CLA-2-39:RR:NC:SP:221 J89439
Mr. Frank Desiderio
Mr. Joseph M. Spraragen
Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz, Silverman & Klestadt LLP
245 Park Avenue, 33rd Floor
New York, NY 10167-3397
RE: The tariff classification of plastic hangers.
Dear Messrs. Desiderio and Spraragen:
In your letter dated September 29, 2003, on behalf of your client, Tommy Hilfiger, you requested a tariff classification ruling. Five sample plastic hangers for children’s garments were submitted with your request. Style W1001, 1000, 2010 and style W1004, 2008 are white plastic bottom hangers with ridges measuring ¼ inch. These hangers have plastic top hooks and incorporate integral plastic clasps that secure with metal slide locks. Style 951 is also embossed as style 4120-4. This is a full frame infants’ hanger with ridges measuring 3/16 inch. Style 495, 497 is also embossed as style 2621-18. This is a white plastic top hanger with integral plastic top hook and with ridges measuring 3/16 inch. The fifth sample consists of top hanger style 495, 497 (2621-18) and coordinate hanger W10045, also labeled W1104 and 1094. The coordinate bottom hanger has ridges measuring ¼ inch. It incorporates an integral plastic top ring to loop onto a top hanger to hang two piece garments and integral plastic clamps that secure with metal slide locks.
You indicate in your letter that the hangers will be imported from various countries. For purposes of this reply it is assumed that all are countries with which the United States has Normal Trade Relations.
The applicable subheading for the hangers will be 3923.90.0080, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for articles for the conveyance or packing of goods, of plastics…other. The rate of duty will be 3 percent ad valorem.
You also ask whether the hangers, when imported holding apparel, are separately classifiable from the apparel. General Rule of Interpretation (GRI) 5(b) of the HTS provides that, subject to the provisions of GRI 5(a), packing materials and packing containers entered with the goods therein shall be classified with the goods if they are of a kind normally used for packing such goods. However, this provision is not binding when such materials or packing containers are clearly suitable for repetitive use. The hangers that were the subject of HQ 964963, 964964 and 964948, all dated June 19, 2001, which were used in hanger recovery systems, were ruled to be of sufficiently substantial construction to be suitable for repetitive use for the conveyance of goods. All of the sample hangers submitted with this request are of significantly less substantial construction than the hangers that were the subject of those rulings.
Please provide additional information on the hangers that are the subject of this request. Identify the plastic resin breakdown for each of these styles. Describe the practice of your client, Tommy Hilfiger, regarding reuse of these styles. The samples will be retained pending receipt of your follow-up request.
When you resubmit your request with information on the resin content of the plastics, please include any additional documentation you would like us to consider in determining whether these styles, or styles substantially similar to these styles, are reused in a commercial sense for the shipment of garments. Please include any available breakdowns showing what percentages of these hanger styles are forwarded to a hanger recovery system for reuse in shipping, what percentages are given away with purchase of the garments and what percentages are recycled for the plastics content. Submit any documentation that indicates the number of times these hanger styles are reused for commercial shipment of garments.
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 Joan Mazzola at (646) 733-3023.
Sincerely,
Robert B. Swierupski
Director,
National Commodity
Specialist Division