nailing to the subfloor.
PLANK flooring boards are at least 3 inches wide. They may be screwed to the subfloor as well as nailed. Screw holes can be covered with wooden plugs.
PARQUET flooring comes in standard patterns of 6” x 6” blocks. Specialty patterns may range up to 36” square units. Parquet often achieves dramatic geometric effects of special design patterns.
Essential to both the lexicographic and commercial definitions of “parquet” is the requirement that parquet flooring consists of patterns. By contrast, the flooring products under examination are assembled panels that are ready for installation. This flooring is not patterned. The face panel is not geometrically arranged, nor is it apparently designed to produce any patterned arrangement. Therefore, we conclude that these products are not classifiable in heading 4418, HTSUS, as assembled parquet panels.
Heading 4412, HTSUS, provides for “Plywood, veneered panels and similar laminated wood.” The ENs to heading 4412, HTSUS, state, in pertinent part: * * * *
The heading also covers plywood panels or veneered panels, used as flooring panels, and sometimes referred to as “parquet flooring”. These panels have a thin veneer of wood affixed to the surface, so as to simulate a flooring panel made up of parquet strips.
In Boen Hardwood Flooring, Inc. v. United States, 357 F.3d 1262, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit set forth the common characteristics of plywood. They are: (1) there must be at least three layers; (2) each layer must be arranged at a right angle to its adjacent layer; and (3) the three layers must be bonded together. Id. at 1265. The instant wood flooring panels are substantially similar to the flooring at issue in Boen, supra. The instant merchandise consists of three layers which are arranged at a right angle to its adjacent layer and the layers are bonded together. As such, the wood flooring panels are classified in heading 4412, HTSUS.
HOLDING:
For entries prior to February 3, 2007, pursuant to GRI 1, the flooring panels are classified in heading 4412. Flooring panels with at least one outer surface of nonconiferous wood are classified in subheading 4412.29.3670, HTSUS, which provides for “Plywood, veneered panels and similar laminated wood: Other, with at least one ply of nonconiferous wood: Other: Plywood: Not surface covered, or surface covered with a clear or transparent material which does not obscure the grain, texture or markings of the face ply: Other: Other: Other.” The general, column one rate of duty for merchandise entered in 2004 through February 2, 2007, was 8% ad valorem.
Flooring panels with both outer surfaces of coniferous wood are classified in subheading 4412.99.4600, HTSUS, which provides for “Plywood, veneered panels and similar laminated wood: Other: Other: Plywood: Not surface covered, or surface covered with a clear or transparent material which does not obscure the grain, texture or markings of the face ply: Other.” The general, column one rate of duty for merchandise entered in 2004 through February 2, 2007, was 8% ad valorem.
For entries on or after February 3, 2007, pursuant to GRI 1, the flooring panels are classified in heading 4418, HTSUS. They are provided for in subheading 4418.72.9000, HTSUS, which provides for “Builders’ joinery and carpentry of wood, including cellular wood panels and assembled flooring panels; Shingles and shakes: Assembled flooring panels: Other, multilayer: Other.” The general, column one rate of duty (2008) is 8% ad valorem.
You are to mail this decision to the internal advice requester no later than 60 days from the date of the decision. At that time, Regulations and Rulings of the Office of International Trade will make the decision available to CBP personnel, and to the public on the CBP Home Page on the World Wide Web at
www.cbp.gov, by means of the Freedom of Information Act, and other methods of public distribution.
Sincerely,
Myles B. Harmon, Director
Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division