HQ 0086561 - Watch Folder - United States International Trade Commision Rulings

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HQ 086561

June 12, 1990

CLA-2 CO:R:C:G 086561 WAW

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 6307.90.9050

Peter J. Fitch, Esq.
Fitch, King and Caffentzis
116 John Street
New York, N.Y. 10038

RE: Watch Folder

Dear Mr. Fitch:

This letter is in response to your inquiry, dated January 31, 1990, on behalf of your client, Jewelpak Corporation, regarding the tariff classification of a flocked watch pouch or folder under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA). A sample of the article was submitted along with your request.

FACTS:

The sample article is described as a pouch or folder for a wrist watch. The folder measures approximately 9 inches long by 5 inches wide when it is open. When folded, it is approximately 2-1/2 inches wide. The exterior consists of a flocked man-made fabric which is covered with a vinyl material. The vinyl backing is visible only upon opening the folder and pulling the back flap away from the folder. Two corners of the outside flap have metal protectors attached. The sample merchandise will be imported from China.

Your letter indicates that these articles are sold to jewelry stores, and are used as point of purchase packaging for watches, or for other articles of jewelry. You maintain that goods such as these are not intended to be reused, nor are they the kind of article which is normally carried in the purse or pocket. Rather, you claim that they are usually disposed of after the merchandise has been carried home from the store by the purchaser. Accordingly, it is your position that the sample articles are not of a kind or similar to those enumerated in Heading 4202, HTSUSA.

ISSUE:

Whether the sample article is classified under Heading 4202, HTSUSA, as a jewelry box, or under Heading 6307, HTSUSA, as an other made up article of textiles, or rather under Heading 3926, HTSUSA, as an other article of plastics.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

The General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's) set forth the manner in which merchandise is to be classified under the HTSUSA. GRI 1 requires that classification be determined first according to the terms of the headings of the tariff and any relative section or chapter notes and, unless otherwise required, according to the remaining GRI's, taken in order. The three headings at issue in this case are the following:

(a) 4202, traveling bags, toiletry bags, knapsacks and backpacks, handbags, shopping bags, wallets, purses, map cases, cigarette cases, tobacco pouches, tool bags, sports bags, bottle cases, jewelry boxes, powder cases, cutlery cases and similar containers

(b) 6307, Other made up articles, including dress patterns

(c) 3926, Other articles of plastics and articles of other materials of headings 3901 to 3914

Heading 4202, HTSUSA, refers to items designed or fitted to hold, protect or store particular goods (e.g., maps, cigarettes, bottles or jewelry). Jewelry boxes of Heading 4202, therefore, must be designed or specially fitted for holding and storing jewelry. Furthermore, the articles included in Heading 4202 are of a class of goods which are suitable for repeated, long-term use. Thus, jewelry boxes of Heading 4202, HTSUSA, must be of substantial construction such that they can be used for long-term storage of jewelry.

In the instant case, the watch folder is the type of premium packaging which is given to the purchaser at the point of sale. The container is primarily designed for temporary transportation and storage of an article of jewelry after purchase and up until the time of first use. It is not specially designed or fitted for a particular item of jewelry, nor is it suitable for long- term use. Thus, in our opinion the term "jewelry box" as set out in Heading 4202, HTSUSA, does not include the sample article.

In HRL 086377, dated February 14, 1990, Customs classified a similar article of merchandise under subheading 6307.90.9050, HTSUSA. The article at issue in HRL 086377 consisted of a flocked man-made textile ring folder used as retail packaging at the point of purchase. Customs held that this article did not satisfy the requirements of a jewelry box under Heading 4202, HTSUSA, and was more properly classified as an other made up article under Heading 6307, HTSUSA. Since we have ruled out classification of the article under Heading 4202, HTSUSA, the issue we are asked to address is whether the article is more accurately described as an other made up article of textile material under Heading 6307 or whether it is an other article of plastic material under Heading 3926.

The sample article is a composite good composed in part of a textile man-made material and in part of a plastics material. Composite goods are classified by reference to GRI's 2 and 3. Under GRI 2, any reference to a material or an article made of a material includes goods made wholly or in part of that material. GRI 2(b), HTSUSA, provides in pertinent part that "[t]he classification of goods consisting of more than one material or substance shall be according to the principles of GRI 3."

GRI 3, HTSUSA, provides in pertinent part:

When, by application of Rule 2(b) or for any other reason, goods are, prima facie classifiable under two or more headings, classification shall be effected as follows:

(a) The heading which provides the most specific description shall be preferred to headings providing a more general description. However, when two or more headings each refer to part only of the materials or substances contained in mixed or composite goods or to part only of the items in a set put up for retail sale, those headings are to be regarded as equally specific in relation to those goods, even if one of them gives a more complete or precise description of the goods.

Since the textile material and the plastics material fall under separate headings in the tariff schedule which describe only a portion of the components in the entire watch folder, the headings are to be regarded as equally specific under GRI 3(a). Therefore, GRI 3(a) fails in establishing classification, and GRI 3(b) becomes applicable.

GRI 3(b) states in pertinent part:

(b) Mixtures, composite goods consisting of different materials or made up of different components, and goods put up in sets for retail sale, which cannot be classified by reference to 3(a), shall be classified as if they consisted of the material or component which gives them their essential character, insofar as this criterion is applicable.

The Explanatory Notes to GRI 3(b) indicate that in determining essential character each case involves an individual evaluation of such factors as weight, value, bulk, marketability, etc. The sample at issue here is a composite good which should be classifiable as a product of textile or plastic, depending upon which of these materials gives the product its essential character. If no determination of essential character can be made, then classification will be under the competing HTSUSA provision which appears last in the nomenclature, pursuant to GRI 3(c).

HOLDING:

The sample article will either be classified as an other made up article of textile material or as an other article of plastic depending upon the component material which provides the essential character. However, without a breakdown of the constituent materials of the watch folder according to its weight, value, etc. in this case, we are unable to provide a final classification of the merchandise.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director

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