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HQ 089298


August 15, 1991

CLA-2 CO:R:C:T 089298 CC

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 9404.90.1000

Ms. Gloria Columbe
A.N. Deringer, Inc.
30 West Service Road
Champlain, NY 12919-9703

RE: Classification of pillows; pillow shells imported into Canada from India; pillows stuffed in Canada; Heading 9404; CFTA

Dear Ms. Columbe:

This letter is in response to your inquiry of April 17, 1991, on behalf of Conformex Inc., requesting the classification and Free Trade eligibility of pillows imported into the United States from Canada. A sample was submitted for examination.

FACTS:

The submitted sample is a square pillow measuring approximately 37 centimeters on each side, excluding its border and fringe. The pillow has a 2 centimeter border and 8 centimeter fringe on each side. The outer surface consists of woven cotton fabric, and the filling consists of a blend of polyester and cotton fiber. The outer shell has a hidden, 24 centimeter zipper opening on one end.

You state that Conformex will import unfilled, unfinished cotton pillow shells into Canada from India. In Canada the shell will be stuffed with a fiber filling and sewn, and the finished pillow will be imported into the United States.

ISSUE:

Whether the submitted merchandise is classifiable in Heading 6304 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA) or in Heading 9404, HTSUSA?

Whether the merchandise at issue is considered goods originating in the territory of Canada in accordance with the United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement (CFTA)?

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

Heading 6304, HTSUSA, provides for other furnishing articles, excluding those of Heading 9404, HTSUSA. According to the Explanatory Notes, the official interpretation of the HTSUSA at the international level, Heading 6304 includes wall hangings and textile furnishings for ceremonies (e.g., weddings or funerals); mosquito nets; bedspreads (but not including bed coverings of Heading 9404); cushion covers, loose covers for furniture, antimacassars; table covers (other than those having the characteristics of floor coverings - see Note 1 to Chapter 57); mantlepiece runners; curtain loops; valances (other than those of Heading 6303).

Heading 9404 provides for articles of bedding and similar furnishing fitted with springs, stuffed, or internally fitted with any material. The Explanatory Notes to Heading 9404 state that this heading covers the following articles:

(B) Articles of bedding and similar furnishing which are sprung or stuffed or internally fitted with any material (cotton, wool, horsehair, down, synthetic fibers, etc.), or are of cellular rubber or plastics (whether or not covered with woven fabric, plastics, etc.). For example:

...

(2) Quilts and bedspreads (including counterpanes, and also quilts for baby-carriages), eiderdowns and duvets (whether of down or any other filling), mattress-protectors (a kind of thin mattress placed between the mattress itself and the mattress support), bolsters, pillows, cushions, pouffes, etc.

The merchandise at issue is stuffed with a fiber filling. In addition, it is a pillow, which is an article specifically listed as being classifiable in Heading 9404. Therefore the merchandise at issue is classifiable in Heading 9404.

Concerning the eligibility of this merchandise for a duty reduction in accordance with the CFTA, General Note 3(c)(vii) provides the following:

(B) For the purposes of subdivision (c)(vii) of this note, goods imported into the customs territory of the United States are eligible for treatment as "goods originating in the territory of Canada" only if--

(1) they are goods wholly obtained or produced in the territory of Canada and/or the United States, or

(2) they have been transformed in the territory of Canada and/or the United States, so as to be subject--

(I) to a change in tariff classification as described in the rules of subdivision
(c)(viii)(R) of this note, or

(II) to such other requirements subdivision (c)(viii)(R) of this note may provide when no change in tariff classification occurs, and they meet the other conditions set out in (R) of this note.

General Note 3(c)(vii)(R), which concerns whether a change in tariff classification has taken place, at Section XX states regarding Chapters 94 through 96 the following:

(aa) A change from one chapter to another, except a change to subheading 9404.90 from headings 5007, 5111 through 5113, 5208 through 5212, 5309 through 5311, 5407 through 5408, and 5512 through 5516.

When imported into the United States from Canada, the pillows are classifiable in Heading 9404. When imported into Canada from India, the merchandise at issue consists of pillow shells. In previous rulings we have stated that pillow shells were not classifiable as unfinished pillows, and instead, were classifiable in Heading 6307, HTSUSA. (See e.g., Headquarters Ruling Letter (HRL) 084046 of May 11, 1989, and HRL 084718 of July 31, 1989.) Therefore the merchandise at issue would be classifiable in Heading 6307 before it is stuffed and sewn in Canada. Since the merchandise at issue has been transformed in Canada to be subject to a different classification, in application of General Note 3(c)(vii), it is eligible for treatment as goods originating in the territory of Canada.

HOLDING:

The merchandise at issue is classified under subheading 9404.90.1000, HTSUSA, which provides for articles of bedding and similar furnishing (for example, mattresses, quilts, eiderdowns, cushions, pouffes and pillows) fitted with springs or stuffed or internally fitted with any material or of cellular rubber or plastics, whether or not covered, other, pillows, cushions and similar furnishings, of cotton. The textile category is 369.

Since this merchandise is eligible for treatment as goods originating in the territory of Canada, in application of General Note 3(c)(vii), the rate of duty is 4.2 percent ad valorem.

The sample is being returned under separate cover.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director

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