CLA-2:CO:R:C:G 085250 SR
Mr. Lewis L. Roberts
Quality Marble Imports
3733 N. Meridan Street
Indianapolis, Indiana 46208
RE: Quirk mitered marble
Dear Mr. Roberts:
This is in reference to your recent letter, received on
August 7, 1989, concerning the classification of a shipment of
marble that has been quirk mitered, under the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA).
FACTS:
The merchandise at issue is marble of which some of the
pieces have been quirk mitered. The importer claims that only a
few pieces of the shipment have been quirk mitered to facilitate
installation.
The shipment was entered at Los Angeles on April 10, 1989,
entry number 07248211. The importer states that the merchandise
was classified under subheading 6802.91.15, HTSUSA, instead of
subheading 6802.91.05, HTSUSA, because some of the pieces are
quirk mitered.
ISSUE:
Whether the quirk mitered marble at issue has been processed
merely to facilitate installation.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Heading 6802, HTSUSA, provides for worked monumental or
building stone and articles thereof, other, marble, slabs.
-2-
Additional U.S. Note to chapter 68, HTSUSA, states that for the
purposes of heading 6802, the term "slabs" embraces flat stone
pieces, not over 5.1 cm in thickness, having a facial area of
25.8 cm or more, the edges of which have not been beveled,
rounded or otherwise processed except such processing as may be
needed to facilitate installation as tiling or veneering in
building construction.
If the merchandise at issue is quirk mitered merely to
facilitate installation the whole shipment will remain
classifiable under heading 6802, HTSUSA. To be considered quirk
mitered to facilitate installation it must be mitered at the
edges of the marble and must fit tightly with another piece. If
the marble is quirk mitered to round off the top of a run then it
is decorative and not classifiable under heading 6802, HTSUSA.
It is stated by the importer that only a few pieces of the
shipment are quirk mitered. If there are more than a small
percentage of the pieces of the shipment that are quirk mitered
then it is likely that the pieces are more than processed merely
to facilitate installation.
HOLDING:
If the quirk mitered pieces of the merchandise at issue make
up only a small percentage of the marble shipment, and those
pieces are quirk mitered on the ends merely to facilitate
installation, then the whole shipment is classifiable under
subheading 6802.91.05, HTSUSA, as worked monumental or building
stone and articles thereof, other, marble, slabs. The rate of
duty is 2.8 percent ad valorem.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division
6 cc: A.D., N.Y. Seaport
Rosenow library 085250