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HQ 087363


August 14, 1990

CLA-2 CO:R:C:G 087363 SLR

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 4911.91.4040

Ms. Lori Aldinger
Import Coordinator
Rite Aid Corporation
P.O. Box 3165
Harrisburg, PA 17105

RE: Pressure Sensitive Puffy Stickers from Taiwan

Dear Ms. Aldinger:

This ruling is in response to your letter of April 18, 1990, requesting the classification of "Christmas Vinyl Stick Ons" under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA). A sample was provided for our examination.

FACTS:

The merchandise in issue consists of plastic stickers depicting Christmas/holiday scenes printed on plastic film which is heat sealed over a foam inner layer, adhesive backed and pre-cut, allowing the stickers to be peeled from a release paper and pressure applied to a desired surface.

The stickers will be imported in a carded polyethylene bag, twelve to a package, in three assortments.

ISSUE:

What is the proper classification of the subject puffy stickers under the HTSUSA?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Classification of merchandise under the HTSUSA is in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's), taken in order. GRI 1 provides that classification is determined according to the terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes.

Heading 9505, HTSUSA, provides, in pertinent part, for "[f]estive, carnival or other entertainment articles." The Explanatory Notes offer guidance in understanding the scope of the headings. The Explanatory Note to heading 9505 indicates that the heading covers:

(A) Festive, carnival or other entertainment articles which in view of their intended use are generally made of non-durable material. They include:

(1) Decorations such as festoons, garlands, Chinese lanterns, etc., as well as various decorative articles made of paper, metal foil, glass fibre, etc., for Christmas trees (e.g., tinsel, stars, icicles), artificial snow, coloured balls, bells, lanterns, etc. Cake and other decorations (e.g., animals, flags) which are traditionally associated with a particular festival are also classified here.

(2) Articles traditionally used at Christmas festivities, e.g., artificial Christmas trees (these are sometimes of the folding type), nativity scenes, Christmas crackers, Christmas stockings, imitation yule logs.

Articles classifiable in heading 9505, HTSUSA, tend to have no other function than decoration.

The subject stick-ons are decorative and display Christmas motifs. Nonetheless, puffy stickers, as a class or kind of merchandise, are not specifically holiday related; they are sold year-round in a wide variety of motifs. Consequently, the instant stick-ons are not classifiable in heading 9505, HTSUSA.

Heading 3919, HTSUSA, provides, in pertinent part, for "[s]elf-adhesive plates, sheets, film, foil, tape, strip and other flat shapes, of plastics." The Explanatory Note to heading 3919 indicates that this heading is:

[L]imited to flat shapes which are pressure-sensitive, i.e., which at room temperature, without wetting or other addition, are permanently tacky (on one or both sides) and which firmly adhere to a variety of dissimilar surfaces upon mere contact.

The subject stick-ons are pressure sensitive. Three- dimensional articles, however, do not qualify as "flat shapes" within the purview of heading 3919. Classification of the subject articles, therefore, must be found elsewhere.

Heading 3926, HTSUSA, provides, in pertinent part, for "[o]ther articles of plastics." Legal Note 2 to Section VII, however, indicates that:

Except for the goods of headings 3918 or 3919, plastics, rubber and articles thereof, printed with motifs, characters or pictorial representations, which are not merely incidental to the primary use of the goods, fall in Chapter 49.

Since the printed illustrations on the face of the stickers provide the visual appeal, which is merely enhanced by the three dimensional effect of the medium on which they are printed, it appears that the subject stickers are not classifiable as other articles of plastic in heading 3926, HTSUSA, but as printed pictures in heading 4911, HTSUSA.

HOLDING:

The merchandise in issue is classifiable in subheading 4911.91.4040, HTSUSA, which provides for other printed matter, including printed pictures and photographs: other: other: other, other. The applicable rate of duty is 3.1 percent ad valorem.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division

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