CLA-2-94:OT:RR:NC:N4:421
Fariha M. Masud
Senior Analyst Trade Compliance
United Stationers Supply Company
One Parkway Blvd., Suite 100
Deerfield, IL 60017
RE: The tariff classification of plastic shelf liners from China.
Dear Ms. Masud:
In your letter dated January 13, 2015, you requested a tariff classification ruling. Illustrative literature for item number ALE-SW59SL4818 was provided with an unidentified sample of a shelf liner.
The shelf liners (item numbers: ALE-SW59SL3618, ALE-SW59SL3624, ALE-SW59SL4818 and ALE-SW59SL4824) are flat plastic sheets that have been cut and shaped to fit metal wire shelves. The submitted sample indicates that the four corners of the shelf liner are notched for purposes of contouring the shelf posts. Specifications for the ALE-SW59SL4818, shelf liner, indicate that the overall width is 48-inches and overall depth is 18-inches, is 4-packed, and is for use with an Alera® Wire Shelving Units.
It is your position that the plastic shelf liners should be classified in subheading 3926.30.5000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for “Fittings for furniture, coachwork or the like: Other” of plastics. However, the shelf liners are not similar to fittings, and moreover are not considered parts of general use – see Chapter 94, Legal Note 1 (d), HTSUS.
In Bauerhin Technologies Limited v. United States, 19 CIT 1441, 914 F. Supp. 554 (1995), aff’d 110 F.3d 774 (Fed. Cir. 1997), the court pointed out that there are two distinct lines of cases defining the word “part” in the tariff. Starting with U.S. v. Willoughby Camera Stores, Inc., 21 CCPA 322, 324, (1933) T.D. 46075 (1933), cert. denied, 292 U.S. 640 (1934), this line of cases holds that a part of an article “is something necessary to the completion of that article without which the article to which it is to be joined, could not function as such article.” Another line of cases evolved from United States v. Antonio Pompeo, 43 CCPA 9, C.D. 1669 (1955), which held that a device may be a part of an article even though its use is optional and the article will function without it, if the device is dedicated for use upon the article, and, once installed, the article will not operate without it.
The shelf liners’ relationship to the finished shelving units, satisfies both the Willoughby Camera and the Pompeo test of a part. Under the Willoughby Camera test, the shelf liners are an integral part of finished shelving units because without the shelf liners, small items would fall to the ground or be unbalanced between the wire crossbars. Under the Pompeo test, the shelf liners are imported solely and irrevocably for use with shelving units. Accordingly, the shelf liners have no other purpose than to be used with Alera® Wire Shelving Units, and therefore are classifiable as parts of furniture in subheading 9403.90, HTSUS. See New York ruling NY F84777 dated April 6, 2000.
The applicable subheading for item numbers: ALE-SW59SL3618, ALE-SW59SL3624, ALE-SW59SL4818 and ALE-SW59SL4824, plastic shelf liners, will be 9403.90.5080, HTSUS, which provides for “Other furniture and parts thereof: Parts: Other: Of rubber or plastics: Other: Other.” The rate of duty will be free.
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 World Wide Web at http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/.
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 Neil H. Levy at E-mail address: [email protected].
Sincerely,
Gwenn Klein Kirschner
Director
National Commodity Specialist Division