CLA-2-94:OT:RR:NC:N4:433
Sam Redmon
W.C. Redmon Company
200 Harrison Avenue
Peru, IN 46970
RE: The tariff classification of a storage container from New Zealand.
Dear Mr. Redmon:
In your letter dated February 12, 2018, you requested a tariff classification ruling. Illustrative literature and description were provided.
Item Number 7316 is the “Shutter Bin Storage” container. The merchandise concerned is floor or ground standing, and constructed of polypropylene plastic. The storage bin measures 15” wide x 18” deep x 15” high, has a capacity of 38 liters, and weighs approximately four pounds. The storage bin is designed to have multiple “Shutter Bin Storage” containers stacked one on top of the other. Depicted photographs indicated a hinged lid allowing easy access to stored items such as: toys, clothes, food, recyclables, pet food, etc. You indicate “for shipment, these bins are nested and stacked on the floor in shrink wrap and then placed in a corrugated carton in the USA.”
Classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) is made in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRIs). GRI 1 provides that the classification of goods shall be determined according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative section or chapter notes. In the event that the goods cannot be classified solely on the basis of GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRIs 2 through 6 may then be applied in order.
A reading of the Legal Note 2, and 2 (a) and 2 (b) to Chapter 94 of the HTSUS, provides: at 2, that the articles (other than parts) referred to in the headings of 9401 to 9403 are to be classified in those headings only if they are designed for placing on the floor or ground; at 2 (a) and 2 (b), the following are, however, to be classified in the above headings even if they are designed to be hung, to be fixed to the wall or to stand one on the other --- 2 (a) Cupboards, bookcases, other shelved furniture (including single shelves presented with supports for fixing them to the wall) and unit furniture, and 2 (b) Seats and beds.
When interpreting and implementing the HTSUS, the Explanatory Notes (ENs) of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System may be utilized. The ENs, while neither legally binding nor dispositive, provide a guiding commentary on the scope of each heading, and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of the HTSUS. CBP believes the ENs should always be consulted. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989).
The General Explanatory Notes (ENs) to Chapter 94 of the HTSUS state with regard to the meaning of furniture, at:
(A): For the purposes of this Chapter, the term “furniture” means: [Any “movable” articles (not included under other more specific headings of the Nomenclature), which have the essential characteristic that they are constructed for placing on the floor or ground, and which are used, mainly with a utilitarian purpose, to equip private dwellings, hotels, theatres, cinemas, offices, churches, schools, cafés, restaurants, laboratories, hospitals, dentists, surgeries, etc., or ships, aircraft, railway coaches, motor vehicles, caravan-trailers or similar means of transport. (It should be noted that, for purposes of this Chapter, articles are considered to be “movable” furniture even if they are designed for bolting, etc., to the floor, e.g., chairs for use on ships). Similar articles (seats, chairs, etc.) for use in gardens, squares, promenades, etc., are included in this category.]
(B) The following: (i) Cupboards, bookcases, other shelved furniture and unit furniture designed to be hung, to be fixed to the wall or to stand one on the other or side by side, for holding various objects or articles (books, crockery, kitchen utensils, glassware, linen, medicaments, toilet articles, radio or television receivers, ornaments, etc.) and separately presented elements of unit furniture; and (ii) Seats or beds designed to be hung or to be fixed to the wall.
The term “unit furniture” is not defined in the text of Chapter 94 or its heading 9403 of the HTSUS, nor the ENs to the HTSUS. When terms are not defined, they are construed in accordance with their common and commercial meaning – Nippon Kogasku (USA), Inc. v. United States, 69 CCPA 89, 673 F.2d 380 (1982). Common and commercial meaning may be determined by consulting dictionaries, lexicons, scientific authorities and other reliable sources. C.J. Tower & Sons v. United States, 69 CCPA 128, 673 F.2d 1268 (1982).
In Storewall, LLC versus the United States, Slip Op. 09-146, Court No.05-00462 dated December 18, 2009, the United States Court of International Trade (CIT), using relevant sources derived the following meaning for the term unit furniture: An item (a) fitted with other pieces to form a larger system or which is itself composed of smaller complementary items, (b) designed to be hung, or fixed to the wall, or stand one on the other or side by side, (c) assembled together in various ways to suit the consumer’s individual needs to hold various objects or articles, and (d) excludes other wall fixtures such as coat, hat and similar racks, key racks, clothes brush hangers, and newspaper racks. Further, The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), in Storewall, LLC versus the United State, 2010-1193, not only upheld the meaning of unit furniture as defined by the CIT, but also added that unit furniture may be assembled together in various ways to suit the consumer’s individual needs to hold various objects and articles, and it was this versatility and adaptability that was the essence of unit furniture.
It is our position that the “Shutter Bin Storage” container falls within the meaning of “furniture” as defined by the General ENs to Chapter 94 of the HTSUS, and moreover falls within the derived meaning of “unit furniture” as defined by the CIT and the CAFC. Accordingly, the “Shutter Bin Storage” container is classifiable as furniture of plastics in subheading 9403.70, HTSUS.
The applicable subheading for the “Shutter Bin Storage,” if made of reinforced or laminated plastics, will be 9403.70.4015, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for “Other furniture and parts thereof: Furniture of plastic: Of reinforced or laminated plastics: Other household.” The rate of duty will be free.
The applicable subheading for the “Shutter Bin Storage,” if not made of reinforced or laminated plastics, will be 9403.70.8015, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for “Other furniture and parts thereof: Furniture of plastics: Other; Other household.” 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 https://hts.usitc.gov/current.
Section 304 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. §1304), provides that unless excepted, every article of foreign origin imported into the U.S. shall be marked in a conspicuous place as legibly, indelibly, and permanently as the nature of the article (or its container) will permit, in such a manner as to indicate to the ultimate purchaser in the U.S. the English name of the country of origin of the article. See 19 Code of Federal Regulations, 19 CFR 134.11.
Congressional intent in enacting 19 U.S.C. §1304 was “that the ultimate purchaser should be able to know by an inspection of the marking on the imported goods the country of which the goods is the product. The evident purpose is to mark the goods so that at the time of purchase the ultimate purchaser may, by knowing where the goods were produced, be able to buy or refuse to buy them, if such marking should influence his will.” See United States v. Friedlaender & Co., 27 CCPA 297 at 302; C.A.D. 104 (1940). As such, the proper country of origin marking of New Zealand needs to be marked on the imported storage container, unless sold in their retail corrugated boxes in which the marking of the corrugated boxes will satisfy the county of origin marking requirements. Also see 19 CFR 134.46, which may or not be applicable to the imported merchandise.
Lastly, we note that the “Shutter Bin Storage” containers are nested and stacked on the floor in shrink wrap, and placed in corrugated boxes at your warehouse in the United States. In accordance with the “Marking Regulations” of 19 CFR 134, at time of entry the merchandise concerned has to be marked on or under the shrink wrap prior to importation. 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 [email protected].
Sincerely,
Steven A. Mack
Director
National Commodity Specialist Division