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HQ 555356


December 26, 1989
(abstracted as C.S.D. 90-32(6))

CLA-2 CO:R:C:V 555356 GRV

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 9802.00.60

Kenneth G. Weigel, Esq.
Webster & Sheffield
2000 Pennsylvania, N.W., Suite 7400
Washington, D.C. 20006

RE: Applicability of partial duty exemption under HTSUS subhead- ing 9802.00.60 to pre-sensitized offset printing press plates processed in Japan.C.S.D. 84-49;037347;063601;553252; 845453;T.D. 66-181(1).

Dear Mr. Weigel:

This is in response to your letter of March 28, 1989, on behalf of Fuji Photo Film, Inc., requesting a ruling on the applicability of subheading 9802.00.60, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), to pre-sensitized offset printing press plates to be imported from Japan following processing.

FACTS:

U.S.-manufactured aluminum ingots will be exported to Japan for processing into pre-sensitized aluminum sheet for use as off- set printing press plates. In Japan, the aluminum ingots will be subjected to the following processing operations:

(1) melting, to be recast into slab;
(2) scalping to remove impurities;
(3) heat treating and hot- and cold-rolling into aluminum sheet in coil;
(4) converted into pre-sensitized (P.S.) sheet by subject- ing them to a multi-grain surface treatment and a chemical coating process; and,
(5) slitting to width and shearing to length, which will measure approximately 800 by 1,000 millimeters.

Upon return to the U.S., the P.S. sheet will be cut into specif- ic offset printing press plates as required by customers' orders to fit their particular needs.
Regarding this domestic cutting operation, you state that the cutting of the sheet into offset plates is a technical pro- cess that requires certain machinery and expertise. The cutting is performed on a Schneider guillotine shearing machine, which is capable of cutting the sheet to the tolerances required for the offset plates.

ISSUE:

Whether the pre-sensitized offset printing press plates will be eligible for the partial duty exemption available under HTSUS subheading 9802.00.60 when returned to the U.S.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

HTSUS subheading 9802.00.60 provides a partial duty exemption for:

[a]ny article of metal (as defined in U.S. note 3(d) of this subchapter) manufactured in the United States or subjected to a process of manufacture in the United States, if exported for further processing, and if the exported article as processed outside the United States, or the article which results from the processing outside the United States, is returned to the United States for further processing.

This tariff provision imposes a dual "further processing" requirement on eligible articles of metal--one foreign, and when returned, one domestic. Metal articles satisfying these statu- tory requirements may be classified under this tariff provision with duty only on the value of such processing performed outside the U.S., provided there is compliance with the documentary requirements of 19 CFR 10.9.

In C.S.D. 84-49, 18 Cust.Bull. 957 (1983) we stated that:

[f]or purposes of item 806.30, TSUS, the term 'further processing' has reference to processing that changes the shape of the metal or imparts new and different character- istics which become an integral part of the metal itself and which did not exist in the metal before processing; thus, further processing includes machining, grinding, drilling, threading, punching, forming, plating, and the like, but does not include painting or the mere assembly of finished parts by bolting, welding, etc.

In this case, the aluminum is an eligible article of metal for purposes of HTSUS subheading 9802.00.60. The foreign pro- cessing operations include recasting the aluminum ingot into slab, hot- and cold-rolling the slab into sheet, slitting and shearing the sheet into smaller sheets and pre-sensitizing the sheet by subjecting it to a multi-grain surface treatment and chemical coating process. Converting primary forms of metal, e.g., ingots, into semi-finished or finished articles of metal by hot or cold rolling operations obviously changes the shape of the metal and constitutes "further processing" for purposes of HTSUS subheading 9802.00.60. See, Headquarters Ruling Letters 037347 (July 14, 1975), 063601 (April 18, 1980), 553252 (September 26, 1984) and 845453 (October 17, 1989). In the U.S., the P.S. sheet is specially cut to length on a guillotine shearing machine. We have previously held that cutting to length operations constitute a "further processing" under the statute, as again the shape of the metal is changed. T.D. 66-181(1), 101 Treas.Dec. 518 (1966).

HOLDING:

On the basis of the information submitted, the P.S. offset printing press plates to be imported are subjected to sufficient "further processing" operations both abroad and on return to the U.S. to be eligible for the partial duty exemption available under HTSUS subheading 9802.00.60, upon compliance with the documentary requirements of 19 CFR 10.9.

Sincerely,


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