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HQ 081976


December 29, 1989

CLA-2 CO:R:C:G: 081976 JLJ 827426

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 4818.90.0000

Lynn S. Baker, Esquire
Katten, Muchin & Zavis
525 West Monroe Street, Suite 1600
Chicago, Illinois 60603-3693

RE: Tariff classification of disposable hospital cover

Dear Ms. Baker:

You requested a tariff classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA) for a disposable hospital cover which is processed in Mexico for your client, Convertors Division of Baxter Healthcare Corporation of El Paso, Texas. You submitted a sample with your request. Inasmuch as you did not ask about the applicability of Chapter 98, HTSUSA, to the hospital cover, we will not discuss it here.

FACTS:

The instant merchandise is a disposable hospital cover intended to cover an examining table and drape over the patient's legs. It is a rectangular product which has been folded over and glued to create a pocket at one end. The patient's toes are placed in that pocket while the remainder is draped over the patient's legs.

The hospital cover is made of a product known as Dexter 3557, which you state is made of wood pulp and polyester fibers. You state that Dexter 3557 is, by weight, more than half wood pulp and the remainder polyester fibers. Customs Laboratory Report No. 2-88-10452-001 of February 25, 1989, states that Dexter 3557 appears to have been made on a paper making machine with an attachment necessitated by the long polyester fibers.

ISSUE:

What is the classification of the hospital cover?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

The first issue to be decided is whether Dexter 3557 is a paper or a textile. The Explanatory Notes for Chapter 48, HTSUSA, define paper as follows:

Paper consists essentially of the cellulosic fibers of the pulp of Chapter 47 felted together in in sheet form. Many products, such as certain tea-bag materials, consist of mixture of these cellulose fibers and of textile fibers (in particular man-made fibers as defined in Note 1 to Chapter 54). Where the textile fibers predominate by weight, the products are not regarded as papers and are classified as nonwovens (heading 5603).

Following the Explanatory Notes, the wood pulp predominates by weight over the polyester fibers in Dexter 3557; therefore, the material is a paper classified in Chapter 48.

The next issue is the classification of the instant hospital cover made of Dexter 3557. You suggest classification in Heading 4818, HTSUSA, for the table cover. Heading 4818 covers "Toilet paper, handkerchiefs, cleansing tissues, towels, tablecloths, table napkins, diapers, tampons, bed sheets and similar household, sanitary or hospital articles...of paper pulp, paper, cellulose wadding or webs of cellulose fibers." We agree that this heading seems applicable and find that the provision for similar articles of paper: other, in subheading 4818.90.0000, HTSUSA, applies to the instant hospital cover.

HOLDING:

The instant hospital cover made of Dexter 3557 is classified in subheading 4818.90.0000, HTSUSA, dutiable at the
rate of 3 percent ad valorem. Products of Mexico classified in this subheading are eligible for duty-free entry under the Generalized System of Preferences if all applicable regulations are met.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director

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