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HQ 084861


August 24, 1989

CLA-2 CO:R:C:G 084861 HP

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 5806.39.3090

Ms. Judy Kearney
Network Brokers International, Inc.
Airport Industrial Office Park, Building A2-C 145TH Avenue & Hook Creek Blvd.
Valley Stream, NY 11581

RE: Classification of fabric of metalized yarn

Dear Ms. Kearney:

This is in reply to your letters of May 17, 1989 to our New York office, concerning the tariff classification of metalized yarn, produced in Japan, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA). Reference your client Berwick Industries, Inc. We are herein classifying the merchandise from your May 17, 1989, requests which was not covered by NYRLs 841338-341 of June 15, 1989.

FACTS:

The merchandise at issue consists of seven samples of narrow textile fabric combined with metalized yarn. The metalized yarn in all samples is constructed of #25 microns polyester film metalized with aluminum, with either the metalized side or both sides coated by color or resin. The metal comprises less than 0.1 percent of the yarn.

All of the samples are narrow woven ribbons. All merchandise represented herein will be imported in the piece in widths under 30 centimeters. You state that these articles are for decorative use, i.e., gift wrapping, floral arrangements, etc.

Articl Widths Lengths Compositio Name

2800 6mm, 15mm, 30 yards 80% Opulence
25mm, 36mm, Metallic Ribbon
65mm, 84mm 20% Nylon

2805 2mm 50 yards 70% Needle
Metallic Loom
30% Nylon Metall- ique

2815 3.5mm, 6mm, 20/30 90% Jewel
15mm yards Metallic Ribbon
10% Nylon

2905 22mm 20 yards 80% Metall-
Metallic ique
20% Nylon Bow

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3920/- 3.5mm, 6mm, 25 yards 80% Metall-
3921 16mm, 65mm Metallic ique
20% Poly- Ribbon ethylene

3940 12mm, 24mm 25 meters 80% Lame
Metallic Ribbon
20% Nylon

3961 22mm 25 meters 70% Sheer
Metallic Metallic
30% Nylon

ISSUE:

Whether the merchandise is classified as of man-made textiles or of other textile materials under the HTSUSA?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Composition of Yarn/Metal Combine

Heading 5607, HTSUSA, provides for textile yarns reinforced with metal threads. Heading 5605, HTSUSA, provides for metalized yarn. Chapters 54 and 55, HTSUSA, provide for textile yarns of man-made fibers. We must now determine the classification of this combination yarn.

The Explanatory Notes to the HTSUSA constitute the official interpretation of the tariff at the international level. The General Explanatory Note to Section XI states that, in all cases, yarn reinforced with metal thread shall be classified in heading 5607, while metalized yarn shall, in all cases, be classified in heading 5605. Although the yarn could also be considered "man-made," and thereby classifiable in Chapters 54 or 55, HTSUSA, it is our op- inion that if this dual classification possibility was intended, the drafters of the Harmonized system would not have included the specific headings for metalized and metal-reinforced yarn. These yarns would have been classi- fiable, as they were under the Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (TSUSA), as man-made fiber. This, in addition to the "in all cases" language of the Explana- tory Note, and the fact that the headings for 5605 and 5607 more specifically describe the merchandise, leads us to discourage classification of the instant yarn as "of man- made fibers."

Analysis therefore rests upon whether the combination yarn is either reinforced with metal, or metalized, and the difference between the two types of yarn. The Explanatory Note to heading 5607, HTSUSA, provides, in pertinent part:

This heading covers twine, cordage, rope and cables, produced by twisting or by plaiting or braiding.

(1) Twine, cordage, rope and cables, not plaited or braided.

Textile yarn reinforced with metal thread is always classified here and differs from

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metallised yarn of heading 56.05 in that the metal strand is usually thicker and acts as a reinforcing agent only and not for any ornamental purpose.

You have stated that the metal/polyester combination is employed solely for ornamental purposes. This, in addition to our opinion that the metal is not reinforcing the yarn, leads us to the conclusion that the yarn is not classifiable as "reinforced with metal" under heading 5607, HTSUSA.

Heading 5605, HTSUSA, provides for, inter alia, yarn consisting of metal plus any textile material, including strips, obtained by twisting, cabling or gimping, whatever the proportion of metal present. The Explanatory Note to this heading goes on to include in heading 5605

... products consisting of a core of metal foil (generally of aluminium [sic.]), or of a core of plastic film coated with metal dust, sandwiched by means of an adhesive between two layers of plastic film.

As described in the statement of facts, supra, the construction of the yarn in the instant matter is as delin- eated in the aforementioned Explanatory Note. Thus, the yarn used in construction of the instant merchandise is metalized yarn of heading 5605, HTSUSA.

Construction of Merchandise

Heading 5806, HTSUSA, provides for narrow woven fab- rics, other than lapels, badges, etc. of heading 5807, including ribbons. Heading 5809, HTSUSA, provides for woven fabrics of metalized yarn of heading 5605, as used in apparel, as furnishing fabrics or for similar purposes, not elsewhere specified or included. The Explanatory Note to heading 5806 describes ribbons as strips of a width not exceeding 30 centimeters, of various methods of construction applicable here,

... usually of silk, wool, cotton or man-made fibres, whether or not containing elastomeric yarn or rubber thread, and are used in underwear, in women's apparel, in the manufacture of hats and fancy collars, as medal ribbons, as a decora- tive binding material, in furnishing, etc. [Emphasis added.]

As heading 5806 provides for narrow woven fabric of the type represented by the instant merchandise, classification cannot be under heading 5809.

The fabrics are composed of both metalized and man- made yarns. Classification therefore is based upon whether the merchandise is regarded as consisting wholly of man- made fibers or of metalized yarn.

The General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's) to the HTSUSA govern the classification of goods in the tariff schedule. GRI 1 states, in pertinent part:

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... classification shall be determined according to the terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes ....

Goods which cannot be classified in accordance with GRI 1 are to be classified in accordance with subsequent GRI's, taken in order.

Subheading Note 2 to Section XI, HTSUSA, provides, in pertinent part:

(A) Products of chapters 56 to 63 containing two or more textile materials are to be regarded as consisting wholly of that textile materi- al which would be selected under note 2 to this section for the classification of a product of chapters 50 to 55 consisting of the same textile materials.

(B) For the application of this rule:

(a) where appropriate, only the part which determines the classification under general interpretative rule 3 shall be taken into account;

Note 2 to Section XI, HTSUSA, provides, in pertinent part:

(A) Goods classifiable in chapters 50 to 55 or in heading 5809 or 5902 and of a mixture of two or more textile materials are to be classified as if consisting wholly of that one textile material which predominates by weight over any other single textile materi- al.

(B) For the purposes of the above rule:

(a) Gimped horsehair yarn (heading 5110) and metallised yarn (heading 5605) are to be treated as a single textile mat- erial the weight of which is to be taken as the aggregate of the weights of its components ...;

(b) The choice of the appropriate heading shall be effected by determining first the chapter and then the applicable heading within that chapter, dis- regarding any materials not classified in that chapter;

(d) Where a chapter or a heading refers to goods of different textile materials, such materials are to be treated as a single textile material.

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In the instant case, the woven fabrics are composed of X percent metalized yarn and Y percent man-made fibers (nylon or polyethylene), with X always the greater of the two percentages. The articles are therefore classifiable under heading 5806 as narrow woven fabrics composed of metalized yarn.

HOLDING:

As a result of the foregoing, the instant merchandise is classified under subheading 5806.39.3090, HTSUSA, tex- tile category 899, as narrow woven fabrics, other than goods of heading 5807; narrow fabrics consisting of warp without weft assembled by means of an adhesive (bolducs), other woven fabrics, of other textile materials, other, other. The applicable rate of duty is 3 percent ad valorem.

Due to the changeable nature of the statistical annotation (the ninth and tenth digits of the classification) and the restraint (quota/visa) categories, you should contact your local Customs office prior to importing the merchandise to determine the current applic- ability of any import restraints or requirements.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings
Division

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