CLA-2-CO:R:C:F 954685 K

TARIFF No.: 3004.39.00

Mr. James A. Arcure Traffic Coordinator Astra USA, Inc. P.O. Box 4500 Westborough, Massachusetts 01581-4500

Dear Mr. Arcure:

In your letter of June 16, 1993, you requested a classification ruling for merchandise known as Budesonide, an anti-inflammatory drug imported in bulk form and imported in finished products as inhalers in saleable units. You received a response for the classification of the merchandise imported in bulk form by New York Ruling Letter 887496, dated July 19, 1993, which classified the bulk product under subheading 2937.29.0050, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), dutiable at 6 percent ad valorem. The following is our decision concerning the classification for the inhalers containing Budesonide and imported for retail trade.

FACTS:

The imported inhalers from Sweden are put up in measured doses or in forms or packings for retail sale containing the product Budesonide, a derivative of an adrenal cortical hormone, and the active ingredient of an anti-inflammatory drug.

ISSUE:

The issue is whether subheading 3004.32.00, for medicaments containing adrenal cortical hormones, includes medicaments containing derivatives of adrenal cortical hormones that are used primarily as hormones.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Heading 2937, HTSUS, provides for "hormones, natural or reproduced by synthesis; derivatives thereof, used primarily as hormones, and other steroids used primarily as hormones." Subheading 2937.21.00 provides for adrenal cortical hormones and -2-

their derivatives, and specifically includes two adrenal cortical hormones, cortisone and hydrocortisone and two derivatives, prednisone and prednisolone. Subheading 2937.22.00, provides for Halogenated derivatives of adrenal cortical hormones, and subheading 2937.29.00, provides for other adrenal cortical hormones and their derivatives not included in subheadings 2937.21.00 and 2937.22.00.

Subheadings 3004.31.00, 3004.32.00, and 3004.39.00, HTSUS, provide for medicaments containing hormones or other products of heading 2937 that are put up in measured doses or in forms or packings for retail sale. Subheading 3004.31.00, not involved in our classification issue, provides for products containing insulin. Subheading 3004.32.00 provides for products containing adrenal cortical hormones, and subheading 3004.39.00 provides for hormones and other products of heading 2937 not provided for in subheadings 3004.31.00 and 3004.32.00. These subheadings are involved in our classification issue. Since heading 2937 distinguishes between hormones and their derivatives and subheading 3004.32.00 does not specifically provide for the inclusion of derivatives of adrenal cortical hormones, then it follows that such derivatives are not included in subheading 3004.32.00 and are classified under the basket provision for other, subheading 3004.39.00.

HOLDING:

The product known as Budesonide, an anti-inflammatory drug containing a derivative of an adrenal cortical hormone that is used primarily as a hormone, is classifiable under subheading 3004.39.00 HTSUS, as a medicament containing hormones and other products of heading 2937 not provided for in subheadings 3004.31.00 and 3004.32.00, put up in measured doses or in forms or packings for retail sale, with duty at 3.9 percent ad valorem.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director Commercial Rulings Division

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