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HQ 087563


October 19,1990

CLA-2 CO:R:C:G 087563 AJS

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 9001.90.90

Ms. Elaine B. Chandler
Resident Vice President
The Hipage Company, Inc.
Freight and Custom Brokers
P.O. Box 2941103
Charleston, S.C. 29411-2903

RE: Plastic filter lens; Heading 9001; lens; Photonics Dictionary (1989); Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary (1984); Subheading 9001.90.40; filter; Explanatory Note 90.01(D)(5) & (9); Subheading 9001.90.90.

Dear Ms. Chandler:

Your letter of June 29, 1990, requesting a tariff classification ruling regarding a plastic filter lens has been forwarded to this office for reply.

FACTS:

The article at issue is a thermoplastic filter lens used for arc welding. It is rectangular in shape and measures 2 inches by 4 1/4 inches. The sample is marked T-12. The package for the filter lens states that "[a] filter plate lens is a filter lens that attenuates varying proportions of ultraviolet, visible and infrared rays in comformance with GGG-H-211D and ANSI Z87.1. [t]his is not a safety lens."

ISSUE:

Whether the filter lens at issue is properly classified within subheading 9001.90.40, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA), which provides for lenses of any material which are unmounted; or classifiable within subheading 9001.90.90, HTSUSA, which provides for other optical elements of any material which are unmounted.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Heading 9001, HTSUSA, provides for "[o]ptical fibers and optical fiber bundles . . . lenses (including contact lenses), prisms, mirrors and other optical elements, of any material, unmounted, other than such elements of glass not optically worked." Broker for the importer claims that the article at issue is a lens within the meaning of this heading.

A lens is described as "[a] transparent optical component consisting of one or more pieces of optical glass with surfaces so curved (usually spherical) that they serve to converge or diverge the transmitted rays of an object, thus forming a real or virtual image of that object." The Photonics Dictionary (PHD), 35th edition, p. D-73 (1989). In addition, a lens is described as "[a] carefully ground or molded piece of glass, plastic, or other transparent material with opposite surfaces either or both of which are curved, by means of which light rays are refracted so that they converge or diverge to form an image. Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary, p. 686 (1984). The filter lens at issue does not satisfy these descriptions. Accordingly, the filter lens at issue cannot be classified within subheading 9001.90.40, HTSUSA.

A filter, with respect to radiation, is described as "[a] device used to attenuate particular wavelengths or frequencies while passing others with relatively no change." PHD p. D-48. The filter lens at issue satisfies this description. It reduces the amount of ultraviolet, visible and infrared rays which pass through the lens. Several types of filters are cited as articles properly classifiable as optical elements within heading 9001. Explanatory Note (EN) 90.01(D)(5) & (9). Therefore, the filter lens satisfies the terms of heading 9001. More specifically, the filter lens is provided for within subheading 9001.90.90, HTSUSA, as an other optical element, of any material, unmounted.

HOLDING:

The filter lens at issue is properly classifiable within subheading 9001.90.90, HTSUSA, which provides for other optical elements of any material which are unmounted, dutiable at the rate of 8.4 percent ad valorem.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division


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