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HQ 555072


October 17, 1988

CLA-2 CO:R:C:V 555072 DBI

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 9801.00.10; 800.00

Mr. William J. LeClair
Trans-Border Customs Services
One Trans-Border Drive
P.O. Box 800
Champlain, New York 12919

RE: Applicability of duty exemption under item 800.00, TSUS, to rapeseed and soybean oils packaged in Canada

Dear Mr. LeClair:

This is in response to your letters of April 25 and May 26, 1988, on behalf of your client, Pro-Mar Ltee, Quebec, Canada, to the Area Director of Customs, New York Seaport, in which you request a ruling concerning the applicability of item 800.00, Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS), to rapeseed and soybean oils exported to Canada to be packaged and imported into the U.S. Your letter has been referred to this office for review and the preparation of a ruling.

FACTS:

You advise that rapeseed and soybean oils of U.S. origin, fit for human consumption, will be exported to Canada via tank truck. No processing will be performed on either product prior to exportation to Canada. The tanks will be insulated to keep the oils in liquid form for ease of flow upon arrival at the packaging facility in Canada.

Packaging will be the only process that will be performed in Canada. The package size will be for institutional use and not the size normally sold at the retail level. The oils will be packaged in either five-gallon plastic containers or plastic bags held in corrugated cardboard containers weighing about twenty pounds each. You estimate the cost of "packaging, labor, and the container" to be about five cents per pound.

ISSUE:

Whether the described packaged rapeseed and soybean oils, when returned to the U.S., will be eligible for the exemption from duty in item 800.00, TSUS (9801.00.10, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS)).

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Item 800.00, TSUS, provides for the free entry of articles of U.S. origin which are exported and returned without having been advanced in value or improved in condition while abroad. We have previously held that U.S. articles shipped in bulk to another country merely for packaging are entitled to classification under item 800.00, TSUS. In a ruling dated July 7, 1987 (HQ 554643), Customs Headquarters held that bulk wines exported by tank car in a finished condition to Canada to be placed in labelled bottles without any additions could be returned to the U.S. free of duty under item 800.00, TSUS. We have also held in a ruling dated June 28, 1988 (HQ 731425), that U.S. spring water exported in a finished condition to Canada to be bottled, without any additions, was not advanced in value or improved in condition while abroad. The bottled water qualified for item 800.00, TSUS, treatment upon return to the U.S.

In the present case, rapeseed and soybean oils will be exported in a finished condition to Canada to be packaged without any additions. The oils will not be advanced in value or improved in condition while abroad. Accordingly, the oils would qualify for treatment as American goods returned under item 800.00, TSUS.

H0LDING:

On the basis of the information submitted and in accordance with our previous administrative rulings, we are of the opinion that the packaging performed abroad does not advance the value or improve the condition of the product abroad and, therefore, the rapeseed and soybean oils may be entitled to free entry as American goods returned under item 800.00, TSUS.

Sincerely,


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