CLA-2-04:S:N:N1:229-869966
Mr. Jon Bailey
A. V. Olsson Trading Co., Inc.
P.O. Box 11149
Greenwich, CT 06831-1149
RE: The tariff classification of a CHEDDAR Cheese from Latvia.
Dear Mr. Bailey:
In your letter dated December 18, 1991, you requested a
tariff classification ruling.
You describe the cheese in question as having been made in a
process "identical to a standard Cheddar cheese process." A
sample, submitted with your letter, was said to contain about 40
percent butterfat, by weight, in the dry matter and about 38
percent moisture. This sample was in the form of a rindless loaf
about 8.5 centimeters (3-3/8 inches) high and 12 centimeters (4-
3/4 inches) wide. The cheese, semi-hard, with a uniform, yellow
color throughout and a Cheddary taste, had a well-knit interior
with scattered small openings. An analysis of this sample by the
Customs Laboratory at New York indicates that this cheese
consisted, by weight, of 43.9 percent moisture, 22.6 percent fat
(40.3 percent on a dry basis), 29.7 percent protein, and 1.9
percent salt, with a pH of 5.95. The cheese was found to be made
from cow's milk.
The applicable subheading for this CHEDDAR Cheese will be
0406.90.1040, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
(HTS), which provides for Other cheese:...Cheddar
cheese...Other. The rate of duty will be 12 percent ad valorem.
Articles classifiable in HTS subheading 0406.90.1040 are
subject to quota quantity restrictions listed in subchapter IV of
Chapter 99 in HTS subheading 9904.10.30, which limits the amount
of such cheese which may be imported from countries (including
Latvia) with no specific quota allocation to an annual quota
quantity of 139,889 kilograms. Additionally, an import license,
issued to the importer by the United States Department of
Agriculture, will be required at the time such merchandise is
entered for consumption into the United States.
Questions regarding licensing procedures and applications
for license to import cheese subject to quota should be addressed
to:
Head, Dairy and Import Group
Dairy, Livestock and Poultry
Division Foreign
Agricultural Service
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Washington, D.C. 20250
This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Section
177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177).
A copy of this ruling letter should be attached to the entry
documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If the
documents have been filed without a copy, this ruling should be
brought to the attention of the Customs officer handling the
transaction.
Sincerely,
Jean F. Maguire
Area Director
New York Seaport