CLA-2-63:OT:RR:NC:N3:351
Ms. Pam Reeder
Evans and Wood & Company, Incorporated
900 Town and Country, Suite 150
Houston, TX 77024
RE: The tariff classification of a storage basket and a box, from China
Dear Ms. Reeder:
In your letter dated July 9, 2012, you requested a tariff classification ruling on behalf of your client, Hobby Lobby Stores of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
You submitted two samples, both of which you say will be available in additional sizes.
The first sample, item 357921, is a storage basket made up of woven fabric, sewn over a plastic ring at the top seam. The plastic ring serves to stiffen the basket top and keep it open. The rectangular basket measures 12” L x 8”W x 11”H. The basket includes rope handles, knotted through holes with metal grommets. The baskets will be used for home storage.
Item 464073 is a storage box with lid made up of woven polyester textile fabric over a paperboard frame. The rectangular storage box measures 11” L x 7”W x 7” H, and has fabric handles on either end attached by metal rivets. These boxes will be used for home storage.
The applicable subheading for fabric basket item 357921 and the storage box item 464073 will be 6307.90.9889, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for other made up textile articles, other. The rate of duty will be 7% ad valorem.
You state that item 464073 should be classifiable in heading 4823, HTSUS, which provides, in pertinent part, for certain boxes of paper or paperboard. However, the subject boxes are “composite goods” consisting of both paperboard and polyester textile fabric. While the paperboard gives the boxes their structure, the fabric provides aesthetic appeal and marketability. We thus find that the essential character of the overall product cannot clearly be ascribed to either single material. General Rule of Interpretation (GRI) 3(c), HTSUS, directs that in such circumstances the classification will be the heading that appears last in numerical order among those which equally merit consideration. The competing headings here are 4823 and 6307. Heading 6307 appears last in the tariff.
Duty rates are provided for your convenience and are subject to change. The text of the most recent HTSUS and the accompanying duty rates are provided on the World Wide Web at http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/.
The samples will be returned as you requested.
This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177).
A copy of the ruling or the control number indicated above should be provided with the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If you have any questions regarding the ruling, contact National Import Specialist Mitchel Bayer at (646) 733-3102.
Sincerely,
Thomas J. Russo
Director
National Commodity Specialist Division