CLA-2 RR:TC:MM 958520 MMC
Port Director
U.S. Customs
610 S. Canal Street
Chicago, IL 60607
RE: Protest 3901-95-100274; Glass oil lamp parts and glass
figurines; EN 94.05, 70.13, 70.18; HRL 950837
Dear Port Director:
The following is our decision regarding Protest 3901-95-100274 concerning your action in classifying and assessing duty
on various glass oil lamp parts and glass figurines under the
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS).
Pictures of the articles were provided for our examination.
FACTS:
According to descriptions and additional information
supplied by protestant, the glass oil lamp parts are manufactured
by the free blowing or lamp working process while the figurines
are either lamp worked, free blown or made from molds.
The free blowing process involves placing glass in molten
form on the edge of a blow pipe. A glassworker then blows into
the free end of the blowpipe creating a round shape with the
molten glass at the other end of the pipe. The glassworker then
uses other tools or twists the blow pipe to create the desired
designs. Lamp working involves heating rods of annealed glass
over a flame and then shaping the molten glass to form small
figurines, etc. Molding involves pouring molten glass into molds
to create a shape.
Protestant's additional information, including a submitted
invoice, indicate that the articles with style numbers, 100401,
100407A, 100496B, 100590B, 100655, 100679A, 100681C, 100689A,
101410-101426, 100705C, 101583A, 101593, 101715 and 101716, are
receptacles created for oil lamps. The remaining glass
figurines, identified by style number, were produced in the
following manner:
Molded Lamp worked Free blown
100646-51 100636 101466-48
100873 100770-71
101515-18 101300B
101641A
The entry was liquidated on November 14, 1994, under
subheading 7013.99.50, HTSUS. The protest was timely filed on
February 9, 1995. Protestant contends that the articles are
classified as lamp worked glassware under subheading 7018, HTSUS.
The subheadings under consideration are as follows:
7013.99.50 Glassware of a kind used for table, kitchen,
toilet, office, indoor decoration or similar
purposes (other than that of heading 7010 or
7018): Other glassware: Other: Other: Valued over
$0.30 but not over $3
each.....................................30%
7018.90.50 Glass beads, imitation pearls, imitation precious
or semiprecious stones and similar glass small
wares and articles thereof other than imitation
jewelry; glass eyes other than prosthetic
articles; statuettes and other ornaments of
lamp-worked glass, other than imitation jewelry;
glass microspheres not exceeding 1 mm in diameter:
Other:
Other...................................................................................................6.6%
9405.91.60 Lamps and lighting fittings including searchlights
and spotlights and parts thereof, not elsewhere
specified or included; illuminated signs,
illuminated nameplates and the like, having a
permanently fixed light source, and parts thereof
not elsewhere specified or included: Parts:
Other..................................................................6.5%
ISSUE:
Are the various glass oil lamp pieces classifiable as parts
of lamps or lighting fittings under subheading 9405.91.60, HTSUS?
Are the glass figurines classifiable as lamp worked glass
articles under subheading 7018.90.50, HTSUS?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
The classification of merchandise under the HTSUS is
governed by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's). GRI 1,
HTSUS, states, in part, that "for legal purposes, classification
shall be determined according to the terms of the headings and
any relative section or chapter notes...." GRI 6, HTSUS,
provides in pertinent part, that the classification of goods in
subheadings of the same heading shall be according to the terms
of those subheadings and any related subheading notes and, by
appropriate substitution of terms, according to GRIs 1 through 5,
on the understanding that only subheadings at the same level are
comparable.
All three subheadings prima facie describe the glass oil
lamp parts. Inasmuch as the glass oil lamp parts are prima facie
described in three different subheadings, they cannot be
classified according to GRI 1. When goods cannot be classified
by applying GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not
otherwise require, the remaining GRI's are applied.
GRI 3 states, in pertinent part, that when goods are, prima
facie, classifiable under two or more headings, classification
shall be effected as follows:
(a) The heading which provides the most specific
description shall be preferred to headings providing a more
general description.
In an effort to determine which heading more specifically
describes the glass oil lamp parts, the Harmonized Commodity
Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (ENs) may be
consulted. The ENs, although not dispositive nor legally
binding, provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the
HTSUS and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation
of these headings. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128,
(August 23, 1989). EN 94.05, pgs 1580-1583 states, in pertinent
part, that:
Lamps and lighting fittings of this group can be constituted
of any material (excluding those materials described in Note
1 to Chapter 71) and use any source of light (candles, oil,
petrol, paraffin or kerosene, gas, acetylene, electricity,
etc.)...
This heading covers in particular:
(1) XXX
(5) Portable lamps (other than those of heading 85.13),
e.g.: hurricane lamps; stable lamps; hand lanterns; miners'
lamps; quarrymen's lamps...
The heading also covers identifiable parts of lamps and
lighting fittings, illuminated signs, illuminated
name-plates and the like, not more specifically covered
elsewhere, e.g.:
(1) XXX
(7) Lamp glasses or chimneys (bottle-necked, etc.)...
EN 70.18 pgs. 941-942 states, in pertinent part, that:
This heading covers a range of widely diversified glass
articles, most of which are used, directly or after further
processing, for ornamental and decorative purposes.
These include:
(A)XXX
(G) Statuettes and other ornaments (other than imitation
jewellery) obtained by working glass in the pasty state with
a blow-pipe. These articles are designed for placing on
shelves (animals, plants, statuettes, etc.). They are
generally made of clear glass (lead crystal, strass, etc.)
or "enamel" glass.
EN 70.13 pgs 936-936a states, in pertinent part, that:
This heading covers the following types of articles, most of
which are obtained by pressing or blowing in moulds:
(1) XXX
(4) Glassware for indoor decoration and other glassware
(including that for churches and the like), such as vases,
ornamental fruit bowls, statuettes, fancy articles (animals,
flowers, foliage, fruit, etc.), table centres (other than
those of heading 70.09), aquaria, incense burners, etc., and
souvenirs bearing views.
These articles may be e.g., of ordinary glass, lead crystal,
glass having a low coefficient of expansion (e.g.,
borosilicate glass) or of glass ceramics (the latter two in
particular, for kitchen glassware). They may also be
colourless, coloured or of flashed glass, and may be cut,
frosted, etched or engraved, or otherwise decorated...
Subheading 9405.61.90, HTSUS, provides for glass parts of
lamps or lighting fixtures, specifically lamp glasses.
Protestant's description of the article indicates that it is a
lamp glass. Alternatively, subheadings 7018.90.50 and
7013.99.50, merely provide for a variety of glass articles
depending on their means of manufacture. Therefore, we are of
the opinion that subheading 9405.61.90, HTSUS, provides the most
specific description of the glass oil lamp parts.
Both subheading 7013.99.50 and 7018.90.50, provide for glass
figurines. However, heading 7018 provides for figurines created
by certain processes. In Headquarters Ruling Letter (HRL) 950837
dated May 4, 1992, Customs defined two of the processes used to
make articles described by heading 7018. HRL 950837 defined
lamp working and free blowing.
In glass blowing, a long straight hollow tube is used to
gather and work molten glass, partly by blowing into the
tube. The blowpipe is spun to shape the glass object
further by centrifugal force, or by a tool, in which case
the blowpipe acts as a spindle for turning. The McGraw-Hill
Encyclopedia of Science & Technology, Volume 2. See also,
Two Hundred Years of American Blown Glass, by Helen and
George S. McKearin, Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1950.
In addition, in Flameworking-Glassmaking for the Craftsman, by
Frederic Schuler, Chilton Book Company, the technique of free-
blowing is discussed on page 7:
Free-blowing (or offhand blowing) is more difficult,
requiring rather elaborate and expensive facilities. This
technique was invented around 50 B.C. (glassmaking was
already 1500 years old then). The glass is manipulated at
the end of a hollow iron pipe (the blowpipe or blowiron),
which is about four feet long. Molten glass is made within
a refractory container in a furnace, either by remelting
marbles or chunks of glass, or by fusing together the raw
materials that form glass. The fluid glass is wound upon or
"gathered" on the tip of the hollow iron pipe. It is then
shaped and manipulated, inflated, tooled, sheared, and spun
out or forced in, etc....
The dictionary definition of lamp working states that it is the
process of fashioning objects from glass tubing and cane softened
to workability over the flame of a small lamp. The definition
states that it should be compared with glassblowing, which is
defined as an art of shaping a mass of glass by inflating it
through a tube after the glass has been heated to a viscid state.
Webster's Third New International Dictionary. In Flame-working
Glassmaking for the Craftsman, Frederic Schuler writes the
following regarding lamp working:
This book will concentrate on Flame working techniques, but
will describe both Flame working and free-blowing. The
technique of Flame working, or reheating glass rod or tubing
or other pieces of glass, was once called "lamp working."
This method was used as early as 1660 to shape microscope
lenses; the simple burners were derived from small oil
lamps. With this technique, the glass was heated in a
relatively small area where pieces were to be sealed,
enlarged, or changed in some manner. The cool ends of the
glass were held in the hands, which controlled the rotation
and position of the fluid central portion. Today, with a
simple workbench, a few tools, and burner which uses gas
with oxygen or air, this procedure shapes marvelous jewels
of glass in a direct manner.
In Phaidon Guide to Glass, by Felice Mehlman, lamp working is
defined as follows:
Working at the lamp: For making small glass objects such as
toys, trinkets and beads, the craftsman would work "at the
lamp", where rods of annealed glass could be heated in the
concentrated flame of an oil lamp (or later, a Bunsen
burner) and shaped by tools.
As explained above, a blow-pipe is associated with the
technique of glass blowing / free-blowing. The fact that the
glass pieces are not worked in the pasty shape by a blow-pipe is
not dispositive of whether they are lamp-worked. EN 70.18
describes the free blowing process and names one of its tools.
Additionally, EN 70.18 includes lamp working by name. Therefore,
we are of the opinion that glassware made from both processes,
which meet the other requirements of heading 7018, are
classifiable under the heading. The figurines made from the free
blowing or lamp working processes are classifiable under heading
7018, specifically, subheading 7018.90.50, HTSUS.
Finally, EN 70.13 clearly indicates that glass articles
shaped by molds are described by heading 7013. Therefore, the
articles produced by shaping in a mold are classifiable under
subheading 7013.99.50, HTSUS.
HOLDING:
The protest should be GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.
The glass oil lamp parts are classifiable under subheading
9405.61.90, HTSUS, with a column one duty rate of 6.5% ad
valorem. The lamp worked and free blown figurines are
classifiable under subheading 7018.90.50, HTSUS, with a column
one duty rate of 6.6% ad valorem. The molded figurines are
classifable under subheading 7013.99.50, HTSUS, with a column one
duty rate of 30% ad valorem.
In accordance with Section 3A(11)(b) of Customs Directive
099 3550-065, dated August 4, 1993, Subject: Revised Protest
Directive, this decision should be mailed, with the Customs Form
19, by your office to the protestant no later than 60 days from
the date of this letter. Any reliquidation of the entry in
accordance with the decision must be accomplished prior to
mailing of the decision. Sixty days from the date of the
decision the Office of Regulations and Rulings will take steps to
make the decision available to Customs personnel via the Customs
Rulings Module in ACS and the public via the Diskette
Subscription Service, Freedom of Information Act, and other
public access channels.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Tariff Classification Appeals
Division